[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 22, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55625-55626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25267]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Docket Nos. FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074 and 170918907-7907-01; FF09E41000 178
FXES111609C0000]
Candidate Conservation Agreements With Assurances Policy
AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Interior; National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), Commerce.
ACTION: Policy review; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine
Fisheries Service (Services when referring to both, and Service when
referring to an action taken by one agency), announce the intention to
review and potentially revise the Candidate Conservation Agreements
with Assurances policy under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended. In a separate document published in today's Federal Register,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the intention to review
and potentially revise its regulations regarding Candidate Conservation
Agreements with Assurances to make them consistent with any changes to
the policy.
DATES: We will accept comments that we receive on or before January 22,
2018. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking
Portal (see ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on
the closing date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In
the Search box, enter docket number FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074. Then, click on
the Search button. On the resulting page, you may enter a comment by
clicking on ``Comment Now!'' Please ensure that you have found the
correct document before submitting your comment.
U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public Comments Processing,
Attn: Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074; Division of Policy, Performance,
and Management Programs; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg
Pike; MS: BPHC; Falls Church, VA 22041.
We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide
us (see Request for Information, for additional information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Newman, Chief, Division of
Recovery and Restoration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: ES, 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (telephone 703-358-2171); or
Angela Somma, Chief, Endangered Species Conservation Division, Office
of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-
West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (telephone 301-427-8403,
facsimile 301-713-0376). Persons who use a telecommunications device
for the deaf may call the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 55626]]
Background
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) are charged with implementing the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA or Act);
among the purposes of the ESA are to provide a means to conserve the
ecosystems upon which species listed as endangered or threatened depend
and a program for listed species conservation. Through its Candidate
Conservation program, one of the FWS's goals is to encourage the public
to voluntarily develop and implement conservation agreements for
declining species prior to them being listed under the ESA. The
benefits of such conservation actions may contribute to not needing to
list a species, to list a species as threatened instead of endangered,
or to accelerate the species' recovery if it is listed. The Services
put in place a voluntary conservation program to provide incentives for
non-Federal property owners to develop and implement conservation
agreements for unlisted species: Candidate Conservation Agreements with
Assurances (CCAAs). The policy for this type of agreement was finalized
on June 17, 1999 (64 FR 32726), along with implementing regulations for
FWS in part 17 of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (64
FR 32706). The Services finalized a revision of the CCAA policy on
December 27, 2016 (81 FR 95164). The FWS revised the CCAA regulations
in 2004 (69 FR 24084; May 3, 2004), to make them easier to understand
and implement by, among other things, defining ``property owner'' and
clarifying several points, including the transfer of permits, permit
revocation, and advanced notification of take. On December 27, 2016 (81
FR 95053), the FWS again revised the CCAA regulations to make the
regulations consistent with the 2016 revisions to the policy.
To participate in a CCAA, non-Federal property owners agree to
implement on their land the CCAA's specific conservation measures that
reduce or eliminate threats to the species that are covered under the
agreement. An ESA section 10(a)(1)(A) enhancement-of-survival permit is
issued to the agreement participant providing a specific level of
incidental take coverage should the property owner's agreed-upon
conservation measures and routine property-management actions (e.g.,
agricultural, ranching, or forestry activities) result in take of the
covered species, if it is listed. Property owners receive assurances
that they will not be required to undertake any other conservation
measures than those agreed to, even if new information indicates that
additional or revised conservation measures are needed for the species,
and they will not be subject to additional resource use or land-use
restrictions.
Under the 1999 policy, to approve a CCAA we had to ``determine that
the benefits of the conservation measures implemented by a property
owner under a CCAA, when combined with those benefits that would be
achieved if it is assumed that conservation measures were also to be
implemented on other necessary properties, would preclude or remove any
need to list the covered species.'' This language had led some property
owners to believe that the Services expected each individual CCAA to
provide enough conservation benefits to the species to remove any need
to list the species. The confusion created by the hypothetical concept
of conservation measures that need to be implemented on ``other
necessary properties'' lead us to revise the CCAA standard to require a
net conservation benefit to the covered species, specifically on the
property to be enrolled, and eliminated references to ``other necessary
properties.'' Although the policy states that this revision does not
increase the conservation standard (but rather makes it easier to
understand how we determine our standard), we are aware there has been
some concern that this change is considered by some members of the
public to be a higher standard while others considered it to be a lower
standard than the previous standard. The Services are committed to
strengthening the delivery of our voluntary conservation tools, such as
CCAAs, by making it easier to work with us on conservation efforts,
thus we are soliciting public review and comment on whether to revise
the 2016 CCAA policy (and accompanying regulation).
Request for Information
During the comment period (see DATES), we will accept written
comments and information on our 2016 CCAA policy (81 FR 95164; December
27, 2016). You may submit your comments and materials by one of the
methods listed in ADDRESSES. 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--will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so. All comments and
recommendations, including names and addresses, will become part of the
record for this review.
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: October 4, 2017.
Gregory J. Sheehan,
Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Dated: October 4, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25267 Filed 11-21-17; 8:45 am]
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