A draft environmental impact report on improvement projects at the California Regional Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, is available for public review and comment. A public hearing on the proposed projects will be held on Sept. 26 at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center on campus. An initial study on these projects was released for public comment in April 2000. Comments, in areas such as animal escapes, stormwater runoff, hazardous waste and public safety, were considered in preparation of the EIR. The potential project-specific impacts were found to be less than significant when mitigation measures were taken into account. These measures are described in the report. Other cumulative impacts were found to be within the bounds predicted in the EIR for UC Davis' Long Range Development Plan, published in 1994. The report covers five projects: seven new outdoor field corrals, with a stormwater retention pond for new and existing corrals; 24 new "corncrib" pens; an office building and a trailer to provide space for the Brain, Mind and Behavior Unit; a rodent facility for the Center for Comparative Medicine; and stormwater drainage improvements including an 18-acre detention pond. When completed, the projects will increase the number of nonhuman primates at the facility from 3,800 to approximately 5,000. Most of the animals are rhesus macaques, with some long-tailed macaques and titi monkeys. The expansion is needed because the pace of research in areas such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and asthma is causing an increased need for research animals. One of eight regional primate centers supported by the National Institutes of Health, the center provides a facility for researchers at UC Davis, other UC campuses and institutions such as Stanford University and the Scripps Research Institute. The report and the public notice for the project are available on the Web at http://www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/environreview/. Copies are also available at: the UC Davis Office of Resource Management and Planning in Mrak Hall and the reserve desks of the Shields Library on campus; the Davis branch of the Yolo County Public Library and the Vacaville Public Library. Written comments on the draft report may be submitted until 5 p.m. on Oct. 15. Comments should be addressed to John Meyer, Office of Resource Management and Planning, 376 Mrak Hall, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 or e-mailed to environreview@ucdavis.edu. More information: -- http://www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/environreview/