[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 54 (Monday, March 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15116-15119]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06276]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-ES-2016-N023; FXES11120100000-167-FF01E00000]
Oregon Department of Forestry; Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for
the Northern Spotted Owl and Draft Environmental Assessment
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have
received an application from the Oregon Department of Forestry for an
Endangered Species Act (ESA) Enhancement of Survival Permit (Permit)
for take of the federally threatened northern spotted owl. The Permit
application includes a draft Safe Harbor Agreement (SHA) addressing
Service access to Oregon Department of Forestry lands for the survey
and removal of barred owls as part of the Service's Barred Owl Removal
Experiment (Experiment) in Lane County, Oregon. In response to the
permit application, the Service has prepared a draft Environmental
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Assessment (EA) addressing the permit action. We are making the Permit
application, including the draft SHA and the draft EA, available for
public review and comment.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received from
interested parties by April 20, 2016.
ADDRESSES: To request further information or submit written comments,
please use one of the following methods, and note that your information
request or comments are in reference to the Oregon Department of
Forestry draft SHA and draft EA.
Internet: Documents may be viewed and downloaded on the
Internet at http://www.fws.gov/ofwo/.
Email: barredowlsha@fws.gov. Include ``Oregon Department
of Forestry SHA'' in the subject line of the message.
U.S. Mail: Betsy Glenn; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office; 2600 SE. 98th Ave., Suite 100;
Portland, OR 97266.
Fax: 503-231-6195.
In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call 503-231-6970
to make an appointment (necessary for viewing or pickup only) during
regular business hours at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Oregon
Fish and Wildlife Office; 2600 SE. 98th Ave., Suite 100; Portland, OR
97266. Written comments can be dropped off during regular business
hours at the above address on or before the closing date of the public
comment period (see DATES).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betsy Glenn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (see ADDRESSES), telephone 503-231-6970. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), please call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Oregon Department of Forestry has
applied to the Service for a Permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the
ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The Permit application includes a draft
SHA. The Service has drafted an EA addressing the effects of the
proposed Permit action on the human environment.
The SHA covers approximately 20,000 acres of forest lands
administered by the Oregon Department of Forestry where timber
management activities will occur within the treatment portion of the
Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area of the Experiment in Lane County,
Oregon. The SHA addresses timber management activities only in the
treatment portion of the study area on Oregon Department of Forestry
lands. Impacts to spotted owl associated with the Experiment in non-
treatment portions of the Study Area are addressed in the environmental
review for the Experiment (USFWS 2015). The proposed term of the permit
and the SHA is 13 years. In return for permission to access their lands
for barred owl surveys and removal in support of the Experiment, the
Permit would authorize take of the threatened northern spotted owl
(Strix occidentalis caurina) during the term of the Permit caused by
forest management activities at sites managed by the Department that
may be re-occupied by spotted owls as a result of barred owl removal.
Background
Under a SHA, participating landowners undertake activities on their
property to benefit species listed under the ESA. SHAs and their
associated permits are intended to encourage private and other non-
Federal property owners to implement conservation actions for federally
listed species by assuring the landowners that they will not be
subjected to increased property use restrictions as a result of their
conservation efforts. SHAs must provide a net conservation benefit for
the covered species.
The assurances provided under a SHA and its associated permit allow
the property owner to alter or modify the enrolled property to agreed-
upon baseline conditions, even if such alteration or modification
results in the incidental take of a listed species. The baseline
conditions represent the existing levels of use of the property by the
species covered in the SHA. The SHA assurances are contingent on the
property owner complying with obligations in the SHA and the terms and
conditions of the Permit. The SHA's net conservation benefits must be
sufficient to contribute, either directly or indirectly, to the
recovery of the covered listed species.
Permit application requirements and issuance criteria for SHAs are
found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22(c). The
Service's Safe Harbor Policy (64 FR 32717, June 17, 1999) and the Safe
Harbor Regulations (68 FR 53320, September 10, 2003; and 69 FR 24084,
May 3, 2004) are available at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/regulations-and-policies.html.
Oregon Department of Forestry Safe Harbor Agreement
The proposed Oregon Department of Forestry SHA addresses Service
access to lands administered by the Department in support of
implementing the Experiment (USFWS 2013a) in the Oregon Coast Ranges
Study Area in Lane County, Oregon.
The SHA covers about 20,000 acres of Oregon Department of Forestry
lands where timber management activities will occur within the
treatment portion of the Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area. The treatment
area covers lands owned by many different landowners. The treatment
area includes 57 percent Federal lands, 12 percent State lands, and 31
percent private lands. If barred owl removal leads to the re-occupancy
of currently unoccupied sites by spotted owls on non-Federal lands
administered by the Department that are subject to forest management
activities, in the absence of the proposed SHA and Permit, some
restrictions or limitations on forest management activities on these
lands could occur.
Activities covered under the SHA in the treatment portion of the
Study Area are routine forest management activities: Timber harvest,
road maintenance and construction activities, and rock pit development.
The mission of the Oregon Department of Forestry is to serve the
people of Oregon by protecting, managing, and promoting stewardship of
Oregon's forests to enhance environmental, economic, and community
sustainability. In alignment with this mission, management of State
Forest lands is specifically aimed to provide the ``Greatest Permanent
Value'' to the citizens of the State of Oregon as provided for in
Chapter 530 of the Oregon Revised Statues and further defined in Oregon
Administrative Rule 629-035-0020. The definition of Greatest Permanent
Value includes the protection, maintenance, and enhancement of habitat
for native wildlife. The Oregon Department of Forestry is anticipating
significant changes and fluctuations in spotted owl occupancy status of
well surveyed sites and areas on or near their lands in the treatment
area after barred owl removal occurs and potential short-term
regulatory impacts to operation plans after barred owl removal in the
treatment area occurs.
The purpose of ODF participation in the SHA is to cooperate with
USFWS regarding this recovery action while maintaining a reasonable
level of certainty regarding regulatory requirements impacting forest
operations and management during and after the experiment period. To
support the Experiment, under the SHA, the Oregon Department of
Forestry will provide the researchers access to Oregon Department of
Forestry lands to survey for and to remove barred owls located on
Oregon Department of Forestry lands within the treatment portion of the
Study Area. In addition, Oregon
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Department of Forestry will maintain habitat to support actively
nesting spotted owls on any reoccupied sites on covered lands during
the nesting season.
The Service's Proposed Action
The Service proposes to enter into the SHA and to issue a Permit to
the Oregon Department of Forestry for take of the northern spotted owl
caused by covered activities, if Permit issuance criteria are met. The
Permit would have a total term of 13 years. The permit would start on
the date of issuance and would be in effect through August 31, 2025,
except that for covered activities related to the harvest of timber
sales in non-baseline areas that are auctioned, sold and with a
contract signed by the Oregon Department of Forestry prior to August
31, 2025, permit coverage would extend to August 31, 2028. Harvest of
potentially suitable spotted owl habitat (nesting, roosting, foraging
habitat) on the non-baseline areas will not exceed 3,500 acres during
the term of the Permit.
Monitoring of spotted owls on Oregon Department of Forestry lands
as part of the ongoing spotted owl surveys conducted under the
Northwest Forest Plan Monitoring program has yielded a good dataset
that may be included in the SHA to establish a baseline for the
estimated current occupancy status of each spotted owl site within the
covered area. Any spotted owl sites with a response from at least one
resident spotted owl between 2011 and present are considered in the
baseline of the SHA. Based on this approach, there are 20 baseline
(i.e., currently occupied) and 18 non-baseline (i.e., currently
unoccupied) spotted owl sites in the treatment portion of the Oregon
Coast Ranges Study Area where the Oregon Department of Forestry manages
land.
The conservation benefits for the northern spotted owl under the
SHA arise from the Oregon Department of Forestry's contribution to our
assessment under the Experiment of the efficacy of barred owl removal
to recovery of the spotted owl. That contribution would be provided
under the SHA by their allowing Service access to their roads and lands
for barred owl surveys and, within the treatment area, barred owl
removal. In the Study Area landscape of multiple landowners, access to
interspersed non-Federal road and lands for barred owl surveys and,
within the treatment area, barred owl removal is important to the
efficient and effective completion of the Experiment.
The impact of the increase in non-native barred owl populations as
they expand in the range of the spotted owls has been identified as one
of the primary threats to the continued existence of the spotted owl.
The Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl includes Recovery Action
29--``Design and implement large-scale control experiments to assess
the effects of barred owl removal on spotted owl site occupancy,
reproduction, and survival'' (USFWS 2011, p. III-65). The Service
developed the Barred Owl Removal Experiment to implement this Recovery
Action, completing the EIS and ROD in 2013 (USFWS 2013a and b). The
Service selected a study conducted on four study areas, including the
Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area. Timely results from this experiment are
crucial for informing development of a long-term barred owl management
strategy that is essential to the conservation of the northern spotted
owl.
While the Experiment can be conducted without access to non-Federal
lands, failure to remove barred owls from portions of the treatment
area could reduce the efficiency and weaken the results of the
Experiment regarding any changes in spotted owl population dynamics
resulting from the removal of barred owls and potentially warrant
extending the duration of the Experiment to offset these implications.
The Service has repeatedly indicated the need to gather this
information in a timely manner.
Take of spotted owls under this SHA would likely be in the form of
harm from forest operation activities that result in habitat
degradation, or harassment from forest management activities that cause
disturbance to spotted owls. Incidental take in the form of harassment
by disturbance is most likely to occur near previously occupied spotted
owl nest sites if they become reoccupied. Harm and harassment could
occur during timber operations and management that will continue during
the Permit term. Covered activities are routine timber harvest and road
maintenance and construction activities, including rock pit development
that may disturb spotted owls.
Net Conservation Benefits to the Northern Spotted Owl
As discussed above, Service access to Oregon Department of Forestry
lands provided for under the SHA is important to the efficient and
effective completion of the Experiment within a reasonable timeframe.
Under the SHA, all of the currently occupied spotted owl sites on these
lands are within the baseline for the SHA and no take of these sites is
authorized under the proposed Permit. Under the Permit, if barred owl
removal does allow spotted owls to reoccupy sites that are not
currently occupied (non-baseline), the Oregon Department of Forestry
will be allowed to incidentally take these spotted owls during the term
of the Permit. It is highly unlikely that these sites would ever be
reoccupied by spotted owls without the removal of barred owls.
The removal of barred owls on the Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area
will end within 10 years. The Service anticipates that, once released
from the removal pressure, barred owl populations will rebound to pre-
treatment levels within 3 to 5 years. This is likely to result in the
loss of the newly reoccupied sites. Therefore, any occupancy of these
sites is likely to be temporary and short-term.
The proposed SHA and Permit allow for the incidental take of
spotted owls at 18 non-baseline (i.e., currently unoccupied) sites in
the treatment portion of the Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area if these
sites become reoccupied during the barred owl removal study. Incidental
take spotted owls on non-baseline owl sites that may be reoccupied can
result from disturbance (e.g., noise) from forest management activities
or habitat loss. Disturbance with no habitat loss is a temporary effect
and is not anticipated to disrupt the spotted owl sites to a level that
would affect the results of the experiment. Ten of the 48 historic
spotted owl site centers in the treatment area occur on Oregon
Department of Forestry lands, and three additional sites are close
enough that forest management activities on Oregon Department of
Forestry lands could result in some disturbance of the sites if these
site centers were reoccupied. Take resulting from disturbance is
temporary, short-term, and only likely to occur if activities occur
very close to nesting spotted owls. The Oregon Department of Forestry
is a minor owner on 6 of the 18 sites, with less than 10 percent of the
land ownership and less than 10 percent of the remaining spotted owl
nesting/roosting habitat. Federal lands contain the majority of the
remaining spotted owl nesting/roosting habitat at these six sites.
Thus, assuming these six non-baseline spotted owl sites are re-occupied
by spotted owls, and Oregon Department of Forestry removed all habitat
remaining on their lands within these sites under their Permit, these
sites are likely to remain viable as a result of habitat remaining on
other ownerships, including the Federal agencies. On the remaining 12
sites, Oregon Department of Forestry manages 15 to 79 percent of the
land and 17 to
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84 percent of remaining spotted owl nesting/roosting habitat. Habitat
removal within these nesting and roosting sites could result in loss of
habitat suitability leading to take of spotted owls. To avoid or
minimize the take resulting from disturbance and habitat loss
associated with timber management activities on their lands, the Oregon
Department of Forestry will maintain at least a 70-acre habitat core
for nesting spotted owls that may reoccupy non-baseline sites during
the nesting and rearing season (March 1 to September 30 of the year).
This allows the owl pairs to produce young and contribute to the future
spotted owl population.
The primary conservation value of the Experiment is the information
it provides on the efficacy of removal as a tool to manage barred owl
populations for the conservation of the spotted owl at the range-wide
scale. In the landscape of multiple landowners that exist within the
Oregon Coast Ranges Study Area, access to interspersed non-Federal
lands is important to the efficient and effective completion of the
Experiment within a reasonable time frame under the Oregon Department
of Forestry SHA; thus, researchers will need access to roads and lands
for barred owl surveys and removal. Thus, the take of spotted owls on
the temporarily reoccupied sites is potentially greatly offset by the
value of the information gained from the experiment and its potential
contribution to the range-wide recovery of the spotted owl by the
timely development of a long-term barred owl management strategy. For
this reason, the Service believes this SHA would advance the recovery
of the spotted owl.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
The Service's entering into the proposed SHA and issuance of a
Permit is a Federal action that triggers the need for compliance with
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.) (NEPA). We have prepared a draft EA to analyze the
impacts of this proposed action on the human environment in comparison
to the no-action alternative.
Public Comments
You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods
listed in the ADDRESSES section. We request data, new information, or
suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental agencies,
Tribes, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested
party on our proposed Federal action. In particular, we request
information and comments regarding the following issues:
1. The direct, indirect, and cumulative effects that implementation
of the SHA could have on endangered and threatened species;
2. Other reasonable alternatives consistent with the purpose of the
proposed SHA as described above, and their associated effects;
3. Measures that would minimize and mitigate potentially adverse
effects of the proposed action;
4. Identification of any impacts on the human environment that
should have been analyzed in the draft EA pursuant to NEPA;
5. Other plans or projects that might be relevant to this action;
6. The proposed term of the Permit and whether the proposed SHA
would provide a net conservation benefit to the spotted owl; and
7. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment.
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 personally identifiable
information in your comments, you should be aware that your entire
comment--including your personally identifiable information--may be
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from
public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, will be made available for public disclosure in their
entirety. Comments and materials we receive, as well as supporting
documentation we used in preparing the draft EA, will be available for
public inspection by appointment, during normal business hours, at our
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES).
Next Steps
We will evaluate the draft SHA, associated documents, and any
public comments we receive to determine whether the Permit application
and the EA meet the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA, NEPA, and
their respective implementing regulations. We will also evaluate
whether issuance of a Permit would comply with section 7(a)(2) of the
ESA by conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation on the
proposed Permit action. If we determine that all requirements are met,
we will sign the proposed SHA and issue a Permit under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to the Oregon Department of Forestry, for take
of the northern spotted owl caused by covered activities in accordance
with the terms of the Permit and the SHA. 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 and information we receive during
the public comment period.
Authority
We provide this notice pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA, its
implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22), and NEPA and its implementing
regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Theresa Rabot,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 2016-06276 Filed 3-18-16; 8:45 am]
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