[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 235 (Friday, December 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70514-70515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26828]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2021-0126; FXES11140300000-212]
Aitkin-Carlton Counties Habitat Conservation Plan, Aitkin and
Carlton Counties, Minnesota; Receipt of an Application for an
Incidental Take Permit, Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan; Categorical
Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of documents; request for comments and
information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an
application from Aitkin and Carlton Counties for an incidental take
permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act for the proposed Aitkin-
Carlton Counties Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). If approved, the ITP
would authorize the incidental take of three bat species for a 25-year
period. The applicant has prepared an HCP to cover a suite of
activities associated with continued forest and habitat management. We
request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed HCP, and on the Service's preliminary
determination that this HCP qualifies as ``low-effect,'' categorically
excluded under the National Environmental Policy Act. To make this
determination, we used our environmental action statement and low-
effect screening form, both of which are also available for public
review.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
January 10, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Electronic copies of the documents this
notice announces, along with public comments received, will be
available online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2021-0126 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: In your comment, please specify whether your
comment addresses the proposed HCP, draft environmental action
statement, or any combination of the aforementioned documents, or other
supporting documents. You may submit written comments by one of the
following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Search for and submit
comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2021-0126.
U.S. mail: Submit comments to Public Comments Processing,
Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2021-0126; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shauna Marquardt, Deputy Field
Supervisor, Minnesota-Wisconsin Ecological Services Field Office, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, 4101 American Boulevard East, Bloomington,
MN 55425; telephone: 573-239-3293; or Andrew Horton, Regional HCP
Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Interior Region 3, 5600
American Blvd. West, Suite 990, Bloomington, MN 55437-1458; telephone:
612-713-5337.
Individuals who are hearing impaired or speech impaired may call
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received an application from Aitkin and Carlton
Counties (applicants) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the
Endangered Species Act, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for a
proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP) for the northern long-eared
bat, little brown bat, and tricolored bat. The applicants conduct
habitat and forest management activities on county-managed lands in
Aitkin and Carlton Counties, Minnesota. The applicants have prepared an
HCP that describes their continued habitat and forest management
operations and measures that the applicants would implement to avoid,
minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the covered species. The HCP
proposes to create, enhance, and maintain more than one-third of
county-managed forest lands as covered species' habitat to offset
impacts of habitat and forest management activities to the covered
species.
If approved, the ITP would be for a 25-year period and would
authorize the incidental take of the following three species: northern
long-eared bat (federally listed as threatened), little brown bat
(currently under discretionary review), and tricolored bat (petitioned
for listing under the ESA). The applicant has prepared an HCP that
describes the actions and measures that the applicants would implement
to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the three species.
We request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed HCP, and on the Service's preliminary
determination that this HCP qualifies as ``low-effect,'' categorically
excluded under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.). To make
[[Page 70515]]
this determination, we used our environmental action statement and low-
effect screening form, both of which are also available for public
review.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing regulations prohibit the
``take'' of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. Take 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. 1532). However, under section 10(a) of the ESA, we
may issue permits to authorize incidental take of listed species.
``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as take that is incidental
to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful activity.
Regulations governing incidental take permits for endangered and
threatened species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal
Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Applicants' Proposed Project
The applicants request a 25-year ITP to take the federally
threatened northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) and two
species petitioned for Federal listing: The little brown bat (Myotis
lucifugus) and the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). The applicant
determined that take is reasonably certain to occur incidental to
enactment of forest and habitat management activities on 3 percent or
less of county-managed forest lands annually over a 10-year rolling
period. The proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed
HCP is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the
habitat and forest management on the covered species. The biological
goals and objectives are to minimize potential take of northern long-
eared, little brown, and tricolored bats through minimization measures
and to provide habitat conservation measures for the covered species to
offset any impacts from the implementation of habitat and forest
management activities.
The authorized level of take from the project is up to a total of
three northern long-eared bats, three little brown bats, and three
tricolored bats over the 25-year project duration, and lost
reproductive potential is anticipated to result in a loss of five
additional northern long-eared bats, seven little brown bats, and seven
tricolored bats over the 25-year period. To offset the impacts of the
taking of northern long-eared, little brown, and tricolored bats, the
applicants propose to avoid habitat-loss-related impacts from habitat
and forest management by instituting avoidance measures during the
management process, such as restricting forest management activities to
3 percent or less of the county-managed forests over a 10-year rolling
period, limiting forest management during the bat active season to 34
percent or less of the total annual harvest and 10 percent or less
during the pup season, and leaving buffers around roost trees.
Beneficial and net effects of the conservation strategy include the
successful management of forests, which protect potential habitat for
bats, and the creation, restoration, and maintenance of maternity roost
and foraging habitat on one-third of the county-managed forest lands (a
minimum of 85,387 acres), and other specific measures that minimize or
avoid effects to the covered species.
National Environmental Policy Act
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the
applicant's project and the proposed mitigation measures would
individually and cumulatively have a minor or negligible effect on the
covered species and the environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily
concluded that the ITP for this project would qualify for categorical
exclusion, and the HCP would be low effect under our NEPA regulations
at 43 CFR 46.205 and 46.210. A low-effect HCP is one that would result
in (1) minor or negligible effects on federally listed, proposed, and
candidate species and their habitats; (2) minor or negligible effects
on other environmental values or resources; and (3) incremental impacts
from the Federal action that, when added to other past, present, and
reasonable foreseeable future actions, would not result in significant
cumulative effects to environmental values or resources over time.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the ESA. We will also conduct an intra-Service
consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects
of the proposed take. After considering the above findings, we will
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B)
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue the requested
ITP to the applicant.
Public Comments
The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested
parties on the proposed HCP and screening form during a 30-day public
comment period (see DATES). In particular, information and comments
regarding the following topics are requested:
1. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed; and
2. Any threats to the northern long-eared bat, little brown bat, or
tricolored bat that may influence their populations over the life of
the ITP that are not addressed in the proposed HCP; and
3. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment.
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://regulations.gov all public comments
and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All comments
received, including names and addresses, will 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 the
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
parts 1500-1508 (2020); 43 CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2021-26828 Filed 12-9-21; 8:45 am]
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