Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan And Environmental Impact Statement

This draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental impact statement identifies the purpose and need for a management plan, outlines the legal foundation for management of two refuges in Montana, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge, and describes and evaluates four alternative plans for managing wildlife, habitat, and wildlife-dependent public use. This process has involved the development of a vision, goals, objectives, and strategies that meet the legal directives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and has considered the input of interested groups and the public.

The CCP/EIS is a programmatic document intended to analyze proposed actions on a conceptual level, except in those cases where sufficient information is available to provide project-specific analysis. Therefore, the extent of analysis provided for each restoration and/or visitor services proposal reflects the level of detail currently available for the specific proposal. The habitat restoration proposals analyzed in the CCP/EIS should be viewed as conceptual. During subsequent project level planning, "step-down" planning, additional studies will be conducted, baseline data gathered, documentation prepared, permits acquired and final engineering and restoration planning conducted.