[Federal Register: July 23, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 140)]
[Notices]
[Page 36502-36503]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23jy09-67]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-ES-2009-N123; 14420-1115-1SGR-A2]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Permit
Application; Greater Sage-Grouse; Washington, Adams, Gem, and Payette
Counties, Idaho
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Receipt of application for enhancement of survival permit;
notice of availability of programmatic candidate conservation agreement
with assurances and draft environmental assessment.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce
receipt of an application for an enhancement of survival permit
(permit) under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA). The permit application includes a proposed
programmatic candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA)
for the Greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter,
sage-grouse) between us and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game
(IDFG). The term of the proposed CCAA is 30 years, and the requested
term of the permit is 30 years. Consistent with the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), we have prepared a
draft environmental assessment (EA) of the impacts of the proposed CCAA
and permit application. We are accepting comments on the application,
the proposed CCAA, and the draft EA.
DATES: We will consider comments we receive on or before August 24,
2009.
ADDRESSES: Address any written comments concerning this notice to
Kendra Womack, Idaho Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 1387 S Vinnell Way, Room 368, Boise, ID 83709. Alternatively,
fax written comments to 208-378-5262, or e-mail comments to
fw1srbocomment@fws.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kendra Womack, 208-378-5243. If you
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the
Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Document Availability
Copies of the permit application, the draft CCAA, and the draft EA
are available for public inspection, by appointment, at the Idaho Fish
and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES), or you may view them on the
Internet at http://www.fws.gov/idaho. We furnish this notice to provide
the public, other State and Federal agencies, and interested Tribes an
opportunity to review and comment on the draft CCAA, permit
application, and draft EA.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Background
Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances encourage non-
Federal property owners to implement conservation efforts for candidate
or at-risk species by assuring property owners they will not be
subjected to increased property use restrictions if the covered
[[Page 36503]]
species becomes listed in the future. Application requirements and
issuance criteria for enhancement of survival permits through CCAAs are
in the Code of Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d),
respectively. See also our joint policy on CCAAs, which we published in
the Federal Register with the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (64
FR 32726; June 17, 1999).
The proposed CCAA is programmatic in nature, and, under it,
individual property owners who wish to participate would enroll their
properties under the IDFG's section 10(a)(1)(A) permit through the
issuance of a Certificate of Inclusion. The individual property owner
would work with IDFG and us to develop a mutually agreeable site-
specific management plan for the enrolled property. The site-specific
plan will address known threats to sage-grouse through the
implementation of identified conservation measures that are consistent
with the participating landowner's land use activities and the CCAA. If
a Certificate of Inclusion is signed and issued to a participating
property owner, they would then be authorized to incidentally take
sage-grouse if the species becomes listed under the ESA in the future,
as long as the terms and conditions of the permit and the existing
site-specific plan are followed.
The area to be covered under this proposed CCAA (Covered Area) is
approximately 930,000 acres (ac) located in the West Central Planning
Area (WCPA) in Washington, Adams, Gem, and Payette Counties, Idaho.
Within the Covered Area, approximately 590,707 ac is non-Federally
owned and would potentially be eligible for enrollment under the
proposed CCAA. Sage grouse use habitats throughout the WCPA, including
lekking (breeding display) areas, and nesting, brood rearing, and
wintering habitats. Accurate estimates of the number of sage-grouse in
the WCPA are not available.
The proposed CCAA identifies important sage-grouse use areas using
a combination of known lek locations, and yearlong telemetry data
identifying nesting, brood-rearing, and wintering habitats. The
proposed CCAA also assumes that there are some areas where land uses or
historic events have reduced habitat values so that they are no longer
used by sage-grouse. However, the inherent physical factors and
proximity to currently used habitat may make these areas candidates for
restoration efforts.
The proposed CCAA is intended to result in benefits to sage-grouse
by reducing or eliminating threats to the species on enrolled
properties, and creating or maintaining habitat conditions that are
suitable for all life-history stages of the species through the
implementation of conservation measures. The proposed CCAA describes
all of the threats to sage-grouse that have been identified in the
WCPA, and a suite of potential conservation actions that could be
implemented to address those threats. The conservation measures that
would be implemented on any enrolled property would be identified in a
site-specific conservation plan for that property. Activities that are
covered under the CCAA and may be included in a site-specific plan as
applicable include range and livestock management, farming operations,
recreational activities, and general ranch operation and maintenance.
These activities are described in more detail in the proposed CCAA.
Consistent with our CCAA Policy (64 FR 32726), the conservation
goal of the proposed CCAA is to encourage enhancement and protection of
suitable sage-grouse habitat on non-Federal lands by either maintaining
or modifying existing land uses so that they are consistent with the
conservation needs of sage-grouse. We can meet this conservation goal
with the use of a CCAA by giving non-Federal landowners incentives to
implement conservation measures, primarily through regulatory certainty
concerning land-use restrictions that might otherwise apply should
sage-grouse become listed under the ESA.
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and the implementing regulations for NEPA (40 CFR
1506.6). We will evaluate the permit application, associated documents,
and comments we receive to determine whether the permit application
meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA and NEPA and its
implementing regulations. If we determine that all requirements are
met, we will sign the proposed CCAA and issue a permit under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to the IDFG for take of sage-grouse. We will not
make our final decision until after the end of the 30-day public
comment period, and we will fully consider all comments we receive
during the public comment period.
Dated: July 15, 2009.
David J. Wesley,
Deputy Regional Director, Region 1, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. E9-17523 Filed 7-22-09; 8:45 am]
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