[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2635-2636]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00794]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R2-ES-2021-N189; FXES111602C0000-212-FF02ENEH00]
Enhancement of Survival Permit; Agricultural Candidate
Conservation Agreement With Assurances (CCAA) for Lesser Prairie
Chicken in Oklahoma
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), announce the
availability of an application to amend the Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation's enhancement of survival permit and the
associated Agricultural Candidate Conservation Agreement with
Assurances (CCAA) for Lesser Prairie Chickens (LEPC) in Oklahoma. The
application package includes the proposed amendment to the CCAA and a
draft screening form pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA).
DATES: Submission of comments: We will accept comments received or
postmarked on or before February 17, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining documents: You may obtain copies of the EOS application,
proposed CCAA amendment, draft NEPA screening form, or other related
documents on the internet at https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma.
Submitting comments: You may submit written comments by email to
OKES_NEPA@fws.gov. Please note that your comment is in reference to the
above-referenced CCAA. For more information, see Public Availability of
Comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John Hendrix, Acting Field
Supervisor, Oklahoma Ecological Services Field Office, Tulsa, OK;
telephone 918-581-7458. Individuals who are hearing or speech impaired
may call the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8337 for TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice advises the public that the
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) has applied to the
Service to amend their existing enhancement of survival (EOS) permit
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973,
as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the associated
Agricultural Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA)
for Lesser Prairie Chickens in Oklahoma. The permit application
includes the CCAA amendment and the draft screening form supporting a
categorical exclusion in accordance with the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We
are making the permit application package available for public review
and comment.
Background
Under a CCAA, the participants voluntarily undertake management
activities on their properties to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat
benefiting species that are proposed for listing under the ESA,
candidates for listing, or species that may become candidates or
proposed for listing. Enhancement of survival permits are issued to the
applicants in association with approved CCAAs to authorize incidental
take of the covered species from conservation measures and ongoing
activities on the enrolled lands that are identified in the CCAA.
Through the CCAA and the associated EOS permit, the Service provides
assurances to enrolled property owners that they will not be subjected
to increased land use restrictions if the covered species become listed
under the ESA in the future, provided certain conditions are met.
Application requirements and issuance criteria for EOS permits for
CCAAs are found in the Code of Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR
17.22(d)(2)(ii) and 17.32(d)(2)(ii), for species that may become listed
as endangered and threatened under the ESA, respectively. See also the
joint policy on CCAAs, which was published
[[Page 2636]]
in the Federal Register with the Department of Commerce's National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries
Service (80 FR 95164; December 27, 2016).
Proposed Action
The existing permitted CCAA is authorized for 25 years and covers
agricultural activities in Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Cimarron, Custer,
Dewey, Ellis, Harper, Major, Roger Mills, Texas, Washita, Woods, and
Woodward Counties, in Oklahoma. This area constitutes the CCAA's
planning area, with covered areas being non-Federal lands within the
planning area that provide suitable habitat for LEPC, or have the
potential to provide suitable LEPC habitat with the implementation of
appropriate conservation management practices. The ODWC has applied for
an amendment to the CCAA to increase the conservation benefit of the
CCAA for LEPC in Oklahoma by increasing enrollment from the current
maximum of 400,000 acres to 1,000,000 acres by 2037, throughout the 14
Oklahoma counties described in the CCAA. This would more than double
the conservation program currently being implemented on agricultural
lands within the planning range of the LEPC under the current EOS
permit held by ODWC. This CCAA contributes to a larger conservation
effort for the LEPC across its range within Colorado, Kansas, New
Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Pursuant to the CCAA, ODWC will enroll participating landowners
through issuance of certificates of inclusion. Participating landowners
who are fully implementing the CCAA provisions of the EOS permit will
be provided assurances that, should the LEPC become listed, the Service
will not require them to provide additional land, water, or financial
resources, nor will there be any further restrictions to their land,
water, or financial resources than those they committed to under the
CCAA provisions. Furthermore, if the LEPC is listed, participating
landowners would be provided incidental take authorization for LEPC
under the EOS permit for the level of incidental take on the enrolled
lands consistent with the activities under the CCAA provisions. This
amendment would potentially increase the amount of the incidental take
authorization proportionately with the increasing of the enrolled
conservation acres.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the permit application, proposed amendment, draft
NEPA screening form, and comments we receive to determine whether the
EOS application meets the requirements of ESA, NEPA, and implementing
regulations. If we determine that all requirements are met, we will
approve the amendment and issue the amended EOS under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to the applicant in accordance with the terms of
the amended CCAA and specific terms and conditions of the authorizing
EOS. We will not make our final decision until after the 30-day comment
period ends, and we have fully considered all comments received during
the public comment period.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments we receive become part of the public record associated
with this action. Requests for copies of comments will be handled in
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, NEPA, and Service and
Department of the Interior policies and procedures. 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 ask us to 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 the authority of section 10(c) of the
ESA and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) and NEPA
(42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
1506.6).
Amy Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00794 Filed 1-14-22; 8:45 am]
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