[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23743-23745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9664]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-ES-2012-N081; 10120-1112-0000-F2]
Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Amendment of
the Washington Department of Natural Resources Habitat Conservation
Plan for Forested State Trust Lands
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent; announcement of public scoping meetings;
request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to
conduct public scoping under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) to gather information to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) in anticipation of receiving an application for an
Incidental Take Permit (ITP) amendment under section 10 of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) from the Washington Department of Natural
Resources (WDNR) for their 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for
forested State trust lands. The HCP amendment involves the proposed
replacement of an interim conservation strategy for the threatened
marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), which is currently being
implemented under the HCP, with a long-term conservation strategy. The
proposed amendment to the HCP and the ITP is exclusively limited to
consideration of a long-term conservation strategy for the marbled
murrelet on HCP-covered lands.
DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by
May 21, 2012 (see ADDRESSES section).
Four public scoping meetings will be held to discuss the DEIS, and
we will accept written comments at these meetings. These meetings will
be held on the following dates and at the following locations:
1. April 30, 2012, 6-8 p.m., WDNR, Natural Resource Building, 1st
Floor, 1111 Washington Street SE., Olympia, WA 98504.
2. May 3, 2012, 6-8 p.m., WDNR, Northwest Region Office, 919 N.
Township Street, Sedro Woolley, WA 98284.
3. May 8, 2012, 6-8 p.m., Wahkikum County Courthouse, Pacific
Cascade/River Room, 25 River Street, Cathlamet, WA 98612.
4. May 9, 2012, 6-8 p.m., WDNR, Olympic Region Headquarters, 411
Tillicum Lane, Forks, WA 98331.
ADDRESSES: All comments concerning the preparation of the DEIS,
proposed HCP amendment, and the NEPA process may be submitted by one of
the following methods to WDNR. WDNR will transmit all comments received
to the Service for review and consideration:
Email: sepacenter@dnr.wa.gov.
U.S. Mail: SEPA Responsible Official, Annie Szvetecz,
Washington Department of Natural Resources, SEPA Center, P.O. Box
47001, Olympia, WA 98504-7001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Ostwald of the Service at (360)
753-9564 (phone); Mark_Ostwald@fws.gov (email); or by U.S. mail to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Fish and Wildlife Office,
510 Desmond Dr. SE., Suite 102, Lacey, WA 98503; or, alternatively,
contact Annie Szvetecz, SEPA Responsible Official, WDNR, at (360) 902-
112 (phone); sepacenter@dnr.wa.gov (email). In addition, information on
this proposed action is also available at the WDNR's Web site at http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ResearchScience/Topics/TrustLandsHCP/Pages/lm_hcp_marbled_murrelet_main.aspx and the Service's Web site at http://www.fws.gov/wafwo/index.html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Meeting Location Accommodation
Persons needing reasonable accommodations in order to attend and
participate in the public scoping meetings should contact Mark Ostwald
with the Service or Annie Szvetecz with the WDNR (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT above). In order to allow sufficient time to
process requests, please call no later than one week before the public
meeting. Information regarding this proposed action is available in
alternative formats upon request.
Background
In 1996, the WDNR released their draft HCP for forest management
activities covering 1.6 million acres of forested State trust lands
within the range of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis
caurina) in Washington. A DEIS (dated March 1996) jointly developed by
the Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the WDNR was
announced in the Federal Register on April 5, 1996 (61 FR 15297). The
DEIS analyzed reasonable management alternatives, including the HCP. A
notice of availability for the Final EIS (FEIS) was published in the
Federal Register on November 1, 1996 (61 FR 56563). On January 30,
1997, the Service issued an ITP (PRT No. 812521) for the WDNR HCP. The
Service's ITP decision and the availability of related decision
documents were announced in the Federal Register on February 27, 1997
(62 FR 8980).
The WDNR HCP commits WDNR to developing a long-term conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet (HCP IV. 39). However, during
development of the HCP, it was determined that there was not enough
scientific information to credibly develop a long-term conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet on WDNR lands. For that reason, the
WDNR developed an interim conservation strategy for the marbled
murrelet (HCP IV. 39), which is currently being implemented. The
principal intent of the interim conservation strategy was to locate
occupied marbled murrelet sites and not foreclose future options for
long-term conservation of the marbled murrelet on WDNR lands. Briefly,
the interim marbled murrelet conservation strategy included the
following: (1) Suitable habitat blocks are identified, with harvest on
these blocks deferred; (2) habitat relationship studies are undertaken
to determine the relative importance, based on occupancy, of identified
habitat blocks; (3) following completion of the habitat relationship
studies, the lowest quality habitat blocks are made available for
timber harvest (these areas, in the poorest quality habitats, were
expected to contain about 5 percent of the murrelet-occupied sites on
HCP-covered lands); (4) the higher quality habitat blocks identified
from the habitat relationships study are surveyed for marbled murrelet
occupancy, and occupied habitat are protected, along with some
unoccupied habitat; and (5) development of a long-term conservation
strategy for marbled murrelets is undertaken on WDNR lands.
For southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula, the WDNR has
completed steps 1 through 4 listed above. For step 5, the WDNR
contemplated proposing an amendment
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to the WDNR HCP once the long-term conservation strategy for the
marbled murrelet was submitted to the Service. An amendment to the HCP
(and the ITP) involves both Federal and State action subject to NEPA
(42 U.S.C. 4341) and the State Environmental Policy Act (Ch. 43.21C
RCW; SEPA), respectively. On September 15, 2006, the Service published
a notice in the Federal Register (71 FR 54515) announcing our intent to
conduct public scoping for the HCP and ITP amendments in anticipation
of receiving an application for an ITP amendment from the WDNR.
However, a proposed HCP amendment was not submitted by the WDNR at that
time.
Proposed Action
We are now reinitiating the NEPA scoping process with this Federal
Register notice. The Service and WDNR have determined it is appropriate
to prepare the DEIS as joint lead agencies pursuant to our respective
authorities under NEPA (40 C.F.R. 1501.5) and SEPA (WAC 197-11-944) and
to reinitiate and expand public scoping due to the passage of time
since the original scoping notice was issued.
Unlike the HCP amendment described in the September 15, 2006,
Federal Register notice (71 FR 54515) that involved a proposed long-
term conservation strategy for the marbled murrelet in southwest
Washington and the Olympic Peninsula, the long-term conservation
strategy discussed herein is for all WDNR lands within the range of the
marbled murrelet. The WDNR and the Service both conclude that adequate
information is currently available that can inform the proposal at the
Statewide WDNR scale.
The WDNR's existing ITP authorizes specific levels and types of
incidental take of the marbled murrelet. The current ITP was
principally structured to meet the needs of the interim conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet, which the WDNR now desires to
replace with a long-term strategy. It is possible that the long-term
conservation strategy may warrant a revision of the ITP to address
additional incidental take of the marbled murrelet not previously
authorized. Accordingly, the level of take, general locations of
potential incidental take, timing of incidental take, minimization and
mitigation strategies, enhancement activities, and research and
monitoring plans will be described in the long-term conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet and in the DEIS.
In order for the Service to evaluate WDNR's request for an ITP
amendment, the WDNR must submit the proposed long-term conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet to the Service for analysis. The
Service will ultimately determine whether the WDNR HCP, as amended by
the long-term conservation strategy for the marbled murrelet, satisfies
the ESA section 10 permit issuance criteria and other applicable laws
and/or regulations.
In 2008, the WDNR released a technical report entitled
Recommendations and Supporting Analysis of Conservation Opportunities
for the Marbled Murrelet Long-Term Conservation Strategy (http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/lm_mamu_sci_team_report.pdf) (Report).
This Report was developed by an interagency scientific team of marbled
murrelet experts and focused on marbled murrelet conservation in
southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula. The Report:
Characterized marbled murrelet ecology and life history, recommended
landscape conservation approaches for WDNR lands, described marbled
murrelet habitat assessment methods, reported marbled murrelet habitat
assessment results, and described adaptive management concepts. The
Report provided recommendations and analysis for the WDNR and the
Service to consider while the WDNR develops a long-term conservation
strategy for the marbled murrelet on the lands it manages.
Statutory Requirements
Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1538) and implementing regulations
prohibit the taking of animal species listed as endangered or
threatened. The term ``take'' is defined under the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1532(19)) to mean ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill,
trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct.'' ``Harm'' is defined by the Service to include significant
habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures
listed species by significantly impairing essential behavioral
patterns, including breeding, feeding, and sheltering (50 CFR 17.3).
``Harass'' is defined by the Service as actions that create the
likelihood of injury to listed species to such an extent as to
significantly disrupt normal behavior patterns which include, but are
not limited to, breeding, feeding or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3).
Section 10 of the ESA and implementing regulations specify
requirements for the issuance of ITPs to non-Federal landowners for the
incidental take of endangered and threatened species. Such take must be
incidental to otherwise lawful activities, not appreciably reduce the
likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species in the wild, and
the impacts of the take on the listed species must be minimized and
mitigated by the permittee to the maximum extent practicable. An
applicant for an ITP must prepare a HCP describing the impacts that
will likely result from such taking, the conservation program for
minimizing and mitigating those take impacts, the funding available to
implement the conservation program, the alternatives considered by the
applicant to avoid such taking, and the reason(s) such alternatives are
not being implemented.
NEPA requires that Federal agencies conduct an environmental
analysis of their proposed actions to determine if the actions may
significantly affect the human environment. Under NEPA, a reasonable
range of alternatives to a proposed action is developed and considered
in the Federal agency's environmental review. Alternatives considered
for analysis in an EIS such as the one contemplated herein may include:
Variations in the location, amount, and type of conservation;
variations in the amount of active forest management; adaptive
management and variations in adaptive management; variations in permit
duration; or a combination of these elements and others, and no action.
In addition, an EIS will identify any potentially significant direct,
indirect, and cumulative impacts on biological resources, land use, air
quality, water quality, water resources, socioeconomics, and other
environmental issues that could occur with the implementation of the
proposed action and alternatives. For potentially significant impacts,
the EIS may identify avoidance, minimization, or mitigation measures to
reduce these impacts, where feasible, to a level below significance.
Scoping Meetings
See DATES above for the dates, times and locations of the public
scoping meetings for development of a DEIS for amending the WDNR HCP
and ITP. The purpose of the scoping process is to seek the public's
views regarding the appropriate range of alternatives that should be
analyzed in the DEIS, the need, purpose, and objectives of the
proposal, the impacts that should be considered, and existing
environmental information relevant to the analysis. The scoping
meetings will allocate time for presentations by the Service and the
WDNR, followed by informal questions and discussions. To ensure that a
full range of issues related to the anticipated amendment are
identified, we
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encourage written comments from interested parties.
Public Comments
The primary purpose of the scoping process is for the public to
assist the Service and WDNR in developing the DEIS by identifying
important issues and alternatives related to WDNR's proposed HCP
amendment. To constructively guide the development of the DEIS, the
WDNR and Service jointly identified the Need, Purpose, and Objectives
of the proposed action to be consistent with those of the current WDNR
HCP as follows:
Need: To obtain long-term certainty for timber harvest and
other management activities on forested State trust lands and to
contribute to long-term conservation for the marbled murrelet,
consistent with commitments in the 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan.
Purpose: To develop a long-term habitat conservation
strategy for marbled murrelets on forested State trust lands in the six
west-side planning units, subject to DNR's fiduciary responsibility to
the trust beneficiaries as defined by law and the Service's
responsibilities under the ESA.
Objectives:
1. Trust Mandate: Generate revenue and other benefits for each
trust by meeting DNR's trust responsibilities, including: Making trust
property productive, preserving the corpus of the trust, exercising
reasonable care and skill in managing the trust, acting prudently with
respect to trust property, acting with undivided loyalty to trust
beneficiaries, and acting impartially with respect to current and
future trust beneficiaries.
2. Marbled Murrelet Habitat: Provide forest conditions in strategic
locations on forested trust lands that minimize and mitigate incidental
take of marbled murrelet resulting from DNR's forest management
activities. In accomplishing this objective, we expect to make a
significant contribution to maintaining and protecting marbled murrelet
populations.
3. Active Management: Promote active, innovative and sustainable
management on the forested trust land base.
4. Operational Flexibility: Provide flexibility to respond to new
information and site-specific conditions.
5. Implementation Certainty: Adopt feasible, practical, and cost-
effective actions that are likely to be successful and can be sustained
throughout the life of the HCP.
The Service requests that comments be specific. In particular, we
request information regarding:
Baseline environmental conditions in the plan area;
Need, Purpose, and Objectives identified above;
Other possible alternatives that meet the Need, Purpose,
and Objectives;
Direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts that
implementation of a proposed amendment or other alternatives that are
based upon the Need, Purpose, and Objectives could have on marbled
murrelets and other species, and their communities and habitats;
Marbled murrelet ecology;
Potential adaptive management and/or monitoring
provisions;
Funding issues;
Other plans or projects that might be relevant to this
proposed project;
Minimization and mitigation concepts;
Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects
of the proposed action on the human environment.
Comments regarding these issues as they relate to management of
WDNR lands for marbled murrelet conservation should be submitted by one
of the methods listed in ADDRESSES.
The WDNR and the Service intend to develop an initial set of
conceptual alternatives to aid in the assessment of the appropriate
range of alternatives to be analyzed in the DEIS. The conceptual
alternatives are intended to broadly describe different approaches to
the long-term conservation strategy for the marbled murrelet on WDNR
HCP-covered lands for the purpose of public feedback prior to
refinement of alternatives in the DEIS. We intend to provide the public
the opportunity to comment on the initial set of conceptual
alternatives before completing the selection of the range of
alternatives that will be formally presented in the DEIS. We do not
expect to publish a notice in the Federal Register for this
opportunity. To enable the public to comment on conceptual alternatives
before the DEIS is published, the Service and the WDNR will announce
this opportunity on our respective web sites (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT) and in other forms of media, and we will also send
notification to people who respond to this scoping notice, attend our
public scoping meeting attendees, or requests to be notified.
The DEIS is expected to be completed and available to the public in
the winter of 2012. Once the DEIS is prepared, there will be an
additional opportunity announced for public comment on all aspects and
content of the DEIS through a Federal Register notice of availability.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments and materials we receive become part of the public
record associated with this action. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comments, 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. Comments and materials we
receive will be available for public inspection by appointment, during
normal business hours, at our office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT).
Authority
The environmental review of this proposed action will be conducted
in accordance with the requirements of NEPA, the Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508), other applicable
Federal laws and regulations, and policies and procedures of the
Service. This notice is being furnished in accordance with 40 CFR
1501.7 of NEPA to obtain suggestions and information from other
agencies and the public on the scope of issues and alternatives to be
addressed in the DEIS.
Dated: April 2, 2012.
Richard Hannan,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 2012-9664 Filed 4-19-12; 8:45 am]
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