Availability of a Draft Environmental Assessment and Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit by Woodlands Group L.L.C. in Livingston Parish, LA

Woodlands Group L.L.C. (Applicant) seeks an incidental take permit (ITP) from the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The proposed action would involve approval of the Applicant's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), as required by Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act, to minimize and mitigate any incidental take of the Federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis). The minimization and mitigation measures outlined in the Applicant's HCP to address adverse effects of the proposed action on protected species are described further in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below. The Service also announces the availability of an environmental assessment (EA) and HCP for the incidental take application. Copies of the EA and/or HCP may be obtained by making a request to the Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). Requests must be in writing to be processed. This notice also advises the public that the Service has made a preliminary determination that issuing the ITP is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended. The Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is based on information contained in the EA and HCP. The final determination will be made no sooner than 60 days from the date of this notice. This notice is provided pursuant to Section 10 of the Act and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of several methods. Please reference permit number TE037661-0 in such comments. You may mail comments to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also comment via the internet to "david_dell@fws.gov". Please submit comments over the internet as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include your name and return address in your internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the Service that we have received your internet message, contact us directly at either telephone number listed below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Finally, you may hand deliver comments to either Service office listed below (see ADDRESSES). Our practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address from the administrative record. We will honor such requests to the extent allowable by law. There may also be other circumstances in which we would withhold from the administrative record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. We will not; however, consider anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.