General Management Plan Amendment

The National Park Service invites public review and comment on a General Management Plan Amendment Environmental Assessment (GMPA/EA) for Wright Brothers National Memorial. The GMPA reviews existing strategies in the park's General Management Plan (issued in 1997) and develops updated long-term strategies (over the next 10-20 years) to improve the visitor experience, maintain the commemorative landscape and provide new administrative and visitor facilities.

Currently, management actions at Wright Brothers National Memorial are guided by the park's 1997 General Management Plan. Many aspects of the plan, largely developed in anticipation of the 2003 Centennial of Flight, have been implemented. However, some management measures were not implemented and a new set of challenges and opportunities present themselves more than 20 years following the original development of the plan.

The GMPA/EA evaluates two alternatives to amend the 1997 General Management Plan - a no-action alternative and the proposed action. The no-action alternative continues the current management of the project area. The proposed action would:

- Redesign the visitor center parking area;
- Create new trails and a multi-use path;
- Add new benches, shade structures, and interpretive waysides through the park;
- Construct a new sheltered open-air interpretive/educational pavilion;
- Conduct vegetation thinning and screening to improve views throughout the park;
- Install recreational vehicle sites for park staff, volunteers or administrative use.;
- Repurpose the partner facility to provide adequate administration space; and
- Continue plans to partner with the town of Kill Devil Hills to provide visitor parking on a 15-acre parcel of across NC 158.

This EA analyzes the potential impacts these alternatives would have on the natural, cultural, historic, and human environment. This EA has been prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 United States Code [USC] 4332[2] [C]); the implementing regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 1500-1508.9); the Department of the Interior NEPA regulations (43 CFR Part 46); and NPS Director's Order #12: Conservation Planning, Environmental Impact Analysis and Decision-Making (NPS 2011) and the accompanying NEPA Handbook (NPS 2015). This document was also prepared to satisfy the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), as amended (36 CFR Part 800) and includes an assessment of effect on historic properties.

Please submit comments by clicking on the "Comment Now" box on the left-hand side of this page. Deadline to submit comments is September 24, 2020.

The preferred method to comment is on this website or you can mail your comments to the address listed below.

Superintendent
Attn: Wright Brothers National Memorial GMPA
1401 National Park Drive
Manteo, NC, 27954

Document Content:

WRBR-GMPA_EA_Camera-Ready_Aug_2020.pdf   (10.3 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.