[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 72 (Monday, April 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15229-15231]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07399]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2019-0007; FXES11130300000]
Receipt of Application for Enhancement of Survival Permit and
Draft Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances/Candidate
Conservation Agreement for Monarch Butterfly; University of Illinois at
Chicago; Low-Effect Screening Form
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, have received an
application from University of Illinois at Chicago for an enhancement
of survival permit under the Endangered Species Act. The application
includes an integrated programmatic candidate conservation agreement
with assurances and a candidate conservation agreement (agreement) for
the monarch butterfly. We have made a preliminary determination that
the agreement is eligible for a categorical exclusion under the
National Environmental Policy Act. The basis for this determination is
contained in a low-effect screening form, which is also available for
public review. We request public comment on the agreement and low-
effect screening form.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before June
14, 2019. Any comments we receive after the closing date or not
postmarked by the closing date may not be considered in the final
decision on this action.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents for Review: The documents this notice
announces, as well as any comments and other materials that we receive,
will be available for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-
2019-0007 at http://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments by one of the
following methods:
Online: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2019-0007.
U.S. Mail or Hand-Delivery: Public Comments Processing,
Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2019-0007; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
MS: BPHC; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This
generally means that we will post online any personal information that
you provide (see Public Availability of Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION). We request that you send comments by only the methods
described above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alisa Shull, Chief, Division of
Endangered Species, via U.S. Mail at the Midwest Regional Office, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, 5600 American Blvd. West, Suite 990,
Bloomington, MN 55437; via phone at 612-713-5334; or via the Federal
Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Overview
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an
application from University of Illinois at Chicago (applicant) for an
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.), for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). The application
includes an integrated programmatic candidate conservation agreement
with assurances and candidate conservation agreement (Agreement)
covering the conterminous 48 United States. The Agreement and
associated permit would implement a voluntary conservation strategy
developed by UIC for energy and transportation activities on enrolled
lands. These activities include conservation measures to restore,
maintain, enhance, or create habitat for monarch butterflies, as well
as activities to conduct general maintenance, management, and
modernization within existing rights-of-way and associated lands.
The intent of the Agreement is to provide non-Federal landowners in
the covered area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the
covered species and its habitat while carrying out their operations in
a manner that would result in a net conservation benefit to the covered
species. We have made a preliminary determination that the Agreement
and permit application are eligible for a categorical exclusion under
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.). The basis for this determination is contained in a low-effect
screening form, which is also available for public review. If approved,
the EOS permit would be for a 50-year period following the signature of
the Agreement and would authorize the incidental take of
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the monarch butterfly, if the species comes to be listed under the ESA.
Background
Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances
A CCAA is an agreement with the Service in which private and other
non-Federal landowners voluntarily agree to undertake management
activities and conservation efforts on their properties to enhance,
restore, or maintain habitat to benefit species that are proposed for
listing under the ESA, that are candidates for listing, or that may
become candidates. The Service works with these partners to identify
threats to candidate species, plan the measures needed to address the
threats and conserve these species, identify willing landowners,
develop agreements, and design and implement conservation measures and
monitor their effectiveness. In return for managing their lands to the
benefit of the species covered by the CCAA, participating property
owners receive assurances that no additional conservation measures or
land, water or resource use restrictions will be imposed under the ESA
(beyond those agreed to in the CCAA) on covered activities on enrolled
lands should any of the covered species ever be listed under the ESA.
The Service provides these assurances through an EOS permit, issued
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA for a specific number of
years, that becomes effective if a species covered by the CCAA and
permit is listed. Under the permit, participating landowners also
receive authorization for take that is incidental to activities covered
by the CCAA. In a case such as this, in which a third-party would
administer the CCAA, the permit is issued to the third-party
administrator (in this case, the University of Illinois at Chicago),
and permit coverage extends to non-Federal landowners who enroll in the
Agreement through a certificate of Inclusion (CI) and comply with the
requirements stated in the Agreement and their respective CIs.
Additional permit application requirements and issuance criteria for
CCAAs are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR
17.22(d) and 17.32(d), respectively, as well as 50 CFR part 13. Please
also see our joint policy on CCAAs, which we published in the Federal
Register with the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (81 FR
95164; December 27, 2016).
Candidate Conservation Agreement
In general, CCAs are voluntary conservation agreements between the
Service and one or more public or private parties that identify
specific conservation measures that the participants will voluntarily
undertake to conserve the species covered by the agreements. Parties of
a CCA do not receive the assurances associated with a CCAA, and CCAs
typically address Federal lands. By addressing key threats to species
on Federal lands, CCAs are particularly helpful in ensuring consistent
application of a conservation strategy in situations, such as those
which occur in the Coverage Area, where private activities occur on a
mix of non-Federal and Federal lands. Because Federal agencies have
special obligations for the conservation of listed species under
section 7 of the ESA, CCAs for activities conducted on Federal lands do
not include the assurances and the incidental take permit that are
available to participants in a CCAA, all of whom by definition are non-
Federal entities.
Proposed Action
Because the Agreement participants' properties cross Federal as
well as non-Federal lands, the UIC is proposing an integrated
programmatic CCAA/CCA to provide a seamless implementation of the
conservation strategy across enrolled non-Federal and Federal lands at
a landscape level. While the integrated Agreement applies throughout
enrolled lands, neither Federal agencies nor non-Federal partners would
receive EOS permit coverage or ``assurances'' on activities conducted
on enrolled lands that cross Federal property. Although there are no
assurances associated with Federal lands, enrollees have a high degree
of certainty that they will not be subject to increased land use
restrictions by the Service if the covered species becomes listed under
the ESA in the future. This regulatory predictability is provided
through the programmatic conference opinion (developed as part of an
ESA Section 7 consultation on the Agreement) for monarch butterfly. The
Agreement is intended to demonstrate that adequate conservation
measures, sufficient adaptive management, and monitoring obligations
are in place to provide a net conservation benefit. In the conference
opinion the Service evaluates the likely effects of the agreement on
the monarch and it may be converted into a biological opinion on the
effective date of any decision to list the monarch butterfly. The
biological opinion would include an incidental take statement that
describes the anticipated level of take from implementing the Agreement
on Federal and non-Federal lands and provides a legal means to allow
that take to occur. The Agreement provides a programmatic conservation
strategy that results in a net conservation benefit to monarch
butterflies throughout the lands enrolled. Private and non-Federal
partners in energy and transportation sectors are encouraged to enter
into the programmatic Agreement through UIC.
The proposed action involves the issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A)
EOS permit by the Service to UIC and approval of the proposed
programmatic Agreement. The purpose of the Agreement and permit is to
implement a conservation strategy that benefits monarch butterflies
throughout their range in the conterminous United States. The UIC would
administer the Agreement and enroll eligible applicants, who would hold
CIs. The Agreement and associated permit are proposed to cover 50 years
from the time the Agreement is signed.
Under the proposed Agreement, UIC and partners who enroll into the
agreement through UIC would create, enhance, and maintain habitat for
monarch butterflies, as well as continue activities supporting
operations of energy and transportation sectors, including general
operations, vegetation management, and maintenance and modernization
within existing rights-of-way and associated lands. The proposed
Agreement does not include construction and land disturbing activities
that pose significant environmental, socioeconomic, historical or
cultural impacts (for example, interstate highways, pipelines,
transmission lines, new rail routes, or similar).
Partners enrolled in the Agreement through UIC would hold a CI and
be authorized for incidental take and assurances for monarch butterfly
on non-Federal lands. Where enrolled partners have property interest
across Federal lands, incidental take will be provided under a
biological opinion prepared in accordance with section 7 of the ESA,
granting them a high degree of certainty that additional conservation
measures or limitations above those contained in the Agreement and CIs
will not be imposed for monarch butterfly.
The conservation measures in this Agreement were designed to meet
the net conservation benefit standard specifically for lands managed by
the energy and transportation sectors. Unlike many other lands in the
United States, those lands are already actively managed to prevent the
growth of trees and woody vegetation. This results in
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lands that are generally maintained as grassland, meadow, prairie, or
shrub-scrub type habitats, all of which provide habitat for species,
such as the monarch butterfly, that depend on early successional plant
communities and structures. We have worked with UIC to design
conservation measures expected to have a net conservation benefit to
the covered species within the covered area; however, landowners and
enrollees would not have to conduct every activity in this list in
order for their actions to have a net conservation benefit on the
monarch butterfly. To maintain a net conservation benefit, each partner
must use selected conservation measures to create and maintain a
proportion of their enrolled lands as monarch habitat each year. Each
partner will need to follow their individual CIs and the conservation
measures included within. Some examples of these conservation actions
include the following: (1) Establishing and using native seed mixes
containing a diversity of native wildflowers, including milkweed, as
appropriate; (2) minimizing use of grazing in monarch habitat during
peak breeding and migration periods to promote fall nectar plants; (3)
removing woody plants in densely covered shrub areas and invasive plant
species to promote grassland habitats; (4) sustaining idle lands with
suitable habitat for monarch butterflies; and (5) using conservation
mowing to enhance floral resources and habitat.
Covered Area
This agreement encompasses a covered area consisting of energy and
transportation lands within the monarch butterfly's range across the
lower 48 States. Within this covered area, Partners may enroll their
energy and transportation lands (as enrolled lands). Although the
covered area spans 48 States, only a portion of this area will be
enrolled in the Agreement. Enrollment of lands under this Agreement is
voluntary. The partners reasonably expect that monarch butterflies may
occur in all or a portion of habitats on enrolled lands as a result of
management actions undertaken through this Agreement. This Agreement
will cover those properties that have existing, historic, or potential
suitable habitat for monarchs across their range. Enrolled lands may
include all or some combination of suitable habitat types or areas with
the potential to create those habitats.
The scope of the covered area excludes documented overwintering
sites such as overwintering groves along the California coast and other
documented overwintering sites. Western monarchs use ecologically
different habitat throughout both their breeding and migratory habitat
as well as their overwintering grounds. Due to the ecological
differences of these sites, documented overwintering sites are
considered outside the scope of the covered area for the Agreement.
Monarchs do also occasionally overwinter in other locations across the
southern United States. These overwintering locations may be
nonspecific or transient from year to year. For the purposes of the
Agreement, only documented overwintering sites repeatedly relied upon
for monarchs are excluded from the covered area.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
The issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A) permit is a Federal action
subject to NEPA compliance, including the Council on Environmental
Quality regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA
(40 CFR 1500-1508). The Service's decision on whether to enter into the
Agreement is a Federal action subject to NEPA compliance. The UIC's
proposed Agreement and related application for the Enhancement of
Survival permit is eligible for categorical exclusion under NEPA.
As required by NEPA, we considered impacts to the human environment
that would result from issuance of the requested permit. Entering into
the Agreement is strictly a voluntary action for landowners, and the
covered activities under the permit are generally activities already
occurring on these properties (e.g., general operations, vegetation
management, and maintenance and modernization within existing rights-
of-way and associated lands). As explained in the draft low-effect
screening form, we believe the agreement is a ``low-effect'' project
and qualifies for categorical exclusion under NEPA, as provided by 43
CFR 46.205 and 43 CFR 46.210. The proposed Agreement creates and
enhances monarch habitat, addresses ongoing maintenance and minor
modernization activities, and does not include construction and land
disturbing activities that pose significant environmental,
socioeconomic, historical or cultural impacts (for example, interstate
highways, pipelines, transmission lines, new rail routes, or similar).
Therefore, we are proposing to categorically exclude this action from
further analysis under NEPA.
Public Comments
We specifically request information and comments from the public
via this notice on our proposed Federal action to enter into the
Agreement and issue an EOS permit for monarch butterfly. Further, we
specifically invite submission of information regarding the adequacy of
the agreement per 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.
Written comments we receive become part of the administrative
record. 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.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the enhancement of survival permit application,
including the agreement and any comments we receive, to determine
whether the application meets the requirements of section 10(a)(1)(A)
of the ESA. We will also evaluate whether the section 10(a)(1)(A)
enhancement of survival permit would comply with section 7 of the ESA
by conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation. If we determine
that the requirements are met, we will issue a permit under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to UIC in accordance with the applicable
regulatory requirements. We will not make our final decision until
after the end of the 60-day comment period and will fully consider all
comments received during the comment period.
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
1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).
Dated: April 4, 2019.
Charles Wooley,
Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2019-07399 Filed 4-12-19; 8:45 am]
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