Proposed Issuance of Incidental Take Permits to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for State of Washington Wildlife Areas

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), collectively the Services, advise interested parties of our intent to conduct public scoping under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to gather information to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) related to incidental take permit (ITP) applications from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) for incidental take of species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as well as unlisted species should they become listed during the term of the proposed permit. The WDFW has identified specific land management and recreation activities that currently occur on state Wildlife Areas that may cause incidental take. In support of the ITP applications, the WDFW is proposing to implement a habitat conservation plan (HCP) on approximately 900,000 acres of their state Wildlife Areas. The term of the proposed HCP and ITP's will occur after the public scoping process.