Notice of Intent to Conduct Public Scoping Meetings and to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement Related to the Family Forest Habitat Conservation Plan, 42533-42535 [05-14621]
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
This document also notifies the
public that the following two stockyards
meet the definition of stockyard and
that we have posted the stockyards. We
published notices proposing to post the
two stockyards on November 7, 2003 (68
FR 63055–63056). We received no
comments in response to the proposed
posting notice. To post stockyards, we
assign the stockyard a facility number,
notify the owner of the stockyard
facility, and send notices to the owner
of the stockyard to post on display in
public areas of the stockyard. The date
of posting is the date on which the
posting notices are physically
displayed.
Facility No.
Stockyard name and location
AR–176 ..........
TN–193 ..........
101 Livestock Auction, Blackwell, Arkansas ....................................................................................................
Lewisburg Livestock, Columbia, Tennessee ...................................................................................................
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 202.
David R. Shipman,
Acting Administrator, Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration.
[FR Doc. 05–14593 Filed 7–22–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–EN–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[I.D. 060705C]
Notice of Intent to Conduct Public
Scoping Meetings and to Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement
Related to the Family Forest Habitat
Conservation Plan
Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS), Interior; National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent to conduct
scoping meetings.
AGENCIES:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and National Marine Fisheries
Service (Services) advise interested
parties of their intent to conduct public
scoping under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to
gather information to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
related to a permit application from
Lewis County, Washington for the
incidental take of listed species. The
permit application would be associated
with the Family Forest Habitat
Conservation Plan in the Chehalis and
Cowlitz River watersheds located in
Lewis County, Washington.
DATES: The public scoping meeting will
be held on July 28, 2005, from 5 p.m.
- 8 p.m.
Written comments should be received
on or before September 8, 2005.
SUMMARY:
VerDate jul<14>2003
14:21 Jul 22, 2005
The meeting will be held at
the Forest Grange, 3397 Jackson
Highway, Chehalis, WA 98532.
All comments concerning the
preparation of the EIS and the NEPA
process should be addressed to: Mark
Ostwald, FWS, 510 Desmond Drive S.E.,
Suite 102, Lacey, WA 98503, facsimile
(360)753–9518 or Laura Hamilton,
NMFS, 510 Desmond Drive S.E., Suite
103, Lacey, WA 98503–1273, facsimile
(360)753–9517. Comments may be
submitted by e-mail to the following
address: FamilyForest.nwr@noaa.gov. In
the subject line of the e-mail, include
the document identifier: The Family
Forest HCP - EIS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mark Ostwald, FWS, (360)753–9564, or
Laura Hamilton, NMFS, (360)753–5820.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:
Jkt 205001
Reasonable Accommodation
Persons needing reasonable
accommodations in order to attend and
participate in the public meeting should
contact Mark Ostwald (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT). In order to allow
sufficient time to process requests,
please call no later than July 21, 2005.
Information regarding the applicant’s
proposed action is available in
alternative formats upon request.
Statutory Authority
Section 9 of the Endangered Species
Act (16 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.) and
implementing regulations prohibit the
taking of animal species listed as
endangered or threatened. The term
‘‘take’’ is defined under the ESA (16
U.S.C. 1532(19)) as to mean harass,
harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill,
trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to
engage in any such conduct. ‘‘Harm’’ is
defined by the FWS to include
significant habitat modification or
degradation where it actually kills or
injures wildlife by significantly
impairing essential behavioral patterns,
including breeding, feeding, and
sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). NMFS’
definition of ‘‘harm’’ includes
significant habitat modification or
degradation where it actually kills or
injures fish or wildlife by significantly
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42533
Date of posting
March 18, 2004.
April 5, 2004.
impairing essential behavioral patterns,
including breeding, feeding, spawning,
migrating, rearing, and sheltering (64 FR
60727, November 8, 1999).
Section 10 of the ESA specifies
requirements for the issuance of
incidental take permits (ITPs) to nonFederal landowners for the take of
endangered and threatened species. Any
proposed take must be incidental to
otherwise lawful activities, not
appreciably reduce the likelihood of the
survival and recovery of the species in
the wild and minimize and mitigate the
impacts of such take to the maximum
extent practicable. In addition, an
applicant must prepare a habitat
conservation plan describing the impact
that will likely result from such taking,
the strategy for minimizing and
mitigating the incidental take, the
funding available to implement such
steps, alternatives to such taking, and
the reason such alternatives are not
being implemented.
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) requires
that Federal agencies conduct an
environmental analysis of their
proposed actions to determine if the
actions may significantly affect the
human environment. Under NEPA, a
reasonable range of alternatives to
proposed projects is developed and
considered in the Services’
environmental review. Alternatives
considered for analysis in an EIS may
include: variations in the scope of
covered activities; variations in the
location, amount, and type of
conservation; variations in permit
duration; or, a combination of these
elements. In addition, the EIS will
identify potentially significant direct,
indirect, and cumulative impacts on
biological resources, land use, air
quality, water quality, water resources,
socioeconomics, and other
environmental issues that could occur
with the implementation of the
applicant’s proposed actions and
alternatives. For all potentially
significant impacts, the EIS will identify
avoidance, minimization, and
mitigation measures to reduce these
impacts, where feasible, to a level below
significance.
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42534
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
Background
The EIS will analyze the potential
issuance of two ITPs, one by NMFS and
one by the FWS. To obtain an ITP, the
applicant must prepare a habitat
conservation plan that meets the
issuance criteria established by the ESA
and Service regulations (50 CFR
17.22(b)(2) and 222.307). Should a
permit or permits be issued, the
permit(s) may include assurances under
the Services’ ‘‘No Surprises’’
regulations.
On June 29, 2000, NMFS and the FWS
published a notice in the Federal
Register stating the Services’ joint intent
to prepare an EIS on this action (65 FR
40078). However, the Services are now
providing new notice of public scoping
because of changes in the applicant’s
proposed action and to the affected
environment.
Lewis County is seeking ITPs from the
Services that would provide regulatory
certainty for family forest landowners
making long-term commitments to forest
resource protection. Lewis County
believes these assurances may
encourage family forest landowners to
remain in forest management instead of
converting lands to non-forest uses. As
currently proposed, incidental take
permits would be issued to Lewis
County. The county would in turn
provide certificates of inclusion to
landowners after verifying they meet
eligibility criteria and agree to comply
with the HCP. Eligible landowners
would be those that hold lands below
elevation of 1,250 feet within the
Chehalis and Cowlitz River watersheds
in Lewis County, and harvest less than
two million board feet of timber per
calendar year.
As of 2004, approximately 133,000
acres were owned by small forest
landowners who met these criteria in
Lewis County. The permits, if issued
would provide incidental take coverage
for activities on a maximum of 200,000
acres in the County. A permit
amendment would be required to
exceed the acreage, which could be
subject to additional NEPA review. The
Washington Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) would verify
compliance with the HCP concurrent
with harvest activities, and Lewis
County and the Services would conduct
additional compliance monitoring at
other times. Annual Implementation
reports would be provided by Lewis
County to the Services.
Forestry activities that Lewis County
is proposing for ITP coverage, and for
which minimization and mitigation
measures are being developed, include
the following:
VerDate jul<14>2003
14:21 Jul 22, 2005
Jkt 205001
• All activities involved in timber
management and harvest including:
mechanical site preparation, prescribed
burning, reforestation, vegetation
management (other than with
herbicides), pre-commercial thinning,
commercial thinning, timber salvage,
other commercial harvest (felling,
bucking, limbing, yarding, skidding,
processing, loading, and hauling) of
timber, fire prevention, fire suppression
(including mop-up activities), and nonchemical pest control;
• Construction, reconstruction,
improvement, maintenance,
abandonment, closure, and use of
logging roads, spurs, landings, and
decking areas;
• Quarrying, processing, and
transporting of stone, gravel, and/or dirt
for use in roads;
• Administrative activities, such as
land surveying, timber cruising, and
other resource inventorying;
• All activities required by the HCP or
ITP; and
• Entering into and administering
access rights, utility rights-of-ways, and
recreational and hunting leases.
Species for which Lewis County seeks
coverage include 33 species of fish and
up to 44 species of wildlife. Seven of the
species are currently listed as
threatened under the ESA, including:
Lower Columbia River Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Columbia
River chum salmon (O. keta), Lower
Columbia River steelhead/rainbow trout
(O. mykiss), bald eagle (Haliaeetus
leucocephalus), marbled murrelet
(Brachyramphus marmoratus), northern
spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina),
and gray wolf (Canis lupus). Lower
Columbia River coho salmon (O.
kisutch) are proposed for listing and
yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus
americanus) is a candidate species.
Thirteen species proposed for permit
coverage are Federal species of concern.
The draft HCP to be prepared by
Lewis County in support of the ITP
applications will describe the impacts of
take on proposed covered species, and
will propose a conservation strategy to
minimize and mitigate those impacts on
each covered species to the maximum
extent practicable. This conservation
strategy would follow the basic
strategies employed in the current State
Forest Practices Rules with
modifications to address site-specific
ecological conditions of the eligible
lands. Streams would be protected with
combinations of no-harvest and partial
harvest buffers; roads would be
designed, constructed, and maintained
to minimize erosion and mass wasting;
specified numbers of snags, logs, and
residual live trees would be retained in
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
uplands; and the size of timber harvests
would be constrained to minimize
potential cumulative effects. Protection
of steep and unstable slopes, road
construction, and road maintenance
would follow State Forest Practices
Rules, including any changes made to
those rules through the adaptive
management process associated with the
Forest Practices Habitat Conservation
Plan. Harvest unit size would be
restricted to a maximum of 60 acres.
The draft HCP will identify HCP
alternatives considered by Lewis County
and will explain why those alternatives
were not selected. The Services are
responsible for determining whether the
HCP satisfies ESA section 10 permit
issuance criteria.
Under NEPA, a reasonable range of
alternatives to a proposed project must
be developed and considered in the
Services’ environmental review. The
Services have identified the following
preliminary alternatives for public
comment during the public scoping
period:
Alternative 1: No Action - Under the
No Action Alternative, an ITP would
not be issued by the Services and the
HCP would not be approved. Family
forest landowners in Lewis County
wishing to continue practicing forestry
would be required to comply with
Washington State Forest Practices Rules
(WAC 222) concerning the protection of
listed fish and wildlife;
Alternative 2: The Proposed Action There would be full implementation of
the HCP, which includes a set of sitespecific riparian and upland habitat
conservation measures that would be
specific to eligible family forest parcels
in Lewis County;
Alternative 3: The proposed HCP
would be modified by changing or
adding measures to further reduce the
amount and risk of incidental take.
These measures could include different
approaches to ESA compliance,
conservation commitments, adaptive
management, permit timeframes,
covered lands, covered species, eligible
parties, or covered activities; and
Additional project alternatives may be
developed based on input received from
the public scoping process.
Request for Comments
The primary purpose of the scoping
process is for the public to assist the
Services in developing the EIS by
identifying important issues and
alternatives related to the applicant’s
proposed action. A scoping workshop
will allocate time for informal
discussion and questions with
presentations by the Services and Lewis
County.
E:\FR\FM\25JYN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
Written comments from interested
parties are welcome to ensure that the
full range of issues related to the
proposed ITP are identified. All
comments and materials received,
including names and addresses, will
become part of the administrative record
and may be released to the public.
Comments and materials received will
be available for public inspection, by
appointment, during normal business
hours at the offices listed in the
ADDRESSES section of this notice.
The Services request that comments
be specific. In particular, we request
information regarding: direct, indirect,
and cumulative impacts that
implementation of the proposed HCP or
other alternatives could have on
endangered and threatened and other
covered species, and their communities
and habitats; other possible alternatives
that meet the purpose and need;
potential adaptive management and/or
monitoring provisions; funding issues;
existing environmental conditions in
the plan area; other plans or projects
that might be relevant to this proposed
project; permit duration; maximum
acreage that should be covered; limited
entry time-frame for issuing certificates
of inclusion; specific species that
should or should not be covered;
specific landforms that should or should
not be covered; and minimization and
mitigation efforts. NMFS and FWS
estimate that the draft EIS will be
available for public review in the spring
of 2006.
The environmental review of this
project will be conducted in accordance
with the requirements of the NEPA of
1969 as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.), Council on the Environmental
Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500
- 1518), other applicable Federal laws
and regulations, and applicable policies
and procedures of the Services. This
notice is being furnished in accordance
with 40 CFR 1501.7 to obtain
suggestions and information from other
agencies and the public on the scope of
issues and alternatives to be addressed
in the EIS.
Dated: July 1, 2005.
Chris McKay,
Acting Deputy Regional Director, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
Dated: July 20, 2005.
P. Michael Payne
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division,
Office of Protected Resources, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05–14621 Filed 7–22–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODES 4310-55-S, 3510–22–S
VerDate jul<14>2003
14:21 Jul 22, 2005
Jkt 205001
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
[I.D. 052505A]
Marine Mammals and Endangered
Species; National Marine Fisheries
Service Permit No. 960–1528; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service File No.
PRT017891
AGENCIES: National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce; U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Interior.
ACTION: Receipt of permit amendment
request.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that
the Museum of Natural History
Collections, Department of
Environmental Studies, University of
California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
[Principal Investigator: Tonya Haff], has
requested an amendment to scientific
research permit no. 960–1528/
PRT01789.
Written, telefaxed, or e-mail
comments must be received on or before
August 24, 2005.
ADDRESSES: The amendment request
and related documents are available for
review upon written request or by
appointment in the following office(s):
Permits, Conservation and Education
Division, Office of Protected Resources,
NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room
13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone
(301)713–2289; fax (301)427–2521;
Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West
Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach,
CA 90802–4213; phone (562)980–4001;
fax (562)980–4018; and
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Division of Management Authority,
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 700,
Arlington, VA 22203 (1–800–358–2104).
Written comments or requests for a
public hearing on this application
should be mailed to the Chief, Permits,
Conservation and Education Division,
F/PR1, Office of Protected Resources,
NMFS or Chief, Branch of Permits,
Division of Management Authority, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. Those
individuals requesting a hearing should
set forth the specific reasons why a
hearing on this particular request would
be appropriate.
Comments may also be submitted by
facsimile at (301)427–2521, provided
the facsimile is confirmed by hard copy
DATES:
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
42535
submitted by mail and postmarked no
later than the closing date of the
comment period.
Comments may also be submitted by
e-mail. The mailbox address for
providing email comments is
NMFS.Pr1Comments@noaa.gov. Include
in the subject line of the e-mail
comment the following document
identifier: Permit No. 960–1582/
PRT017891.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ruth Johnson or Jennifer Skidmore,
Office of Protected Resources, NMFS,
(301)713–2289; and Monica Farris,
Branch of Permits, USFWS (1–800–358–
2104).
The
subject amendment to permit no. 960–
1582/PRT017891 is requested under the
authority of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972, as amended
(MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the
Regulations Governing the Taking and
Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR
parts 18 and 216), the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), the regulations
governing the taking, importing, and
exporting of endangered and threatened
species (50 CFR parts 17 and 222–226)
and the Fur Seal Act. of 1966, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.).
Permit no. 960–1528/PRT017891
authorizes the Holder to acquire,
import/export marine mammal
specimens of the Orders Cetacea,
Pinnipedia and Sirenia for purposes of
scientific research and for deposit into
a museum collection. The import/export
may occur on a worldwide basis. The
Holder now requests a 5–year extension
of the joint NMFS and USFWS permit.
In compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), an initial
determination has been made that the
activity proposed is categorically
excluded from the requirement to
prepare an environmental assessment or
environmental impact statement.
Concurrent with the publication of
this notice in the Federal Register,
NMFS is forwarding copies of this
application to the Marine Mammal
Commission and its Committee of
Scientific Advisors.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
E:\FR\FM\25JYN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 141 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42533-42535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14621]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 060705C]
Notice of Intent to Conduct Public Scoping Meetings and to
Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement Related to the Family Forest
Habitat Conservation Plan
AGENCIES: Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Interior; National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent to conduct scoping meetings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine
Fisheries Service (Services) advise interested parties of their intent
to conduct public scoping under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) to gather information to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) related to a permit application from Lewis County,
Washington for the incidental take of listed species. The permit
application would be associated with the Family Forest Habitat
Conservation Plan in the Chehalis and Cowlitz River watersheds located
in Lewis County, Washington.
DATES: The public scoping meeting will be held on July 28, 2005, from 5
p.m. - 8 p.m.
Written comments should be received on or before September 8, 2005.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Forest Grange, 3397 Jackson
Highway, Chehalis, WA 98532.
All comments concerning the preparation of the EIS and the NEPA
process should be addressed to: Mark Ostwald, FWS, 510 Desmond Drive
S.E., Suite 102, Lacey, WA 98503, facsimile (360)753-9518 or Laura
Hamilton, NMFS, 510 Desmond Drive S.E., Suite 103, Lacey, WA 98503-
1273, facsimile (360)753-9517. Comments may be submitted by e-mail to
the following address: FamilyForest.nwr@noaa.gov. In the subject line
of the e-mail, include the document identifier: The Family Forest HCP -
EIS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Ostwald, FWS, (360)753-9564, or
Laura Hamilton, NMFS, (360)753-5820.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Reasonable Accommodation
Persons needing reasonable accommodations in order to attend and
participate in the public meeting should contact Mark Ostwald (see FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). In order to allow sufficient time to
process requests, please call no later than July 21, 2005. Information
regarding the applicant's proposed action is available in alternative
formats upon request.
Statutory Authority
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.)
and implementing regulations prohibit the taking of animal species
listed as endangered or threatened. The term ``take'' is defined under
the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)) as to mean harass, harm, pursue, hunt,
shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage
in any such conduct. ``Harm'' is defined by the FWS to include
significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills
or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral
patterns, including breeding, feeding, and sheltering (50 CFR 17.3).
NMFS' definition of ``harm'' includes significant habitat modification
or degradation where it actually kills or injures fish or wildlife by
significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including
breeding, feeding, spawning, migrating, rearing, and sheltering (64 FR
60727, November 8, 1999).
Section 10 of the ESA specifies requirements for the issuance of
incidental take permits (ITPs) to non-Federal landowners for the take
of endangered and threatened species. Any proposed take must be
incidental to otherwise lawful activities, not appreciably reduce the
likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species in the wild and
minimize and mitigate the impacts of such take to the maximum extent
practicable. In addition, an applicant must prepare a habitat
conservation plan describing the impact that will likely result from
such taking, the strategy for minimizing and mitigating the incidental
take, the funding available to implement such steps, alternatives to
such taking, and the reason such alternatives are not being
implemented.
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) requires that Federal agencies
conduct an environmental analysis of their proposed actions to
determine if the actions may significantly affect the human
environment. Under NEPA, a reasonable range of alternatives to proposed
projects is developed and considered in the Services' environmental
review. Alternatives considered for analysis in an EIS may include:
variations in the scope of covered activities; variations in the
location, amount, and type of conservation; variations in permit
duration; or, a combination of these elements. In addition, the EIS
will identify potentially significant direct, indirect, and cumulative
impacts on biological resources, land use, air quality, water quality,
water resources, socioeconomics, and other environmental issues that
could occur with the implementation of the applicant's proposed actions
and alternatives. For all potentially significant impacts, the EIS will
identify avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures to reduce
these impacts, where feasible, to a level below significance.
[[Page 42534]]
Background
The EIS will analyze the potential issuance of two ITPs, one by
NMFS and one by the FWS. To obtain an ITP, the applicant must prepare a
habitat conservation plan that meets the issuance criteria established
by the ESA and Service regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(2) and 222.307).
Should a permit or permits be issued, the permit(s) may include
assurances under the Services' ``No Surprises'' regulations.
On June 29, 2000, NMFS and the FWS published a notice in the
Federal Register stating the Services' joint intent to prepare an EIS
on this action (65 FR 40078). However, the Services are now providing
new notice of public scoping because of changes in the applicant's
proposed action and to the affected environment.
Lewis County is seeking ITPs from the Services that would provide
regulatory certainty for family forest landowners making long-term
commitments to forest resource protection. Lewis County believes these
assurances may encourage family forest landowners to remain in forest
management instead of converting lands to non-forest uses. As currently
proposed, incidental take permits would be issued to Lewis County. The
county would in turn provide certificates of inclusion to landowners
after verifying they meet eligibility criteria and agree to comply with
the HCP. Eligible landowners would be those that hold lands below
elevation of 1,250 feet within the Chehalis and Cowlitz River
watersheds in Lewis County, and harvest less than two million board
feet of timber per calendar year.
As of 2004, approximately 133,000 acres were owned by small forest
landowners who met these criteria in Lewis County. The permits, if
issued would provide incidental take coverage for activities on a
maximum of 200,000 acres in the County. A permit amendment would be
required to exceed the acreage, which could be subject to additional
NEPA review. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would
verify compliance with the HCP concurrent with harvest activities, and
Lewis County and the Services would conduct additional compliance
monitoring at other times. Annual Implementation reports would be
provided by Lewis County to the Services.
Forestry activities that Lewis County is proposing for ITP
coverage, and for which minimization and mitigation measures are being
developed, include the following:
All activities involved in timber management and harvest
including: mechanical site preparation, prescribed burning,
reforestation, vegetation management (other than with herbicides), pre-
commercial thinning, commercial thinning, timber salvage, other
commercial harvest (felling, bucking, limbing, yarding, skidding,
processing, loading, and hauling) of timber, fire prevention, fire
suppression (including mop-up activities), and non-chemical pest
control;
Construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance,
abandonment, closure, and use of logging roads, spurs, landings, and
decking areas;
Quarrying, processing, and transporting of stone, gravel,
and/or dirt for use in roads;
Administrative activities, such as land surveying, timber
cruising, and other resource inventorying;
All activities required by the HCP or ITP; and
Entering into and administering access rights, utility
rights-of-ways, and recreational and hunting leases.
Species for which Lewis County seeks coverage include 33 species of
fish and up to 44 species of wildlife. Seven of the species are
currently listed as threatened under the ESA, including: Lower Columbia
River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Columbia River chum
salmon (O. keta), Lower Columbia River steelhead/rainbow trout (O.
mykiss), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), marbled murrelet
(Brachyramphus marmoratus), northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis
caurina), and gray wolf (Canis lupus). Lower Columbia River coho salmon
(O. kisutch) are proposed for listing and yellow-billed cuckoo
(Coccyzus americanus) is a candidate species. Thirteen species proposed
for permit coverage are Federal species of concern.
The draft HCP to be prepared by Lewis County in support of the ITP
applications will describe the impacts of take on proposed covered
species, and will propose a conservation strategy to minimize and
mitigate those impacts on each covered species to the maximum extent
practicable. This conservation strategy would follow the basic
strategies employed in the current State Forest Practices Rules with
modifications to address site-specific ecological conditions of the
eligible lands. Streams would be protected with combinations of no-
harvest and partial harvest buffers; roads would be designed,
constructed, and maintained to minimize erosion and mass wasting;
specified numbers of snags, logs, and residual live trees would be
retained in uplands; and the size of timber harvests would be
constrained to minimize potential cumulative effects. Protection of
steep and unstable slopes, road construction, and road maintenance
would follow State Forest Practices Rules, including any changes made
to those rules through the adaptive management process associated with
the Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan. Harvest unit size would
be restricted to a maximum of 60 acres.
The draft HCP will identify HCP alternatives considered by Lewis
County and will explain why those alternatives were not selected. The
Services are responsible for determining whether the HCP satisfies ESA
section 10 permit issuance criteria.
Under NEPA, a reasonable range of alternatives to a proposed
project must be developed and considered in the Services' environmental
review. The Services have identified the following preliminary
alternatives for public comment during the public scoping period:
Alternative 1: No Action - Under the No Action Alternative, an ITP
would not be issued by the Services and the HCP would not be approved.
Family forest landowners in Lewis County wishing to continue practicing
forestry would be required to comply with Washington State Forest
Practices Rules (WAC 222) concerning the protection of listed fish and
wildlife;
Alternative 2: The Proposed Action - There would be full
implementation of the HCP, which includes a set of site-specific
riparian and upland habitat conservation measures that would be
specific to eligible family forest parcels in Lewis County;
Alternative 3: The proposed HCP would be modified by changing or
adding measures to further reduce the amount and risk of incidental
take. These measures could include different approaches to ESA
compliance, conservation commitments, adaptive management, permit
timeframes, covered lands, covered species, eligible parties, or
covered activities; and
Additional project alternatives may be developed based on input
received from the public scoping process.
Request for Comments
The primary purpose of the scoping process is for the public to
assist the Services in developing the EIS by identifying important
issues and alternatives related to the applicant's proposed action. A
scoping workshop will allocate time for informal discussion and
questions with presentations by the Services and Lewis County.
[[Page 42535]]
Written comments from interested parties are welcome to ensure that
the full range of issues related to the proposed ITP are identified.
All comments and materials received, including names and addresses,
will become part of the administrative record and may be released to
the public.
Comments and materials received will be available for public
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the offices
listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
The Services request that comments be specific. In particular, we
request information regarding: direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts
that implementation of the proposed HCP or other alternatives could
have on endangered and threatened and other covered species, and their
communities and habitats; other possible alternatives that meet the
purpose and need; potential adaptive management and/or monitoring
provisions; funding issues; existing environmental conditions in the
plan area; other plans or projects that might be relevant to this
proposed project; permit duration; maximum acreage that should be
covered; limited entry time-frame for issuing certificates of
inclusion; specific species that should or should not be covered;
specific landforms that should or should not be covered; and
minimization and mitigation efforts. NMFS and FWS estimate that the
draft EIS will be available for public review in the spring of 2006.
The environmental review of this project will be conducted in
accordance with the requirements of the NEPA of 1969 as amended (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), Council on the Environmental Quality Regulations
(40 CFR parts 1500 - 1518), other applicable Federal laws and
regulations, and applicable policies and procedures of the Services.
This notice is being furnished in accordance with 40 CFR 1501.7 to
obtain suggestions and information from other agencies and the public
on the scope of issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EIS.
Dated: July 1, 2005.
Chris McKay,
Acting Deputy Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1,
Portland, Oregon.
Dated: July 20, 2005.
P. Michael Payne
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05-14621 Filed 7-22-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODES 4310-55-S, 3510-22-S
