Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle and the Giant Garter Snake for Landowners Restoring, Enhancing or Managing Native Riparian and Wetland Habitats in Yolo County, CA, 45445-45446 [E7-15893]
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 14, 2007 / Notices
approximately 454 acres of islands,
rocks, and reefs. Habitats include
remnant prairies, cliff faces, shorelines,
and old growth forest. San Juan Islands
Refuge provides important breeding,
resting, and foraging habitat for
sensitive marine bird and mammal
species. The islands of this refuge are
part of the San Juan Islands Wilderness,
except for Smith, Minor, and Turn
Island, and a 5-acre parcel on Matia
Island. The provisions of the Wilderness
Act apply to all refuge lands that are
designated wilderness. Additional
information concerning San Juan
Islands Refuge is available at: https://
www.fws.gov/pacific/refuges/field/
wa_sanjuanis.htm.
Preliminary Issues, Concerns, and
Opportunities
The following broad categories of
preliminary issues have been identified
by the Service for consideration in the
planning process: Threats to Refuge
resources; Refuge buffers; habitat
restoration; wilderness management on
San Juan Islands Refuge; research
opportunities; visitor services; and
refuge administration. Additional issues
may be identified during public
scoping. The CCP will focus on ways of
minimizing threats to the Refuges’
resources and visitor services programs
will be evaluated based on current
Service policies. A revised wilderness
stewardship plan for the San Juan
Islands Wilderness will be included in
the CCP as well.
Public Availability of Comments
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
All comments received from
individuals become part of the official
public record. Requests for such
comments will be handled in
accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act, NEPA, and Service and
Department of the Interior policies and
procedures.
Before including your address, phone
number, e-mail 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 ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee we will be able to do
so.
Dated: July 17, 2007.
David J. Wesley,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland,
Oregon.
[FR Doc. E7–15882 Filed 8–13–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:35 Aug 13, 2007
Jkt 211001
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for
the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle
and the Giant Garter Snake for
Landowners Restoring, Enhancing or
Managing Native Riparian and Wetland
Habitats in Yolo County, CA
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of
application.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This notice advises the public
that the National Audubon Society, Inc.,
doing business in California as
Audubon California (Applicant) has
applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) for an enhancement of
survival permit pursuant to Section
10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The
permit application includes a proposed
Safe Harbor Agreement (Agreement)
between the Applicant and the Service
for the threatened valley elderberry
longhorn beetle (VELB) (Desmocerus
californicus dimorphus) and/or the
giant garter snake (GGS) (Thamnopsis
gigas). The Agreement and permit
application are available for public
comment.
Written comments should be
received on or before September 13,
2007.
DATES:
Comments should be
addressed to Shannon Holbrook, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento
Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage
Way, W–2605, Sacramento, California
95825. Written comments may be sent
by facsimile to (916) 414–6712.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Shannon Holbrook, Sacramento Fish
and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES);
telephone: (916) 414–6600.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:
Availability of Documents
You may obtain copies of the
documents for review by contacting the
individual named above. You may also
make an appointment to view the
documents at the above address during
normal business hours.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone
number, e-mail 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 ask us in your comment
PO 00000
Frm 00034
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
45445
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Background
Under a Safe Harbor Agreement,
participating landowners voluntarily
undertake management activities on
their property to enhance, restore, or
maintain habitat benefiting species
listed under the Act. Safe Harbor
Agreements, and the subsequent
enhancement of survival permits that
are issued pursuant to Section
10(a)(1)(A) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.), encourage private and other nonFederal property owners to implement
conservation efforts for listed species by
assuring property owners that they will
not be subjected to increased land use
restrictions as a result of efforts to
attract or increase the numbers or
distribution of a listed species on their
property. Application requirements and
issuance criteria for enhancement of
survival permits through Safe Harbor
Agreements are found in 50 CFR
17.22(c).
We have worked with the Applicant
to develop this proposed Programmatic
Agreement for the conservation of the
VELB and the GGS in Yolo County,
California. The properties subject to this
Agreement consist of approximately
200,000 acres of non-Federal properties
within the boundaries of Yolo County,
on which habitat for the VELG and/or
GGS will be restored, enhanced, and
managed pursuant to a written
agreement between Audubon California
and a property owner.
This Agreement provides for the
creation of a Program in which private
landowners (Program Participants) enter
into written cooperative agreements
with the Applicant pursuant to the
terms of the Agreement, to restore,
enhance, and maintain riparian and
wetland habitat in ways beneficial to the
VELB and/or GGS. Such cooperative
agreements will be for a term of at least
10 years. The proposed duration of the
Agreement is 30 years, and the proposed
term of the enhancement of survival
permit is 30 years. The Agreement fully
describes the proposed management
activities to be undertaken by Program
Participants and the conservation
benefits expected to be gained for the
VELB and GGS.
Upon approval of this Agreement, and
consistent with the Service’s Safe
Harbor Policy published in the Federal
Register on June 17, 1999 (64 FR 32717),
the Service would issue a permit to
Audubon California authorizing take of
VELG and GGS by Program Participants
incidental to the implementation of the
E:\FR\FM\14AUN1.SGM
14AUN1
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
45446
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 14, 2007 / Notices
management activities specified in the
cooperative agreements, incidental to
other lawful uses of the properties,
including normal routine land
management activities, and/or to return
to pre-Agreement conditions.
To benefit the VELB and GGS,
Program Participants will agree to
undertake site-specific management
activities, which will be specified in
their written cooperative agreements.
Management activities that could be
included in the Cooperative Agreements
will provide for the restoration,
enhancement and management of native
riparian and/or wetland habitats in Yolo
County. The object of such activities is
to enhance populations of VELB and/or
GGS by creating healthy native riparian
plant and/or wetland communities.
Take of VELB and GGS incidental to the
aforementioned activities is unlikely;
however, it is possible that in the course
of such activities or other lawful
activities on the enrolled property, a
Program Participant could incidentally
take a VELB or GGS thereby
necessitating take authority under the
permit.
Pre-Agreement conditions (baseline),
consisting of a description and survey to
delineate the locations of all elderberry
bushes having 1 or more stems that are
1 inch or greater in diameter at the base
and to determine the quantity, quality,
and location of suitable GGS habitat,
shall be determined for each enrolled
property as provided in the Agreement.
In order to receive the above assurances
regarding incidental take of VELB and/
or GGS, a Program Participant must
maintain baseline on the enrolled
property. The Agreement and requested
enhancement of survival permit will
allow each Program Participant to return
to baseline conditions after the end of
the term of the 10-year cooperative
agreement and prior to the expiration of
the 30-year permit, if so desired by the
Applicants.
Consistent with the Service’s Safe
Harbor Policy (64 FR 32717), the
proposed Agreement and requested
permit also extend certain assurances to
those lands that are immediately
adjacent to lands on which restoration
activities occur. To receive such
assurances, a neighboring landowner
must enter into a written agreement
with the Service that specifies the
baseline conditions on the property.
This written agreement remains in effect
until the expiration of the 30-year
Agreement between the Applicant and
the Service and requires the neighboring
landowner to maintain the baseline
conditions established at the start of the
agreement.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:35 Aug 13, 2007
Jkt 211001
Public Review and Comments
The Service has made a preliminary
determination that the proposed
Agreement and permit application are
eligible for categorical exclusion under
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA). We explain the basis
for this determination in an
Environmental Action Statement, which
is also available for public review.
Individuals wishing copies of the
permit application, copies of our
preliminary Environmental Action
Statement, and/or copies of the full text
of the Agreement, including a map of
the proposed permit area, references,
and legal descriptions of the proposed
permit area, should contact the office
and personnel listed in the ADDRESSES
section above.
If you wish to comment on the permit
application or the Agreement, you may
submit your comments to the address
listed in the ADDRESSES section of this
document. Comments and materials
received, including names and
addresses of respondents, will be
available for public review, by
appointment, during normal business
hours at the address in the ADDRESSES
section above and will become part of
the public record, pursuant to section
10(c) of the Act. Individual respondents
may request that we withhold their
home address from the record, which
we will honor to the extent allowable by
law. There also may be circumstances in
which we would withhold from the
record a respondent’s identity, as
allowable by law. If you wish us to
withhold your name and/or address,
you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your comment.
Anonymous comments will not be
considered. All submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, are
available for public inspection in their
entirety.
We will evaluate this permit
application, associated documents, and
comments submitted thereon to
determine whether the permit
application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the Act and NEPA
regulations at 40 CFR 1506.6. If we
determine that the requirements are
met, we will sign the proposed
Agreement and issue an enhancement of
survival permit under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the Act to the Applicants
for take of the VELB and/or GGS
incidental to otherwise lawful activities
in accordance with the terms of the
Agreement. We will not make our final
decision until after the end of the 30-
PO 00000
Frm 00035
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
day comment period and will fully
consider all comments received during
the comment period.
The Service provides this notice
pursuant to section 10(c) of the Act and
pursuant to implementing regulations
for NEPA (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: August 8, 2007.
Susan K. Moore,
Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and
Wildlife Office, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. E7–15893 Filed 8–13–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[OR–050–1020–MJ; HAG07–0169]
Notice of Public Meetings—John Day/
Snake Resource Advisory Council
(RAC)
Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), Prineville District.
ACTION: Notice of Public Meetings—John
Day/Snake Resource Advisory Council
(RAC).
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act and the Federal Advisory
Committee Act of 1972, the Department
of the Interior, BLM John Day Snake
RAC will meet as indicated below:
The John Day/Snake RAC is
scheduled to meet on September 12,
2007, at the Geiser Grand Hotel at 1996
Main Street, Baker City, Oregon. The
meeting time will be from
approximately 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A
public comment period will begin at 1
p.m. and end at 1:15 p.m. (Pacific
Daylight Time). The meeting will
include such topics as the John Day
Basin Resource Management Plan,
Eastern Oregon off-highway vehicle and
travel management, salmon recovery
efforts for the Mid-Columbia and
Northeast Oregon/Snake Rivers, the
Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision and
other matters as may reasonably come
before the council.
Meeting Procedures: The meeting is
open to the public. The public may
present written comments to the RAC.
Depending on the number of persons
wishing to provide oral comments and
agenda topics to be covered, the time to
do so may be limited. Individuals who
plan to attend and need special
assistance such as sign language
interpretation, tour transportation or
other reasonable accommodations,
should contact the BLM representative
indicated below. For a copy of the
information to be distributed to the RAC
members, please submit a written
E:\FR\FM\14AUN1.SGM
14AUN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 156 (Tuesday, August 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45445-45446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-15893]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for the Valley Elderberry Longhorn
Beetle and the Giant Garter Snake for Landowners Restoring, Enhancing
or Managing Native Riparian and Wetland Habitats in Yolo County, CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of application.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the National Audubon
Society, Inc., doing business in California as Audubon California
(Applicant) has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)
for an enhancement of survival permit pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(A)
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The permit
application includes a proposed Safe Harbor Agreement (Agreement)
between the Applicant and the Service for the threatened valley
elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus)
and/or the giant garter snake (GGS) (Thamnopsis gigas). The Agreement
and permit application are available for public comment.
DATES: Written comments should be received on or before September 13,
2007.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Shannon Holbrook, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage
Way, W-2605, Sacramento, California 95825. Written comments may be sent
by facsimile to (916) 414-6712.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Shannon Holbrook, Sacramento Fish
and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES); telephone: (916) 414-6600.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
You may obtain copies of the documents for review by contacting the
individual named above. You may also make an appointment to view the
documents at the above address during normal business hours.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail 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
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.
Background
Under a Safe Harbor Agreement, participating landowners voluntarily
undertake management activities on their property to enhance, restore,
or maintain habitat benefiting species listed under the Act. Safe
Harbor Agreements, and the subsequent enhancement of survival permits
that are issued pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.), encourage private and other non-Federal property owners
to implement conservation efforts for listed species by assuring
property owners that they will not be subjected to increased land use
restrictions as a result of efforts to attract or increase the numbers
or distribution of a listed species on their property. Application
requirements and issuance criteria for enhancement of survival permits
through Safe Harbor Agreements are found in 50 CFR 17.22(c).
We have worked with the Applicant to develop this proposed
Programmatic Agreement for the conservation of the VELB and the GGS in
Yolo County, California. The properties subject to this Agreement
consist of approximately 200,000 acres of non-Federal properties within
the boundaries of Yolo County, on which habitat for the VELG and/or GGS
will be restored, enhanced, and managed pursuant to a written agreement
between Audubon California and a property owner.
This Agreement provides for the creation of a Program in which
private landowners (Program Participants) enter into written
cooperative agreements with the Applicant pursuant to the terms of the
Agreement, to restore, enhance, and maintain riparian and wetland
habitat in ways beneficial to the VELB and/or GGS. Such cooperative
agreements will be for a term of at least 10 years. The proposed
duration of the Agreement is 30 years, and the proposed term of the
enhancement of survival permit is 30 years. The Agreement fully
describes the proposed management activities to be undertaken by
Program Participants and the conservation benefits expected to be
gained for the VELB and GGS.
Upon approval of this Agreement, and consistent with the Service's
Safe Harbor Policy published in the Federal Register on June 17, 1999
(64 FR 32717), the Service would issue a permit to Audubon California
authorizing take of VELG and GGS by Program Participants incidental to
the implementation of the
[[Page 45446]]
management activities specified in the cooperative agreements,
incidental to other lawful uses of the properties, including normal
routine land management activities, and/or to return to pre-Agreement
conditions.
To benefit the VELB and GGS, Program Participants will agree to
undertake site-specific management activities, which will be specified
in their written cooperative agreements. Management activities that
could be included in the Cooperative Agreements will provide for the
restoration, enhancement and management of native riparian and/or
wetland habitats in Yolo County. The object of such activities is to
enhance populations of VELB and/or GGS by creating healthy native
riparian plant and/or wetland communities. Take of VELB and GGS
incidental to the aforementioned activities is unlikely; however, it is
possible that in the course of such activities or other lawful
activities on the enrolled property, a Program Participant could
incidentally take a VELB or GGS thereby necessitating take authority
under the permit.
Pre-Agreement conditions (baseline), consisting of a description
and survey to delineate the locations of all elderberry bushes having 1
or more stems that are 1 inch or greater in diameter at the base and to
determine the quantity, quality, and location of suitable GGS habitat,
shall be determined for each enrolled property as provided in the
Agreement. In order to receive the above assurances regarding
incidental take of VELB and/or GGS, a Program Participant must maintain
baseline on the enrolled property. The Agreement and requested
enhancement of survival permit will allow each Program Participant to
return to baseline conditions after the end of the term of the 10-year
cooperative agreement and prior to the expiration of the 30-year
permit, if so desired by the Applicants.
Consistent with the Service's Safe Harbor Policy (64 FR 32717), the
proposed Agreement and requested permit also extend certain assurances
to those lands that are immediately adjacent to lands on which
restoration activities occur. To receive such assurances, a neighboring
landowner must enter into a written agreement with the Service that
specifies the baseline conditions on the property. This written
agreement remains in effect until the expiration of the 30-year
Agreement between the Applicant and the Service and requires the
neighboring landowner to maintain the baseline conditions established
at the start of the agreement.
Public Review and Comments
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the proposed
Agreement and permit application are eligible for categorical exclusion
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). We explain
the basis for this determination in an Environmental Action Statement,
which is also available for public review.
Individuals wishing copies of the permit application, copies of our
preliminary Environmental Action Statement, and/or copies of the full
text of the Agreement, including a map of the proposed permit area,
references, and legal descriptions of the proposed permit area, should
contact the office and personnel listed in the ADDRESSES section above.
If you wish to comment on the permit application or the Agreement,
you may submit your comments to the address listed in the ADDRESSES
section of this document. Comments and materials received, including
names and addresses of respondents, will be available for public
review, by appointment, during normal business hours at the address in
the ADDRESSES section above and will become part of the public record,
pursuant to section 10(c) of the Act. Individual respondents may
request that we withhold their home address from the record, which we
will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be
circumstances in which we would withhold from the record a respondent's
identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name
and/or address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of
your comment. Anonymous comments will not be considered. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, are available for public inspection in their entirety.
We will evaluate this permit application, associated documents, and
comments submitted thereon to determine whether the permit application
meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the Act and NEPA regulations
at 40 CFR 1506.6. If we determine that the requirements are met, we
will sign the proposed Agreement and issue an enhancement of survival
permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act to the Applicants for take
of the VELB and/or GGS incidental to otherwise lawful activities in
accordance with the terms of the Agreement. We will not make our final
decision until after the end of the 30-day comment period and will
fully consider all comments received during the comment period.
The Service provides this notice pursuant to section 10(c) of the
Act and pursuant to implementing regulations for NEPA (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: August 8, 2007.
Susan K. Moore,
Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, Sacramento,
California.
[FR Doc. E7-15893 Filed 8-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
