FONSI

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent the approval of the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) signaling completion of the Final Environmental Assessment for Opening of the Brook Trout Fishery for Recreational Use. The FONSI was signed on June 11, 2007, and culminates nearly a year of planning in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

Input from the public clearly indicated support for the permitting brook trout within the park and defined by the compendium. A special regulation change will be initiated which may take a year or more. Fishing and harvest will be generally open in streams throughout the park with the exception of newly restored streams, so as to allow for recovery of those newly restored systems. Each restored system will be evaluated on a case by case basis. Monitoring will also be used to assess whether a "catch and release" program should be initiated if at any time the populations appears to be at risk. The park will initiate the development of language to change the regulation, in the interim, the experimental brook trout fishery will continue.

Copies of the FONSI can be obtained from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738

Document Content:

FONSI   (98.0 KB, Word 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.