Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
Notice of availability.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is advising the public of the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Ballville Dam Project, in Sandusky County Ohio. Additionally, the Service is advising the public of the availability of the final Programmatic Agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations. The Service is furnishing this notice to allow other agencies and the public an opportunity to review and comment on these documents. All comments received will become part of the public record and will be available for review pursuant to NEPA.
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○ Birchard Public Library, 423 Croghan Street, Fremont, OH 43420.
○ Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4625
○ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Midwest Regional Office, Fisheries, 9th Floor, 5600 American Boulevard West, Suite 990, Bloomington, MN 55437–1458 (612–713–5350, voice; 612–713–5292, fax).
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We request that you send comments by only the methods described above (see the Public Comments section below for more information).
Brian Elkington, 612–713–5168.
We publish this notice in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321
Ballville Dam is currently a complete barrier to upstream fish passage and impedes hydrologic processes. The purpose for the award of Federal funds and preparation of this FEIS are to restore natural hydrological processes over a 40-mile stretch of the Sandusky River, re-open fish passage to 22 miles of new habitat, restore flow conditions for fish access to new habitat above the impoundment, and improve overall conditions for native fish communities in the Sandusky River system both upstream and downstream of the Ballville Dam, restoring self-sustaining fish resources.
Pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA; 16 U.S.C. 470, 470f), the Service has initiated section 106 consultation with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office for the project. The section 106 process has been completed and the signed Programmatic Agreement is included as an appendix to the FEIS.
Public scoping for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was first initiated in the form of a notice of intent to conduct a 30-day scoping period published in the
You may submit your comments and materials concerning this notice by one of the methods listed in
If you submit a comment that includes personal identifying information, you may request at the top of your document that we withhold this information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
We provide this notice under NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321