Quiero saber acerca de...

32738

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 118 / Wednesday, June 23, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
National Marine Sanctuaries at 920
4594425, russ.green@noaa.gov, or Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, One University Drive, Sheboygan, WI 53081, Attn: Russ Green, Regional Coordinator.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES

I. Background The National Marine Sanctuaries Act NMSA 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.
authorizes the Secretary of Commerce Secretary to designate and protect as national marine sanctuaries areas of the marine or Great Lakes environment that are of special national significance due to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, scientific, cultural, archeological, educational, or aesthetic qualities. Day-to-day management of national marine sanctuaries has been delegated by the Secretary to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries ONMS within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA. The primary objective of the NMSA is to protect the sanctuary systems biological and cultural resources, such as marine ecosystem, marine animals, historic shipwrecks, and archaeological sites.
A. Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary The approximately 962 square-mile area designated as the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary WSCNMS encompasses a portion of the waters and submerged lands of Lake Michigan adjacent to Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee Counties. Principal cities in this area include Port Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Two Rivers. The boundary includes approximately 82 miles of shoreline and extends approximately 7 to 16 miles from the shoreline, and is entirely located within Wisconsin state waters.
The area includes a nationally significant collection of underwater cultural resources, including 36 known shipwrecks and approximately 59
suspected shipwrecks. The historic shipwrecks in the sanctuary are representative of the vessels that sailed and steamed on Lake Michigan during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, carrying grain and raw materials east and coal, manufactured goods, and people west. During this period entrepreneurs and shipbuilders on the Great Lakes launched tens of thousands of ships of many different designs.
Sailing schooners, grand palace steamers, revolutionary propeller-driven passenger ships, and industrial bulk carriers transported materials that were essential to Americas business and
VerDate Sep<11>2014

15:58 Jun 22, 2021

Jkt 253001

industry. In the process they brought hundreds of thousands of people to the Midwest and made possible the dramatic growth of the regions farms, cities, and industries. The Midwest, and indeed the American Nation, could not have developed with such speed and with such vast economic and social consequences without the Great Lakes.
Twenty-one of the 36 shipwreck sites in the sanctuary are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the shipwrecks retain an unusual degree of archeological and architectural integrity, with several vessels nearly intact. Well preserved by Lake Michigans cold, fresh water, the shipwrecks in the WSCNMS possess exceptional historical, archaeological and recreational value. Additional underwater cultural resources, such as submerged aircraft, docks, piers, and isolated artifacts also exist, as does the potential for prehistoric pre-contact sites and artifacts.
B. Need for Action Establishing a national marine sanctuary in Wisconsin waters will complement and supplement existing state-led preservation efforts, research programs, and public outreach initiatives. Threats to the nationally significant underwater cultural resources in the area include both natural processes and human activities.
In some cases human activities can threaten the long term sustainability of historic shipwrecks and other underwater cultural resources, and negatively impact their recreational and archaeological value. These negative impacts include anchor damage from visiting dive boats, damage from poorly attached mooring lines, looting of artifacts, movement of artifacts within a shipwreck site, entanglements of remotely-operated vehicle tethers, and entanglements of fishing gear.
Additional threats to the national marine sanctuarys resources include human-introduced invasive mussels and the human disturbance and natural deterioration also threaten known and undiscovered sanctuary resources.
Future discoveries may include newly uncovered shipwrecks in shallow, sandy lake bottom, as well as yet-to-bediscovered intact shipwrecks the lie in deeper areas.
Consistent with the community-based sanctuary nomination described below, the national marine sanctuary will also: a Build on the 30-year investment the citizens of Wisconsin have made in the identification, interpretation, and preservation of shipwrecks and other maritime resources; b build on state and local
PO 00000

Frm 00018

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

tourism initiatives within the many communities that have embraced their centuries-long maritime relationship with Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes region, and the nation; c enhance the existing state management program; and d provide access to NOAAs extended network of scientific expertise and technological resources, increase research efforts, and provide an umbrella for the coordination of these activities. The national marine sanctuary will also enhance existing educational initiatives and provide additional programming and technology for K12, post-graduate, and the general public across the state.
C. Procedural History 1. Sanctuary Nomination and Public Scoping On December 2, 2014, pursuant to section 304 of the NMSA and the Sanctuary Nomination Process SNP; 79
FR 33851, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, on behalf of the State of Wisconsin; the cities of Two Rivers, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Port Washington; and the counties of Ozaukee, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc, submitted a nomination asking NOAA
to consider designating this area of Wisconsins Lake Michigan waters as a national marine sanctuary. The State of Wisconsins selection of this geographic area for the nomination drew heavily from a 2008 report conducted by the Wisconsin History Society and funded by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program Wisconsins Historic Shipwrecks: An Overview and Analysis of Locations for a State/Federal Partnership with the National Marine Sanctuary Program, 2008, https
www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Files/
Wisconsins%20Historic%20
Shipwrecks.pdf.
The nomination also identified opportunities for NOAA to strengthen and expand on resource protection, education, and research programs by State of Wisconsin agencies and in the four communities along the Lake Michigan coast. NOAA completed its review of the nomination, and on February 5, 2015, added the area to the inventory of nominations that are eligible for designation. All nominations submitted to NOAA can be found at http www.nominate.noaa.gov/
nominations/.
On October 7, 2015, NOAA initiated the public scoping process with the publication of the Notice of Intent NOI
in the Federal Register 80 FR 60631, soliciting public input on the proposed designation and informing the public of the Agencys intention to prepare a draft
E:FRFM23JNR1.SGM

23JNR1