[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 15, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22510-22512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-10306]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R8-ES-2018-N016; FF08ESMF00-FXES11140800000-189]
Habitat Conservation Plan for South Sacramento County,
California; Final Joint Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental
Impact Report
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of a final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS/EIR) that evaluates the effects of issuing a 50-
year incidental take permit (ITP or Permit) under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended, for 28 species covered under the final
South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan (SSHCP, or Plan). The final
EIS/EIR and the final SSHCP documents reflect changes resulting from
comments received during a 90-day public review of the draft EIS/EIR
and the draft SSHCP. This notice provides an opportunity for the public
to review the responses to comments and review the final documents.
DATES: A Record of Decision on the ITP application will be signed no
sooner than 30 days after the Environmental Protection Agency's notice
in the Federal Register announcing receipt of this final EIS/EIR. We
will accept written comments on the final EIS/EIR or the final SSHCP
documents that are received or postmarked on or before June 14, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may obtain the final documents by one of the following
methods:
Internet: You may download electronic copies of the final
EIS/EIR and the final HCP document from the SSHCP website at http://www.southsachcp.com, or from the Sacramento County Project Viewer
website at https://planningdocuments.saccounty.net/
[[Page 22511]]
ViewProjectDetails.aspx?ControlNum=2003-0637.
U.S. Mail: CD-ROMs of the final EIR/EIS and the final
SSHCP are available, by request, from the County Environmental
Coordinator, at the County of Sacramento, Office of Planning and
Environmental Review, 827 7th Street, Room 225, Sacramento, CA 95814;
or by email at SSHCP@saccounty.net; or by phone at (916) 874-6141.
Please note that your request is in reference to the SSHCP.
In-Person: Hardbound copies of the final EIR/EIS and the
final SSHCP documents are also available for public inspection and
review at the following locations, during normal business hours:
[cir] Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Room
W-2605, Sacramento CA 95825.
[cir] County of Sacramento, 827 7th Street, Room 225, Sacramento,
CA 95814.
[cir] Sacramento Public Library, Central Library, 828 I Street,
Sacramento, CA 95814.
You may submit written comments on the final documents by one of
the following methods:
Electronically: Submit via email to: SSHCP@saccounty.net,
and include ``Final SSHCP'' in the subject line,
By hard copy: (1) Submit by U.S. mail to: County
Environmental Coordinator, at the County of Sacramento address above,
or call (916) 874-6141 to make an appointment during regular business
hours to drop off written comments at that location; or (2) submit by
U.S. mail to Jan C. Knight, Deputy Field Supervisor, at the Sacramento
Fish and Wildlife Office address above, or by facsimile to (916) 414-
6714, or call (916) 414-6700 to make an appointment during regular
business hours to drop off written comments at that location.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: (1) Contact Nina Bicknese, Endangered
Species Division, or Jan C. Knight, Deputy Field Supervisor, at the
Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office address shown above, or at (916)
414-6700 (telephone) for information on the SSHCP EIS/EIR. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf, please call the Federal Relay
Service at (800) 877-8339, or (2) contact Marianne Biner, Senior
Planner, at the County of Sacramento address shown above, or at (916)
874-6141 for information on the final SSHCP EIS/EIR.; or (3) Kim
Hudson, Senior Planner, at the County of Sacramento address shown
above, or at (916) 874-5849 for information on the final SSHCP and
associated documents.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces the availability of
the final SSHCP, prepared by the Permit Applicants in compliance with
section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-
1544; ESA). This notice also announces the availability of the final
EIS/EIR for the SSHCP (final EIS/EIR or final SSHCP EIS/EIR), prepared
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 as amended
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; NEPA) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
1500-1508), and also prepared pursuant to the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA). We have prepared a joint EIS/EIR due to the
combined local, State, and Federal discretionary actions and permits
that are associated with the SSHCP. The co-lead agencies for the final
SSHCP EIS/EIR are Sacramento County, pursuant to CEQA, and the Service,
pursuant to NEPA. The cooperating agencies for the EIS/EIR are the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. With this notice, we
continue the NEPA process, which included a notice in the Federal
Register on June 2, 2017 (82 FR 25612), in which we announced the
availability of the draft EIS/EIR and the draft SSHCP for public
comment.
Background
Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA, the Service may issue permits
to authorize ``incidental take'' of listed animal species, which the
ESA defines as take that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, the
carrying out of otherwise lawful activities. Take of listed fish and
wildlife is defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt,
shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage
in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1538). Harm includes significant
habitat modification or degradation that results in death or injury to
listed wildlife species by significantly impairing essential behavioral
patterns, including breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3).
In addition to meeting other criteria, activities covered by an
incidental take permit must not jeopardize the continued existence in
the wild of federally listed wildlife or plants. Although take of
listed plant species is not prohibited under the ESA, plant species may
be included on an incidental take permit in recognition of the
conservation benefits provided to them by a habitat conservation plan.
All species included on an incidental take permit would receive
assurances under the Service's ``No Surprises'' regulation [50 CFR
17.22(b)(5) and 17.32(b)(5)]. For more about the Federal HCP program,
go to https://www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/hcp-overview.html.
Regulations governing incidental take permits for threatened and
endangered species are at 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22, respectively.
We propose to issue a 50-year permit for the incidental take of 28
covered species caused by future urban development, transportation, and
infrastructure projects described in the General Plans of Sacramento
County, the City of Rancho Cordova, and City of Galt, and would be
permitted or authorized by the County of Sacramento, the City of Galt,
the City of Rancho Cordova, the Sacramento County Water Agency, or the
Capital SouthEast Connector Joint Powers Authority (together, the
Permit Applicants. The Permit Applicants are also forming a Joint
Powers Authority (JPA) to be named the South Sacramento Conservation
Agency, which would implement the SSHCP after it is approved and
permitted. Following the formation of the South Sacramento Conservation
Agency JPA, we anticipate that the Permit Applicants will submit an
application to the Service to add the JPA to the incidental take
permit.
The proposed SSHCP is a regional strategy that would assure the
permanent conservation of 28 covered species and their habitats within
a 317,656-acre Plan Area, and would provide a comprehensive approach to
the protection and long-term management of the relatively undisturbed
vernal pool ecosystems that remain in the Plan Area. The SSHCP covered
species include the federally endangered vernal pool tadpole shrimp
(Lepidurus packardi), the threatened vernal pool fairy shrimp
(Branchinecta lynchi), the threatened Valley elderberry longhorn beetle
(Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), the threatened California tiger
salamander (Ambystoma californiense), the threatened giant garter snake
(Thamnophis gigas), the endangered Sacramento Orcutt grass (Orcuttia
viscida), the threatened slender Orcutt grass (Orcuttia tenuis), as
well as 21 unlisted species that have potential to become listed during
the proposed permit term. Incidental take authorization for an unlisted
SSHCP covered species would become effective concurrent with its
listing under the ESA, should listing occur during the permit term.
The proposed SSHCP would also provide a more streamlined and a more
predictable process for Federal and State permitting of urban
development and infrastructure covered activities within the SSHCP Plan
Area. All SSHCP
[[Page 22512]]
covered activities would incorporate measures that avoid or minimize
the impacts of the incidental take to the maximum extent practicable.
In total, the proposed SSHCP covered activities could result in the
development and unavoidable loss of up to 33,639 acres of natural
landcovers and species habitat present within the Plan Area. These
losses would be mitigated by implementation of the SSHCP conservation
strategy, which includes the establishment of a minimum 34,494-acre
interconnected preserve system in south Sacramento County, and the re-
establishment or establishment of at least 1,787 acres of aquatic
habitat, to provide a total SSHCP Preserve System of 36,281 acres. The
entire SSHCP Preserve System would be preserved, monitored, and managed
in perpetuity for the benefit of the covered species and their natural
habitats. The issuance of the ITP is conditioned on the final SSHCP
meeting all criteria in section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
We published an initial notice of intent (NOI) to prepare a draft
SSHCP EIS/EIR in the Federal Register on Wednesday, June 10, 2008 (73
FR 32729), published a revised NOI on November 4, 2013 (78 FR 66058),
and we published the notice of availability (NOA) of the draft SSHCP
EIS/EIR on June 2, 2017 (82 FR 25612), which included a 90-day public
comment period.
The final SSHCP EIS/EIR studies three alternatives: The No Action
Alternative, the Proposed Action Alternative, and the Reduced Permit
Term Alternative. The Service has identified the Proposed Action
Alternative as the preferred alternative. We received 26 comment
letters on the draft EIS/EIR and the draft SSHCP. A response to each
comment received in these letters has been included in the final EIS/
EIR document. Minor revisions to the final EIS/EIR or to the final
SSHCP have been made to address the comments received on the draft
documents. The descriptions and analysis of the three SSHCP
alternatives studied in the final EIS/EIR generally remain the same as
presented in the draft EIS/EIR.
Public Review
Copies of the final EIS/EIR and the final SSHCP documents are
available (see ADDRESSES) for a 30-day public review period (see
DATES). If you wish to comment on the final documents, you may submit
your comments to the address provided in ADDRESSES. Before including
your address, phone number, email 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 may 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.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the incidental take permit application, the
associated documents, and any public comments submitted during the
final EIS/EIR review period to determine whether the permit application
meets all requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA. The Service will
then prepare a concise public record of our decision (the Record of
Decision). Our permit decision will be made no sooner than 30 days
after the publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's notice
of this final EIS/EIR in the Federal Register. After they are completed
and signed, the Record of Decision and the incidental take permit will
be available on our web page at https://www.fws.gov/sacramento.
Michael Long,
Acting Assistant Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Pacific Southwest Region, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 2018-10306 Filed 5-14-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P