Oil and Gas Management Plan: Big Thicket National Preserve

This Oil and Gas Management Plan is the first comprehensive plan ever prepared for Big Thicket National Preserve (Preserve) to manage activities associated with the exercise of nonfederal oil and gas interests underlying the Preserve, and surface activities for existing transpark oil and gas pipelines in their associated rights-of-way. This plan is intended to provide consistent direction for the Preserve for the next 15 to 20 years, and possibly longer, if there are no major changes in technology, and impacts do not significantly change from those described. This is a programmatic management plan that establishes a general framework for managing oil and gas operations. By itself, it does not authorize any on-the-ground activities. The NPS will authorize specific projects by reviewing and approving operator-submitted plans of operations or special use permit applications. Before doing so, the NPS will conduct further analysis in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), and other applicable federal laws.