Glacier Bay National Park

Topics:

Glacier Bay National Park

Commercial Fishing Regulations

National Park Service

SUMMARY: This re-proposed rule satisfies the requirement in Pub. L. 106-31 for the Secretary of Interior to provide an opportunity for public comment of not less than 45 days. This rule implements section 123 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY 1999 (``the Act''), as amended, and establishes special regulations for commercial fisheries within the marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park (NP), Alaska. This rule, in part, amends the general regulatory prohibition on commercial fishing activities in units of the National Park System, and instead, authorizes various existing commercial fisheries to continue in most marine waters of the park subject to a cooperatively developed state/ federal fisheries management plan consistent with the requirements of the Act. The rule limits commercial fisheries in Glacier Bay proper to pot and ring net fishing for Tanner crab, longlining for halibut, and trolling for salmon. The rule describes eligibility criteria that allow certain fishermen with a sufficient, reoccurring recent history of participation in Glacier Bay fisheries to continue fishing in Glacier Bay proper for their lifetimes. Moreover, the rule describes application requirements and procedures for those fishermen to follow to obtain a special use permit for lifetime access to a particular Glacier Bay proper fishery. The rule would close certain inlets and areas in the upper reaches of Glacier Bay proper to all commercial fishing by a variety of closure dates set forth in the Act, and would limit certain other areas only to winter season trolling for king salmon by qualifying fishermen. Additionally, the rule would reaffirm closure of all designated wilderness areas in the park to commercial fishing activities.

Nothing in this rule is intended to modify or restrict non- commercial fishing activities otherwise authorized under federal and non-conflicting state fishing regulations, nor to effect legislatively authorized commercial fishing activities within Glacier Bay National Preserve.

In summary, section 123 of the Act laid out four major sets of directives on commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Park. First, it closed specifically identified areas of non-wilderness waters in Glacier Bay proper and all wilderness waters to all commercial fishing. Second, it established a process for ``grandfathering'' certain qualifying fisherman who would be allowed to continue fishing in the remaining waters of Glacier Bay proper under lifetime permits. Third, it clarified that the marine waters outside of Glacier Bay proper would remain open to commercial fishing. And fourth, it directed that the commercial fisheries that would be allowed to continue be managed in accordance with a cooperatively developed State/Federal fisheries management plan. This rule addresses the first three of these directives. The cooperative State/Federal fisheries management plan is being developed independent of this rule and will be announced at a later date. DATES: Written comments will be accepted through September 16, 1999. ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to Tomie Lee, Superintendent, [[Page 41855]] Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 140, Gustavus, Alaska 99826. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tomie Lee, Superintendent, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 140, Gustavus, Alaska, 99827, telephone: (907) 697-2230. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background

Establishment of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a 3.3 million acre, glacier-crowned, marine wilderness that stretches northward from Alaska's Inside Passage to the Alsek River, encircling the magnificent, saltwater Glacier Bay. The park derives its name and much of its biological and cultural significance from this great Bay, which harbors spectacular tidewater glaciers and a unique assemblage of marine and terrestrial life.

Glacier Bay National Monument was established by presidential proclamation dated February 26, 1925. 43 Stat. 1988. The monument was established to protect a number of tidewater and other glaciers, and a variety of post glacial forest and other vegetative covering, and also to provide opportunities for scientific study of glacial activity and post glacial biological succession. The early monument included marine waters within Glacier Bay north of a line running approximately from Geikie Inlet on the west side of the bay to the northern extent of the Beardslee Islands on the east side of the bay. The monument was expanded by a second presidential proclamation on April 18, 1939. 53 Stat. 2534. The expanded monument included additional lands and marine waters consisting of all of Glacier Bay proper; portions of Cross Sound, North Inian Pass, North Passage, Icy Passage, and Excursion Inlet; and Pacific coastal waters to a distance of three miles seaward between Cape Spencer to the south and Sea Otter Creek, north of Cape Fairweather.

Glacier Bay National Monument was designated as Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and enlarged in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). 16 U.S.C. 410hh-1; see Sen. Rep. No. 413, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. 163 (1979). The legislative history of ANILCA indicates that certain NPS units in Alaska, including Glacier Bay National Park, ``* * * are intended to be large sanctuaries where fish and wildlife may roam freely, developing their social structures and evolving over long periods of time as nearly as possible without the changes that extensive human activities would cause.'' Id. at 137; see Cong. Rec. H10532 (1980). Congress described the park as including the adjacent marine waters, and depicted the park accordingly on the official maps.

In addition, ANILCA designated several marine areas within and near Glacier Bay proper as additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System. 16 U.S.C. 1132 note. These areas include upper Dundas Bay, Adams Inlet, the Hugh Miller Inlet complex, Rendu Inlet, and waters in and around the Beardslee Islands.

Within the park's jurisdiction are over 600,000 acres of marine waters, including 53,000 acres of designated wilderness. As a result, Glacier Bay National Park is one of only a handful of conservation areas in the world that includes extensive saltwater habitat. It is also the largest marine area managed by the National Park Service (NPS). As such, it provides valuable opportunities to study and enjoy marine flora and fauna in an unimpaired state, and to educate the public about the biological richness of marine systems and relationship to adjacent glacial and terrestrial systems. Management of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

In addition to the national monument proclamations and relevant ANILCA provisions, the management of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve has been governed by the NPS Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. Section 1, et seq. The NPS Organic Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to manage national parks and monuments to ``conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.'' Id. Section 1. This act further directs that ``[t]he authorization of activities shall be construed and the protection, management, and administration of [NPS areas] shall be conducted in light of the high public value and integrity of the National Park System and shall not be exercised in derogation of the values and purposes for which these various areas have been established, except as may have been or shall be directly and specifically provided by Congress.'' Id. Section 1a-1. The NPS national general regulations and policies prohibit the commercial extraction of any resources--including fish--for personal profit from areas of the National Park System, absent specific direction to the contrary from Congress. This regulatory prohibition on the commercial extraction of resources from national park areas forms the origins of the longstanding conflict regarding commercial fishing activities in the nonwilderness marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park.

The NPS Organic Act authorizes the Secretary to implement ``rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the use and management of the parks, monuments and reservations under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.'' Id. Section 3. The Secretary has additional specific authority to ``promulgate and enforce regulations concerning boating and other activities on or relating to waters located within areas of the National Park System, including waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States * * *.'' Id. Section 1a-2(h).

The designated wilderness areas within Glacier Bay NP, including the marine areas, are additionally governed by the Wilderness Act, Id. section Sec. 1131, et seq., which defines wilderness ``as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.'' The Wilderness Act requires that wilderness be ``administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness.'' Id. Section 1131(a). Among other things, the Wilderness Act prohibits ``commercial enterprise * * * within any wilderness area * * * except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act * * *'' Id. Section 1133(c).

In addition, Congress recently passed the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Act for FY1999 (Pub. L. 105-277), signed into law on October 21, 1998. Section 123 of this Act contained a series of compromises that were designed to provide final resolution of the dispute over the appropriateness of commercial fishing in Glacier Bay. Congress subsequently enacted legislation amending section 123 on May 21, 1999 in order to provide further clarification of commercial fishing phase-out and compensation provisions. This rule is designed to implement the various provisions of section 123 of the Act, as amended by section 501 of the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 106-31, 113 [[Page 41856]] Stat. 57). The requirements of the Act, as amended, are more fully described in a following section of this rulemaking. Commercial Fishing History

The marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park have been fished commercially since prior to the establishment of Glacier Bay National Monument. Commercial fishing continued under federal regulation after the national monument's establishment in 1925 and its subsequent enlargement in 1939.

The Act of June 6, 1924, 43 Stat. 464, authorized the Secretary of Commerce to ``set apart and reserve fishing areas in any of the waters of Alaska * * * and within such areas may establish closed seasons during which fishing may be limited or prohibited * * *.'' The first Alaska Fishery Regulations of the Bureau of Fisheries, promulgated between 1937 and 1939, addressed fisheries in an area designated as the Icy Strait district including Glacier Bay National Monument. See 2 FR 359 (February 12, 1937); 4 FR 927 (February 15, 1939). Those regulations, and regulations promulgated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) between 1941 and 1959, set allowances for and restrictions on commercial fisheries in areas within the boundaries of Glacier Bay National Monument. See 6 FR 1252 (March 4, 1941), 50 CFR Part 222; 16 FR 2158 (1951), 50 CFR Part 117; 24 FR 2153 (March 19, 1959), 50 CFR Part 115.

Early NPS fishing regulations prohibited any type of fishing ``with nets, seines, traps, or by the use of drugs or explosives, or for merchandise or profit, or in any other way than with hook and line, the rod or line being held in the hand * * *.'' 6 FR 1627 (March 26, 1941), 36 CFR 2.4. However, in conjunction with the aforementioned FWS regulations, the 1941 NPS regulations also stated that ``commercial fishing in the waters of Fort Jefferson and Glacier Bay National Monuments is permitted under special regulations.'' Id. NPS regulations continued to allow commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Monument through 1966 in accordance with special regulations approved by the Secretary. See 20 FR 618 (1955), 36 CFR 1.4; 27 FR 6281 (July 3, 1962).

In 1966, NPS revised its fishing regulations so as to prohibit commercial fishing activities in Glacier Bay National Monument. Although the 1966 NPS regulations, unlike previous versions, only prohibited fishing ``for merchandise and profit'' in park fresh waters, these same regulations generally prohibited unauthorized commercial activities, including commercial fishing, in all NPS areas. See 31 FR 16653, 16661 (December 29, 1966), 36 CFR Secs. 2.13(j)(2), 5.3. In contrast to earlier NPS regulations, the 1966 regulations did not contain specific authorization for commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Monument.

The 1978 NPS ``Management Policies'' reiterated that ``[c]ommercial fishing is permitted only where authorized by law.'' Furthermore, in 1978, the Department of the Interior directed FWS to convene an Ad Hoc Fisheries Task Force to review NPS fisheries management. See 45 FR 12304 (February 25, 1980). The task force concluded that the extraction of fish for commercial purposes was a nonconforming use of park resources.

As already noted, in 1980, ANILCA designated Glacier Bay National Monument as Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, enlarged the area, and designated wilderness that included marine waters within the park. 16 U.S.C. 410hh-1, 1132 note. ANILCA specifically authorized certain park areas where commercial fishing and related activities could continue, including the Dry Bay area of Glacier Bay National Preserve, but not in any area of Glacier Bay National Park. Id. section 410hh-4.

The 1983 revision of the NPS general regulations included the current prohibition on commercial fishing throughout marine and fresh waters within park areas system-wide, unless specifically authorized by law. 48 FR 30252, 30283; 36 CFR 2.3(d)(4). The 1988 version of NPS ``Management Policies,'' still current, reiterates this approach.

However, in the 1980's NPS concluded that some commercial fishing would be tolerated and allowed to continue in Glacier Bay despite National Park Service general policies to the contrary. For example, the 1980, 1983 and 1985 Glacier Bay whale protection regulations implicitly acknowledged commercial fishing operations in Glacier Bay proper. 36 CFR 13.65(b). Also, the park's 1984 General Management Plan stated the following:

Traditional commercial fishing practices will continue to be allowed throughout most park and preserve waters. However, no new (nontraditional) fishery will be allowed by the National Park Service. Halibut and salmon fishing and crabbing will not be prohibited by the Park Service. Commercial fishing will be prohibited in wilderness waters in accordance with ANILCA and the Wilderness Act.

The General Management Plan defined ``traditional commercial fishing practices'' to include ``trolling, longlining and pot fishing for crab, and seining (Excursion Inlet only) in park waters * * *.'' General Management Plan at p.51. Finally, the 1988 Final Environmental Impact Statement concerning wilderness recommendations for Glacier Bay National Park referred to the continuation of commercial fishing in nonwilderness park waters. Events Leading to This Rule

The Wilderness Act has prohibited commercial fishing in the wilderness waters within Glacier Bay NP since 1980. Nevertheless, commercial fishing activities were allowed to continue through a policy of non-enforcement by park management in both wilderness and non- wilderness marine waters of the park. Ultimately recognizing the need to conform Glacier Bay management practices with NPS national policies against commercial fishing in the Park System, there have been several attempts since 1990 to resolve this situation through proposed rulemaking, proposed legislation and negotiation.

In 1990, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and American Wildlands filed a lawsuit challenging the NPS's failure to bar commercial fishing activities from Glacier Bay NP. Alaska Wildlife Alliance v. Jensen, No. A90-0345-CV (D. AK.). In 1994, the U.S. District Court for Alaska concluded that ``there is no statutory ban on commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Park provided, however, that commercial fishing is prohibited in that portion of Glacier Bay National Park designated as wilderness area.'' The District Courts' decision was affirmed in March 1997 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Alaska Wildlife Alliance v. Jensen, 108 F.3d 1065 (9th Cir. 1997)). Close to the time that the plaintiffs referenced above initiated the litigation, the State of Alaska's Citizens Advisory Commission on Federal Areas hosted a series of public meetings in local communities to discuss the issues. Following these meetings, NPS decided to draft a regulatory approach to resolving the issues.

NPS published its first proposed rule on August 5, 1991 (56 FR 37262). In essence, the 1991 proposed rule would have: (a) Clarified the statutory prohibition on commercial fishing in designated wilderness waters, and (b) phased out commercial fishing in other park waters over a seven year period. NPS held ten public meetings on the proposed rule, received over 300 comments, and drafted a final rule. At the State's request, however, the Department of the Interior refrained [[Page 41857]] from issuing a final rule in 1993, and instead agreed to discuss with state and Congressional staff the possibility of resolving the issues through a legislative approach.

Between fall 1995 and spring 1996, officials from Glacier Bay National Park and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) co- hosted several meetings in Southeast Alaska involving ``stakeholders'' interested in trying to resolve the commercial fishing controversy. The stakeholders included representatives of the commercial fishing industry; Native groups; and local, regional and national conservation organizations. The 1997 Proposed Rule

The National Park Service introduced a new proposed rule for commercial fishing on April 16, 1997 (62 FR 18547). The 1997 proposed rule was intended to provide a further opportunity for public participation and discussion--including ongoing efforts with the State of Alaska--toward a comprehensive resolution of commercial fishing issues in the park. NPS also recognized that new regulations would be necessary to exempt any ongoing commercial fisheries from the general NPS regulatory prohibition found at 36 CFR 2.3(d)(4).

This proposed rule varied significantly from the 1991 NPS proposed rule that would have phased out commercial fishing throughout the park after seven years. In general, the 1997 proposed rule: (a) Prohibited all commercial fishing in Glacier Bay proper but provided certain limited exemptions over a fifteen-year phase-out period for fishermen with a qualifying history of participation in four specified fisheries; (b) closed Glacier Bay proper to commercial fishing during the visitor use season; (c) allowed most commercial fisheries in the park's marine waters outside Glacier Bay proper to continue, subject to reexamination at the end of fifteen years; (d) implemented the statutory prohibition on commercial fishing in designated marine wilderness waters; and, (e) contemplated a management regime for those commercial fisheries allowed to continue that would be based upon a cooperatively developed fisheries management plan developed by NPS and the State, implemented through the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and subject to the Secretary of the Interior's authority to protect park resources and values. Moreover, the preamble of the proposed rule offered for public comment ideas for halibut and Dungeness crab studies, a Hoonah Tlingit cultural fishery, and additional protections for Lituya and Dundas bays. The full text of the 1997 proposed rule should be referred to for a complete description of the proposed actions and additional background information.

NPS described several objectives for resolution of commercial fishing issues in the 1997 proposed rule and an accompanying Environmental Assessment (EA) published in April 1998 and discussed later in more detail in this document. These objectives included: preserving habitats and natural population structure and species distribution; allowing natural succession and evolutionary processes to proceed; maintaining biological and genetic diversity; minimizing visitor and vessel-use conflicts; protecting wilderness values; honoring Native cultural ties, and, expanding existing knowledge and understanding of marine ecosystems. NPS also sought to treat individual commercial fishermen fairly, and to develop an effective partnership with the State that would enhance understanding and conservation of fisheries and marine resources within the park.

In October 1997 (62 FR 54409) NPS extended the public comment deadline from October 15th to June 1, 1998 to provide additional opportunity for comment on the proposed rule and pending EA.

From November 1997 to February 1998 NPS sponsored 3 additional full-day public workshops in Juneau, Alaska to continue discussing the issues associated with the park's commercial fisheries. The first of these public workshops was noticed in the Federal Register (62 FR 58932, October 31, 1997), while subsequent workshops were publicized in local media. These workshops contributed to the scoping process for the NPS EA.

Scheduled concurrently with the NPS public workshops, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game sponsored 6 public meetings in Juneau from November 1997 to June 1998. This Glacier Bay Work Group, as it was termed, included several representatives of the commercial fishing industry, Native corporations and governments, and local, regional and national conservation groups. The meetings were open to and attended by various members of the public. NPS and DOI representatives attended all of the meetings. The objective of the work group was to reach an overall consensus agreement regarding commercial fishing activities in the park that could be reflected in either regulation or legislation. Considerable progress was made by the work group, under the State's leadership and in a good faith effort by all involved, to address a number of substantive and difficult issues. The group was unable to achieve a consensus agreement at conclusion of its last meeting in June 1998 and collectively agreed to a final effort toward the goal of consensus in October and November--after the close of the summer fishing season. However, action on the part of Congress--by introducing the issue of commercial fishing into the legislative arena and passing the Act in October--interceded and resolved many issues considered by the work group. Notes from each of the State's work group meetings are included in the administrative record of this rulemaking. The 1998 Environmental Assessment

In April 1998, NPS released a comprehensive Commercial Fishing Environmental Assessment in support of the 1997 proposed rule for Glacier Bay. The EA described the proposed action (the 1997 proposed rule) and four other alternatives for managing commercial fishing activities in the marine waters of the park. Collectively, the EA's five alternatives described a broad range of potential strategies for managing commercial fishing activities in the nonwilderness marine waters of the park. Alternative One described the 1997 proposed rule. Alternative Two was considered the no action alternative because it would implement existing NPS regulations; this alternative described immediate closure of the park to all commercial fisheries. Alternative Three emphasized use of scientific information to protect resident and sensitive fisheries, while allowing harvest of more transitory species moving in and out of the park. Alternative Four described continuation of commercial fishing throughout the park, consistent with sustainability and habitat protection. Finally, Alternative Five described the 1991 proposed rule's seven-year phase-out of all commercial fisheries. Marine wilderness waters in the park were closed to commercial fishing under each of the alternatives, reflecting the Wilderness Act's prohibition on commercial fishing in wilderness waters, and the federal district and appellate court decisions.

Following publication and distribution of the EA in April 1998, NPS held seven public hearings and seven open houses during May in six Southeast Alaska communities (Elfin Cove, Gustavus, Hoonah, Juneau, Pelican, and Sitka) and in Seattle to solicit comment on the EA and proposed rule. On June 1, 1998, NPS extended the public comment deadline for the EA and proposed rule to [[Page 41858]] November 15, 1998 (63 FR 30162). NPS held additional informal public meetings in Wrangell and Petersburg during September 1998 following requests from residents of those communities. The FY1999 Omnibus Supplemental Appropriations Act and Amendment

The Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY 1999 (Public Law 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681) (``the Act''), was passed by Congress and signed into law on October 21, 1998. Section 123 of the Act contained a variety of specific statutory requirements for the management or phase out of commercial fishing in the marine waters of Glacier Bay National Park. Section 123 of the Act contained the following provisions:

The Secretary of the Interior was directed to cooperate with the State of Alaska in the development of a management plan for the regulation of commercial fisheries in Glacier Bay National Park pursuant to existing state and federal statutes and any applicable international conservation and management treaties. This management plan is to provide for the continuation of commercial fishing in the marine waters within Glacier Bay National Park outside of Glacier Bay Proper, and in the marine waters within Glacier Bay Proper as specified in paragraphs (a)(2) through (a)(5) of section 123. The management plan is also to provide for the protection of park values and purposes, prohibit any new or expanded fisheries, and provide for the opportunity for the study of marine resources.

Section 123 limits commercial fisheries within Glacier Bay proper to ring or pot fishing for Tanner crab, longlining for halibut and trolling for salmon. That section limits participation in these commercial fisheries to the lifetimes of individual fishermen with a qualifying history, but notes that the qualifying criteria are to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior. Certain inlets or areas of inlets of Glacier Bay proper were closed immediately to all commercial fishing, or were limited to winter season king salmon trolling by qualifying fishermen. Section 123 also restated the statutory prohibition on commercial fishing within the park's designated wilderness areas. Last, Section 123 authorized compensation for qualifying Dungeness crab fishermen who had fished in designated wilderness waters of the Beardslee Islands and Dundas Bay.

The congressional managers of this legislation suggested NPS `` extend the public comment period on the pending regulations (62 FR 18547, April 16, 1997) until January 15, 1999, modify the draft regulations to conform to [section 123's] language and publish the changes in the final regulations.'' See H.R.4328 Conf. Rep. No.105-825, p.1213. Subsequently, the public comment period on the 1997 proposed rule and 1998 EA was reopened and extended until February 1, 1999 (63 FR 68666, December 11, 1998; 64 FR 1573, January 11, 1999). The 1,400 persons who had provided comment by December 1998 were mailed a copy of the Federal Register extension and invited to provide additional public comment in light of the new legislation. A second Federal Register notice (63 FR 68668, December 11, 1998) describing application procedures for the Dungeness crab commercial fishery compensation program authorized by the Act was published and distributed concurrently with the extension of the public comment deadline.

On May 21, 1999 new legislation passed by Congress amending section 123 of the Act was signed into law. This legislation, section 501 of the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 106-31), modified the Dungeness crab fishery compensation program and created a new compensation program for fishermen, processors, crewmembers, communities and others adversely affected by restrictions on commercial fishing activities in the park. Twenty-six million dollars were appropriated for compensation programs under section 501; this is in addition to $5,000,000 in compensation Congress had previously appropriated for qualifying Dungeness crab fishermen under section 123 of the 1998 Act. Section 501 also established delayed implementation dates for the non-wilderness closures in Glacier Bay proper relative to ongoing halibut and salmon commercial fisheries in 1999. Finally, section 501 required the Secretary of the Interior to publish this rule, provide a forty-five day public comment period, and then publish a final rule no later than September 30, 1999. The prohibition on commercial fishing in designated wilderness was not affected by the amendments found in section 501.

This rule implements the requirements of section 123, as amended, and establishes eligibility requirements and application procedures for qualifying fishermen to obtain a special use permit for lifetime access to the three commercial fisheries authorized to continue in Glacier Bay proper. Many ideas described in the 1997 proposed rule and the other four alternatives in the 1998 EA were resolved by the section 123 of the Act. Simultaneously with the publication of this rule, NPS intends to accelerate and expand its collaboration with the State of Alaska to develop a fisheries management plan for the park as contemplated by section 123 of the Act. Dated: July 2, 1999. Donald J. Barry, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.