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See section 3.2 for the
process to follow when the proposal is described in one of the following
categories:
A. Actions related to general administration
- Changes or amendments to
an approved action when such changes would cause no environmental impact.
- Minor boundary changes that
are accomplished through existing statutory authorities and that result
in no change in land use.
- Reissuance/renewal of permits,
rights-of-way, or easements not involving new environmental impacts
provided that the impacts of the original actions were evaluated in
an environmental document.
- Conversion of existing permits
to rights-of-way, when such conversions neither continue nor potentially
initiate adverse environmental conditions provided that the impacts
of the original actions were evaluated in an environmental document.
- Issuances, extensions, renewals,
reissuances, or minor modifications of concession contracts or permits
that do not entail new construction or any potential for new environmental
impact as a result of concession operations.
- Incidental business permits
(formerly called commercial use licenses) involving no construction
or potential for new environmental impact.
- Leasing of historic properties
in accordance with 36 CFR 18 and NPS-38.
- Modifications or revisions
to existing regulations, or the promulgation of new regulations for
NPS-administered areas, provided the modifications, revisions, or new
regulations do not:
(a) increase public use to the extent of compromising the nature and
character of the area or cause physical damage to it.
(b) introduce non-compatible uses that might compromise the nature and
characteristics of the area or cause physical damage to it.
(c) conflict with adjacent ownerships or land uses.
(d) cause a nuisance to adjacent owners or occupants.
- At the direction of the
NPS responsible official, actions where NPS has concurrence or co-approval
with another bureau and the action is a CE for that bureau, and where
NPS agrees that there is no potential for environmental impact.
- Routine transfers of jurisdiction
between the NPS and the District of Columbia accomplished through existing
statutory authority, where no change of use in the land is anticipated
upon transfer.
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B. Plans, studies, and reports
- Changes or amendments to
an approved plan, when such changes have no potential for environmental
impact.
- Cultural resources maintenance
guides, collection management plans, historic furnishings reports, or
their equivalents.
- Interpretive plans (interpretive
prospectuses, audio-visual plans, museum exhibit plans, wayside exhibit
plans).
- Plans, including priorities,
justifications, and strategies, for non-manipulative research, monitoring,
inventorying, and information-gathering.
- Agreements between NPS offices
for plans and studies.
- Authorization, funding,
or approval for the preparation of statewide comprehensive outdoor recreation
plans.
- Adoption or approval of
academic or research surveys, studies, reports, and similar documents
that do not contain and will not result in NPS recommendations.
- Land protection plans that
propose changes to existing land or visitor use when the changes have
no potential for environmental impact.
C. Actions related to development
- Land acquisition within
established park boundaries, if future anticipated uses would have no
potential for environmental impact.
- Land exchanges that will
not lead to anticipated changes in the use of land and that have no
potential for environmental impact.
- Routine maintenance and
repairs to non-historic structures, facilities, utilities, grounds,
and trails.
- Routine
maintenance and repairs to cultural resource sites, structures, utilities,
and grounds if the action falls under an approved Historic Structures
Preservation Guide or Cyclic Maintenance Guide (or equivalent guides),
or if the action would not adversely affect the cultural resource.
- Installation of signs, displays,
and kiosks.
- Installation of navigation
aids.
- Experimental testing of
short duration (no more than one season) of mass transit systems, and
changes in operation of existing systems, that have no potential for
environmental impact.
- Replacement in kind of minor
structures and facilities with little or no change in location, capacity,
or appearance — for example, comfort stations, pit toilets, fences,
kiosks, signs, and campfire circles.
- Repair, resurfacing, striping,
installation of traffic control devices, and repair/replacement of guardrails,
culverts, signs, and other minor existing features on existing roads
when no potential for environmental impact exists.
- Changes in sanitary facilities
operation resulting in no new environmental effects.
- Installation of wells, comfort
stations, and pit or vault toilets in areas of existing use and in developed
areas.
- Minor trail relocation or
development of compatible trail networks on logging roads or other established
routes.
- Upgrading or adding new
overhead utility facilities on existing poles, or on replacement poles
that do not change existing pole line configurations.
- Issuance of rights-of-way
for overhead utility lines to an individual building or well from an
existing line where installation will not result in visual intrusion
and will involve no clearance of vegetation other than for placement
of poles.
- Issuance of rights-of-way
for minor overhead utility lines not involving placement of poles or
towers and not involving vegetation management or visual intrusion in
an area administered by NPS.
- Installation of underground
utilities in areas showing clear evidence of recent human disturbance
or areas within an existing road prism or within an existing overhead
utility right-of-way.
- Minor landscaping in areas
showing clear evidence of recent human disturbance.
- Installation of fencing
enclosures, exclosures, or boundary fencing posing no effect on wildlife
migrations.
D. Actions related to visitor use
- Minor changes in amounts
or types of visitor use for the purpose of ensuring visitor safety or
resource protection in accordance with existing regulations.
- Minor changes in programs
and regulations pertaining to visitor activities.
- Issuance of permits for
demonstrations, gatherings, ceremonies, concerts, arts and crafts shows,
and so forth, entailing only short-term or readily remediable environmental
disturbance.
- Designation of trailside
camping zones with minimal or no improvements.
E. Actions related to resource management
and protection
- Archeological surveys and
permits involving only surface collection or small-scale test excavations.
- Restoration of noncontroversial
(based on internal scoping requirements in section
2.6) native species into suitable habitats within their historic
range.
- Removal of individual members
of a non-threatened/endangered species or populations of pests and exotic
plants that pose an imminent danger to visitors or an immediate threat
to park resources.
- Removal of non-historic
materials and structures in order to restore natural conditions when
the removal has no potential for environmental impacts, including impacts
to cultural landscapes or archeological resources.
- Development of standards
for, and identification, nomination, certification, and determination
of, eligibility of properties for listing in the National Register of
Historic Places, the National Historic Landmark and National Natural
Landmark Programs, and biosphere reserves.
- Non-destructive data collection,
inventory (including field, aerial, and satellite surveying and mapping),
study, research, and monitoring activities (this is also a Departmental
CE).
- Designation of environmental
study areas and research natural areas, including those closed temporarily
or permanently to the public, unless the potential for environmental
(including socioeconomic) impact exists.
F. Actions
related to grant programs
- Proposed actions essentially
the same as those listed in paragraphs A-E above.
- Grants for acquisition of
areas that will continue in the same use or lower density use with no
additional disturbance to the natural setting or type of use.
- Grants for replacement or
renovation of facilities at their same location without altering the
kind and amount of recreational, historical, or cultural resources of
the area or the integrity of the existing setting.
- Grants for construction
of facilities on lands acquired under a previous NPS or other federal
grant, provided that the development is in accord with plans submitted
with the acquisition grant, and that environmental documents have been
completed on the impacts of the proposal funded by the original grant.
- Grants for the construction
of new facilities within an existing park or recreation area, provided
that the facilities will not:
(a) conflict with adjacent ownerships or land use, or cause a nuisance
to adjacent owners or occupants, such as would happen if use were extended
beyond daylight hours.
(b) introduce motorized recreation vehicles, including off-road vehicles,
personal water craft, and snowmobiles.
(c) introduce active recreation pursuits into a passive recreation area.
(d) increase public use or introduce non-compatible uses to the extent
of compromising the nature and character of the property or causing
physical damage to it.
(e) add or alter access to the park from the surrounding area.
- Grants for the restoration,
rehabilitation, stabilization, preservation, and reconstruction (or
the authorization thereof) of properties listed on or eligible for listing
on the National Register of Historic Places, at their same location,
and provided that such actions:
(a) will not alter the integrity of the property or its setting.
(b) will not increase public use of the area to the extent of compromising
the nature and character of the property.
(c) will not cause a nuisance to adjacent property owners or occupants.
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3.4
Categorical Exclusions — CEs for Which A Record is Needed