Deadline extended for wildlife refuge.Because of a temporary halt in public use of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife Service ) Web sites, the governmental agency has extended its previous April 4 deadline to April 12 for receiving public comments on developing the Rapids Lake Unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000 acre (57 km²) National Wildlife Refuge in central Minnesota. There are eight refuge units strung along 34 miles of the Minnesota River. in Carver County, Minn. Now, USFWS will mull over mull over Verb to study or ponder: he mulled over the arrangements [probably from muddle] Verb 1. the comments on the four alternatives of developing public facilities on the foliage it proposed last year. Under the three action alternatives, there are various options for the former Gehl-Mittelsted house located on the Rapids Lake Unit to be restored and developed for use as a visitor and administrative office center. Any impacted areas would be restored. In addition, a dormitory for use by Refuge interns would be built in the area currently called the Lutz Farm. Under the "no action" or second alternative, no new development would be implemented with this proposal and there would be no changes to existing public use-facilities. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Linda Maltz, park ranger A park ranger is a person charged with protecting and preserving protected parklands, forests (then called a forest ranger), wilderness areas, as well as other natural resources and protected cultural resources. for the Refuge, the main construction would be relegated to about 20 acres of the 14,000-acre refuge, with an additional 55 acres set aside for trail development. The project will be paid mainly through a mitigation settlement between USFWS and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which is located half a mile away from one end of the refuge. Because of the need to build a new runway, the airport paid USFWS more than $26 million in 2000 for the impact to one end of the refuge. Maltz said after the public comment period, USFWS will draft its Environmental Assessment of the development proposal. If there are no changes, there could be a groundbreaking as early as mid-2005. The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a linear piece-meal of con served land that stretches 54 miles along the Minnesota River Minnesota River River, southern Minnesota, U.S. Rising on the South Dakota–Minnesota boundary, it flows southeast then turns northeast to join the Mississippi River just south of St. Paul, after a course of 332 mi (534 km). Once known as the St. Peter or St. . For more information about the Refuge, call (952) 854-5900. |
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