[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51366-51367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19916]
[[Page 51366]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2021-0056; FF06E21000 212 FXES11140600000]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Enhancement of
Survival Permit Application; Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement and
Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances for 14 Aquatic Species
and Associated Categorical Exclusion; State of Kansas
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), are
announcing the availability of documents related to an application for
an enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered Species
Act. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has applied for a
permit associated with the implementation of a programmatic safe harbor
agreement (SHA) and candidate conservation agreement with assurances
(CCAA) for 14 aquatic species in Kansas. The documents available for
review and comment are the applicant's programmatic SHA/CCAA, which is
part of the permit application, and our draft environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form, which support a categorical
exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. We invite
comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local
governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
October 15, 2021. Comments submitted online at Regulations.gov (see
ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 15,
2021.
ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as
well as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be
available for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2021-
0056 at http://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: To submit written comments, please use one of
the following methods, and note that your information requests or
comments are in reference to the Kansas Aquatic SHA/CCAA.
Online: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments to Docket Number FWS-R6-ES-2021-
0056.
U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R6-ES-2021-0056; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We request that you send comments by only one of the methods
described above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gibran Suleiman, by phone at 785-539-
3474, extension 114, by email at gibran_suleiman@fws.gov, or via the
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received an application from Kansas Department of
Wildlife and Parks (KDWP, applicant). The applicant has applied for a
50-year enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The
application addresses the potential take of five aquatic species
associated with the implementation of a programmatic safe harbor
agreement (SHA) and nine aquatic species associated with the
implementation of a programmatic candidate conservation agreement with
assurances (CCAA) on non-Federal lands in the State of Kansas. The
documents available for review and comment are the applicant's
programmatic SHA/CCAA, which is part of the permit application, and our
draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form,
which support a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental
Policy Act. We invite comments on all of the documents from the public
and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.
Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements With
Assurances
A SHA is an agreement between the Service, partners, and
landowners, for voluntary management of non-Federal lands to contribute
towards recovery of an ESA-listed species in a manner that is
consistent with the Service's policy on SHAs (64 FR 32717, June 17,
1999) and applicable regulations. A CCAA is an agreement between the
Service, partners, and landowners for voluntary management of non-
Federal lands to remove or reduce key threats to species that may
become listed under the ESA, in a manner that is consistent with the
Service's policy on CCAAs (81 FR 95164, December 27, 2016) and
applicable regulations. In return for implementing conservation
measures in a SHA/CCAA, the Service gives participants assurances that
the Service will not impose land, water, or resource use restrictions
or conservation requirements on ESA-listed species, or those that may
become listed, beyond those agreed to in the SHA/CCAA.
Applicant's Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement/Candidate Conservation
Agreement With Assurances
The KDWP has submitted this programmatic SHA/CCAA to facilitate the
reintroduction and implementation of conservation measures for the
covered species on non-Federal lands in Kansas. The documents available
for review and comment are the applicant's programmatic SHA/CCAA, which
is part of the permit application, and our draft environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form, which support a categorical
exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act.
To enroll in the programmatic SHA/CCAA, a non-Federal landowner
would enter into a landowner agreement with KDWP to enroll all or a
portion of their property under the SHA and/or CCAA. Upon signature by
both parties, KDWP would issue a certificate of inclusion to the non-
Federal landowner, extending assurances and take authorization to the
participating landowner for the appropriate covered species. The
requested permit duration is for 50 years from permit issuance.
Proposed conservation measures include the introduction,
reintroduction, augmentation, or translocation of the covered species,
and protection or enhancement of aquatic, wetland, riparian, or
adjacent upland habitats for the covered species. Conservation measures
would be site-specific and developed by the participating landowner and
KDWP. Incidental take of covered species may occur as a result of the
implementation of conservation measures or ongoing land management
activities on the enrolled lands.
Covered Species
The five ESA-listed species included as covered species in the SHA
are the Federally threatened Neosho madtom (Noturus placidus), Arkansas
River shiner (Notropis girardi), and rabbitsfoot (Quadrula cylindrica
cylindrica) and the Federally endangered Topeka shiner (Notropis
topeka) and Neosho mucket (Lampsilis rafinesqueana). The covered
species included in the CCAA are the alligator snapping turtle
(Macrochelys temminckii), peppered chub (Macrhybopsis tetranema),
plains minnow (Hybognathus placitus), silver chub (Macrhybopsis
storeriana), hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus), butterfly mussel
(Ellipsaria lineolata), fluted shell (Lasmigona costata), cylindrical
papershell (Anodontoides ferussacianus), and flat floater (Anodonta
suborbiculata).
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Public Availability of Comments
Written comments we receive become part of the administrative
record associated with this action. 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 can request in your comment that we
withhold your personal identifying 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.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32)
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40
CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46).
Stephen Small,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie
Region.
[FR Doc. 2021-19916 Filed 9-14-21; 8:45 am]
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