Environmental statements; availability, etc.: Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, TX,
[Federal Register: August 16, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 157)]
[Notices]
[Page 44533-44535]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16au99-103]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Record of Decision; Final Environmental Impact Statement General Management Plan; Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Texas
Introduction
Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Public Law 91-190 (as amended), and the regulations promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality at 40 CFR 1505.2 the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, has prepared the following Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the General Management Plan for Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.
This Record of Decision is a concise statement of what decisions were made, what alternatives were considered, the environmentally preferred alternative, the basis for the decision, and the mitigating measures developed to avoid or minimize environmental impacts.
Decision (Selected Action)
The National Park Service will implement Alternative 3, the proposed action, as described in the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements.
Concept
This alternative significantly expands the park operations, maintenance, and interpretation levels in Johnson City and at the ranch. It greatly increases park outreach to the region and allows the public much greater access to the Texas White House.
This alternative depends heavily on construction of a new combination bus maintenance facility/interpretive ranger office south of the Pedernales River. This new facility would allow the ranch maintenance and ranch operations to move into the existing bus maintenance facility and a visitor contact station to be installed in Klein's shop. Without this new facility, none of the other operations could be moved and this alternative could not be implemented. All facets of visitor interpretation and transportation would be affected.
Interpretation and Visitor Use
Interpretive programs and facilities throughout the park would present all primary and many secondary interpretive themes to enhance the visitor experience. Visitors would find opportunities to participate in a range of orientation, education, and interpretive activities for differing levels of interest, understanding, and sophistication. They would be able to explore the park's diverse resources, visualize the setting associated with the historic time period interpreted, and identify with the experience and feelings of personalities who historically lived at or visited this site. They would have access to accurate, balanced, and in-depth information about Johnson's life and legacy.
The interpretation would be designed to significantly increase the number of repeat visitors who return to the park for additional programs and special events. The return of the wagon transport in Johnson City and the opening of the Texas White House is expected to create considerable interest initially in visiting the park and the variety and number of new programs and events would continue to bring visitors back. The improved park experience and greater outreach programs would enhance the park's position within the crowded tourism market of south-central Texas and would be expected to substantially increase visitation at both the Johnson City and LBJ Ranch districts. Johnson City District
All facilities in this district would be open on a daily basis. Additional interpretive staff (up to 14 FTEs) would provide creative, well-researched, high quality interpretive programs. The visitor center would function as it does now, but with extended emphasis on children's interpretation, lectures, and additional interpretive presentations on a variety of topics.
Ranger-led tours of the LBJ boyhood home would continue to be provided daily on a regularly scheduled basis. Education program opportunities would be expanded to educational institutions and schools throughout the region.
Significant improvements in interpretive opportunities would be implemented at the Johnson settlement. Interpretation would be expanded to provide costumed interpreters at the cabin and chuckwagon on a daily basis. A wagon would be used to provide transportation for visitors from a staging area (the Smith house site) outside the historic area to the exhibit center, and to set the mood for the costumed interpretive program. LBJ Ranch District
Cooperative arrangements with the Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park and the Southwest Parks and Monuments Association would remain positive and strong with increased dependence on each organization to share in the responsibility of effectively presenting both parks' stories in all interpretive programs and materials when feasible. The cooperative arrangement between the state and national historical parks would be expanded to include cooperation/assistance with exhibits and interpretation and better overall integration of programs. Both parks would work together to encourage package bus tours from around the region and country.
Interpretation at the show barn would be expanded to include personal services, exhibits, and audiovisual productions. There would be an upgrade of exhibits in the barn as well as a display of historic farming and ranching equipment. There would also be an increase in special events and education programs.
In phase 2, the Texas White House complex would become the focal point of the interpretive program at the LBJ Ranch. Visitors would also have access to several other historic features of the Texas White House complex. The Secret Service command post would be restored and interpreted. The airplane hangar would become a flexible exhibit
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area with multipurpose space for interpretive programs, audiovisual presentations, lectures, and films. The Martin barn would contain exhibits relating to early agricultural history on the LBJ Ranch. Klein's shop would be used as a visitor contact station with a limited SPMA sales area and restrooms.
Facility Development and Maintenance
Johnson City District
Although the park would not look substantially different than it does today, some changes would be noticeable. The level of maintenance on buildings and landscape would be higher than at present. A cultural landscape report would determine the feasibility and desirability of restoring the landscape of the Johnson cabin and the boyhood home to a more historical appearance. If restoration is not considered feasible or desirable, the landscapes would continue to be maintained at the present level. The nonhistoric Smith house would be removed and the site landscaped to function as a staging area for the horse-drawn wagons. The nonhistoric Hobbs house would be disposed of either by exchanging the property for the historic Alexander house (which the park rents and maintains) or by selling the house and requiring that it be moved off the property. The site would then be landscaped open space.
A new maintenance facility for the Johnson City district would be constructed south of the settlement in the back 40. The red maintenance building, a historic structure that is not a part of the park's interpretive story, would be adaptively reused or leased under the historic leasing program or used for other park purposes. The park would attempt to acquire the Masonic Lodge, the Cox tract, and the Alexander house. If acquired, the Alexander House would be adaptively reused. Scenic easements would be sought for the area along Town Creek between the education center (Taylor house) and the Volunteers in Parks campsites to the south. Town Creek provides an excellent backdrop for the settlement, and vegetation along its banks would protect its viewshed from any future development to the south and east. The park would work with park neighbors to ensure that any development does not detract from the historic character of the park.
As a part of its ongoing research, the park would develop a cultural landscape report for the entire district to improve interpretation of historic resources and to ensure accuracy of historic landscapes.
Visitors with disabilities would continue to be able to drive on existing maintained roads to the settlement exhibit center or ride accessible buses. LBJ Ranch District
Expanded cooperation with the state historical park could extend to construction of a new joint bus maintenance facility on state historical park property. Should that prove infeasible, the park would seek to purchase the Weinheimer property across the road west of the state historical park's maintenance facility.
The Junction School would be restored on the exterior and rehabilitated on the interior for educational programs. Restrooms and utilities would be installed. A trail would be constructed from the Junction School to the Texas White House complex so that visitors could walk rather than ride the bus should they so desire.
The show barn would be rehabilitated with new exhibits of ranching and historic farm equipment, as well as new restroom facilities and upgraded utilities. The ranching operation office would move to the vacated bus maintenance facility with the show barn becoming an interpretive/visitor use area.
Utilities at the Volunteers in Parks site would be upgraded immediately. However, because the trailer pads are tightly arranged and unsatisfactory, the entire Volunteers in Parks site facility would eventually be moved to a site east of the communications tower/hay barn/boneyard and screened by vegetation and topography. Four new concrete RV pads would be constructed as well as a gravel access road.
Ranch lands would be maintained in accordance with current NPS policies and procedures to look essentially as they did during the president's lifetime. A cultural landscape report would determine whether missing historic features of the landscape would be restored.
Scenic easements would be purchased, wherever possible, over those properties within the authorized ranch boundary but not within NPS ownership, as a means of ensuring that the visual impact of any such development within those easements would be minimal.
Development concept plans and design guidelines for the LBJ Ranch district would be required.
In phase 2, the Texas White House would be stabilized and opened to the public. The maintenance operation would be moved out of Klein's shop and the structure converted to a visitor contact station/SPMA sales operation serving the LBJ Ranch. Once the new bus maintenance facility is constructed south of the Pedernales River, the vacated bus barn would be converted for ranch maintenance operations moved from Klein's shop and the ranching operation moved from the show barn.
In phase 2, the Martin barn would be preserved with walk-through exhibits. The communications trailers would be stabilized, the exteriors restored, and the communications equipment preserved. The Secret Service command post would be restored for interpretive purposes. The LBJ hangar would be preserved and use for exhibits, lectures, and films. The poolhouse would be preserved as an important feature of the Texas White House landscape, but the interior would be adaptively reused.
Other Alternatives Considered
Two other alternatives to the selected plan were evaluated in the draft and final environmental impact statements.
Alternative 1 (no action) would continue the existing conditions at the park. It would not provide the level of access to the Texas White House that is expected by the public. It would ``mothball'' several historic structures and leave park maintenance within a historic structure in the ranch house complex. Bus maintenance and ranch interpretation would continue as at present in inadequate facilities. In Johnson City, the maintenance facility would remain in a historic structure inappropriate for such use and no attempt to protect the national historical park's setting would be made despite the influx of growth.
Alternative 2, a ``minimum requirements alternative,'' is characterized by small, incremental changes in everyday maintenance, interpretation, and administration. It raise the level of maintenance and preservation, provides additional personal services for interpretation, modestly expands educational outreach to the local community, and provides the additional staff necessary to prepare the Texas White House for opening to the public on a limited schedule. At the Ranch District, the maintenance facility would be moved to a new structure in the vicinity of the communications tower. Several historic structures would be stabilized or adaptive reused that are currently preserved in a less than usable state. In Johnson City, the park would seek to acquire the Alexander House and two properties along U.S. Route 290 to protect an important Johnson family related structure and the south viewshed from the park.
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Environmentally Preferred Alternative
A Record of Decision must identify the environmentally preferable alternative, an alternative that causes the least damage to the biological environment, and that best protects, preserves, and enhances historic, cultural, and natural resources. Alternative 3, the selected action, is the environmentally preferred alternative. It provides the greatest level of preservation of historic structures of all alternatives, provides the largest economic benefits to Blanco and Gillespie counties, and provides the most comprehensive interpretive experience for the visitor. Similar impacts on soils and water resources and quality occur among the three alternatives. Alternative 3 has the most impact upon floodplains. It proposes construction in Johnson City that may occur within a floodplain. The proposed new bus maintenance facility on the state historical park property may be within the 500 year floodplain. Further evaluation would determine whether mitigating measures are required but only minor impact on the floodplains of Town Creek and the Pedernales River is expected because both sites already have development and the area of new impact would be small.
Basis for Decision
The selected action includes a combination of actions that the National Park Services believes will provide the best interpretative experience for visitors, provide the highest level of preservation for historic structures, and provide a high level of educational outreach to the community. In particular, the Texas White House would be open to the public to the greatest extent possible and with the highest level of interpretation. The selected action has only a minor impact upon the national historical park's natural resources.
Measures To Minimize Harm
The Texas State Historic Preservation Office was consulted throughout the development of alternative and ``strongly supports the implementation of Alternative #3, which is the National Park Service's proposed course of action.'' Further consultation will occur prior to implementation of individual actions described within the plan.
A floodplain delineation along Town Creek will be necessary within Johnson City prior to construction to determine whether mitigation measures need to be implemented prior to construction of maintenance facilities. Any bus maintenance facilities constructed for the Ranch District would be designed to be out of the 500 year floodway.
Conclusion
The above factors and considerations justify selection of the alternative identified as the proposed action in the final environmental impact statement.
Dated: August 15, 1999. John T. Tiff, Acting Superintendent, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park.
[FR Doc. 99-21070Filed8-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-70-M
