Notice of Availability of Proposed Low Effect Habitat Conservation Plan for Tumalo Irrigation District's Tumalo Conservation Project, 58249-58250 [2011-24105]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 182 / Tuesday, September 20, 2011 / Notices
voluntary options and will not collect
information that is required or
regulated. No assurances of
confidentiality will be given. However,
it will be completely optional for survey
participants to provide their name or
affiliation information if they wish to
provide comments for which they elect
to receive a response.
II. Method of Collection
NIST will collect this information by
electronic means, as well as by mail,
fax, telephone, and person-to-person
interaction.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0693–0031.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Regular submission
(extension of a currently approved
information collection).
Affected Public: Business or for-profit
organizations, individuals or
households, not-for-profit institutions.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
6,000.
Estimated Time per Response: Less
than 2 minutes for a response card, 2
hours for focus group participation. The
average estimated response time is
expected to be less than 30 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 3,500.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $0.
Emcdonald on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Dated: September 14, 2011.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011–24049 Filed 9–19–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–13–P
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:45 Sep 19, 2011
Jkt 223001
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XA668
Notice of Availability of Proposed Low
Effect Habitat Conservation Plan for
Tumalo Irrigation District’s Tumalo
Conservation Project
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of
application.
AGENCY:
NMFS advises interested
parties of Tumalo Irrigation District’s
(TID) application for an incidental take
permit, pursuant to the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, (ESA). The
requested 50-year permit would
authorize the incidental take of Middle
Columbia River Steelhead in the
Deschutes River basin that may occur
from irrigation activities and
construction of water conservation
projects implemented by TID. NMFS is
requesting comments on the permit
application and on Tumalo Irrigation
District’s low effect Habitat
Conservation Plan (HCP). The
application and HCP are available for
public review.
DATES: Written comments must be
received no later than 5 p.m. Pacific
Standard Time on October 20, 2011.
ADDRESSES: All comments concerning
the proposed issuance of an incidental
take permit and the HCP should be
addressed to: Scott Carlon, National
Marine Fisheries Service, 1201 NE
Lloyd Blvd., Suite 1100, Portland, OR
97232, facsimile number 503–231–2318.
Comments may be submitted by e-mail
to the following address:
TumaloHCP.nwr@noaa.gov. In the
subject line of the e-mail, include the
document identifier: Tumalo Irrigation
District HCP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Scott Carlon, NMFS (503) 231–2379.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Availability of Documents
Individuals seeking copies of the
proposed HCP should contact NMFS by
telephone (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT) or by letter (see ADDRESSES).
Copies of the subject documents also are
available for public inspection during
regular business hours at NMFS’
Hydropower Division Office (see
ADDRESSES) and are available at the
following Web site: https://
www.nwr.noaa.gov.
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
58249
Statutory Authority
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the
taking of any listed species. The
definition of ‘‘take’’ under the ESA (16
U.S.C. 1532(19)) includes to harass,
harm, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, collect, or attempt to engage in
any such conduct. 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 and
implementing regulations specify
requirements for the issuance of
incidental take permits (ITP) to nonFederal entities for the incidental take of
endangered and threatened species.
NMFS’s regulations governing permits
for incidental taking of threatened and
endangered species are at 50 CFR
222.307. 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, the applicant must prepare
and submit an HCP describing the
impact that will likely result from such
taking, the conservation measures to
minimize and mitigate the take, the
funding available to implement such
steps, alternatives to such taking, and
the reason such alternatives are not
being implemented.
Background
The Tumalo Irrigation District (TID) is
an 8,200-acre irrigation project located
northwest of Bend in Deschutes County,
Oregon. TID is seeking a permit from
NMFS for the incidental take of ESAlisted Middle Columbia River (MCR)
steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that
are being reintroduced into historic
habitat downstream of TID. The ITP
would provide ESA regulatory certainty
for TID’s existing operations and
proposed water conservation projects
providing that TID meets the permit
conditions. Existing operations included
in the HCP as covered activities include
the diversion of flow from Tumalo
Creek and the Deschutes River,
maintenance activities associated with
diversion structures and conveyance
systems, and water conservation
projects including piping portions of the
irrigation canals.
TID has a total water right of 211.25
cubic feet per second (cfs) and diverts
water from two locations: Tumalo Creek
E:\FR\FM\20SEN1.SGM
20SEN1
Emcdonald on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
58250
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 182 / Tuesday, September 20, 2011 / Notices
at river mile 3 (river km 4.8) and the
Deschutes River at river mile 165 (river
km 265.5). TID’s water rights consist of
201.75 cfs from Tumalo Creek and 9.5
cfs of natural flow from the Deschutes
River. TID also has rights to stored water
in Crescent Lake Reservoir. The
irrigation season usually runs from
April through October. Peak diversions
normally reach about 190 cfs during the
months of May, June and July but begin
to decrease in late July. Flow diverted
from Tumalo Creek is conveyed via the
Tumalo Feed Canal. Diversion rates
from Tumalo Creek range between 40
and 70 cfs in April and increase steadily
through May with peak diversion
between 130 and 150 cfs during the
months of May and June, diminishing to
about 50 cfs by September.
Flow diverted by TID from the
Deschutes River is conveyed via the
Bend Feed Canal. Diversion rates are at
or near 10 cfs in April and gradually
increase May through July. Starting in
about mid-July and running through
September, the majority of TID
diversions (about 60 percent) are taken
from the Deschutes River, reaching
roughly 120 cfs. During the off-season
(November through March), diversions
into TID are eliminated except for
occasional stock runs of about 50 to 60
cfs to fill stock ponds.
TID conducts all maintenance
activities during the off-season with the
exception of year round removal of
debris and the need for emergency
repairs. Maintenance actions include
repair and improvements to diversion
structures and canals, occasional (every
few years) dredging behind diversion
dams, removing vegetation from canals
and ditches, and inspection of flow
measurement instrumentation. Both the
Tumalo Creek and Deschutes River
diversions are fitted with fish screens,
so all maintenance on these structures
occur during the off-season.
TID has installed pipe in a portion of
the Tumalo Feed Canal and proposes to
complete piping the remaining open
sections (about 6 miles (9.65 km) of
canal) by October 31, 2015. Once
completed, TID estimates that
approximately 20 cfs of water will be
conserved that is now lost through
evaporation and seepage. Upon
completion of piping, the conserved
water will be transferred to the State of
Oregon for permanent instream water
use in the form of senior water rights.
This will increase flow in Tumalo Creek
and the Deschutes River below Tumalo
Creek by about 11.8 cfs during the
irrigation season and is expected to cool
water in the Deschutes by roughly 1
degree Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees C). The
remaining 8.2 cfs will be in the form of
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:45 Sep 19, 2011
Jkt 223001
stored water rights in Crescent Lake
Reservoir and will be used by the State
of Oregon to supplement flows in
Crescent Creek and the Deschutes River.
To improve monitoring of its
diversion rates, TID will replace an
existing flow and temperature
measurement structure located in
Tumalo Creek downstream of the
Tumalo Feed Canal diversion. The
existing structure does not give accurate
measurements when flows are high. TID
will also install a meter in the Tumalo
Feed Canal downstream of its
confluence with the Bend Feed Canal to
measure the combined diversion rate.
TID will submit yearly progress reports
to NMFS and the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
Historically, MCR steelhead did not
occur in Tumalo Creek or the reach of
the Deschutes River where TID diverts
water. The upstream limit for
anadromous fish, including MCR
steelhead, in the Deschutes River was
Big Falls at about river mile 132 (river
km 212.4). Tumalo Creek enters the
Deschutes River roughly 28 river miles
(45.1 km) upstream of Big Falls and the
Deschutes River diversion is about 33
river miles (53.1 km) above Big Falls.
MCR steelhead are not being
reintroduced above this natural barrier.
NMFS may approve the HCP as a low
effect HCP, as provided in the Habitat
Conservation Planning Handbook
(NMFS and USFWS 1996).
Determination of low effect HCPs is
based upon the plan having: Minor or
negligible effects on Federally-listed,
proposed, or candidate species and their
habitats; minor or negligible effects on
other environmental values or
resources; and, impacts that considered
together with the impacts of other past,
present, and reasonably foreseeable
similarly situated projects would not
result, over time, in cumulative effects
to the environmental values or resources
which would be considered significant.
If the plan qualifies as a low-effect HCP,
the NEPA consideration would be
covered by a categorical exclusion, and
NMFS would not need to conduct
further analysis.
Request for Comments
If you wish to comment on the permit
application or the HCP, you may submit
your comments to the address listed in
the ADDRESSES section of this document.
We will evaluate this permit
application, associated documents, and
comments submitted to determine
whether to issue the permit. All
comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be
posted to https://www.regulations.gov
without change. All personal identifying
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
information (e.g., name, address, etc.)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter
may be publicly accessible. Do not
submit confidential business
information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. We will accept
anonymous comments (enter N/A in the
required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous). Attachments to electronic
comments will be accepted in Microsoft
Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe
PDF file formats only.
If we determine that the legal criteria
are met, we will issue an incidental take
permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
ESA to the TID for take of the proposed
covered species, incidental to otherwise
lawful activities in accordance with the
terms of the permit. 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. NMFS
provides this notice pursuant to section
10(c) of the ESA and pursuant to
implementing regulations for NEPA (40
CFR 1506.6).
Dated: September 15, 2011.
Therese Conant,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division,
Office of Protected Resources, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011–24105 Filed 9–19–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Notice of Submission for OMB Review
Department of Education.
Comment request.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The Director, Information
Collection Clearance Division, Privacy,
Information and Records Management
Services, Office of Management, invites
comments on the submission for OMB
review as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–13).
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before October
20, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should
be addressed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Attention: Education Desk Officer,
Office of Management and Budget, 725
17th Street, NW., Room 10222, New
Executive Office Building, Washington,
DC 20503, be faxed to (202) 395–5806 or
e-mailed to
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov with a
cc: to ICDocketMgr@ed.gov. Please note
that written comments received in
response to this notice will be
considered public records.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\20SEN1.SGM
20SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58249-58250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24105]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XA668
Notice of Availability of Proposed Low Effect Habitat
Conservation Plan for Tumalo Irrigation District's Tumalo Conservation
Project
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of application.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS advises interested parties of Tumalo Irrigation
District's (TID) application for an incidental take permit, pursuant to
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, (ESA). The requested 50-year permit
would authorize the incidental take of Middle Columbia River Steelhead
in the Deschutes River basin that may occur from irrigation activities
and construction of water conservation projects implemented by TID.
NMFS is requesting comments on the permit application and on Tumalo
Irrigation District's low effect Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The
application and HCP are available for public review.
DATES: Written comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. Pacific
Standard Time on October 20, 2011.
ADDRESSES: All comments concerning the proposed issuance of an
incidental take permit and the HCP should be addressed to: Scott
Carlon, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite
1100, Portland, OR 97232, facsimile number 503-231-2318. Comments may
be submitted by e-mail to the following address:
TumaloHCP.nwr@noaa.gov. In the subject line of the e-mail, include the
document identifier: Tumalo Irrigation District HCP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Carlon, NMFS (503) 231-2379.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
Individuals seeking copies of the proposed HCP should contact NMFS
by telephone (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) or by letter (see
ADDRESSES). Copies of the subject documents also are available for
public inspection during regular business hours at NMFS' Hydropower
Division Office (see ADDRESSES) and are available at the following Web
site: https://www.nwr.noaa.gov.
Statutory Authority
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the taking of any listed species.
The definition of ``take'' under the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)) includes
to harass, harm, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or
attempt to engage in any such conduct. 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 and implementing regulations specify
requirements for the issuance of incidental take permits (ITP) to non-
Federal entities for the incidental take of endangered and threatened
species. NMFS's regulations governing permits for incidental taking of
threatened and endangered species are at 50 CFR 222.307. 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, the applicant must prepare and
submit an HCP describing the impact that will likely result from such
taking, the conservation measures to minimize and mitigate the take,
the funding available to implement such steps, alternatives to such
taking, and the reason such alternatives are not being implemented.
Background
The Tumalo Irrigation District (TID) is an 8,200-acre irrigation
project located northwest of Bend in Deschutes County, Oregon. TID is
seeking a permit from NMFS for the incidental take of ESA-listed Middle
Columbia River (MCR) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that are being
reintroduced into historic habitat downstream of TID. The ITP would
provide ESA regulatory certainty for TID's existing operations and
proposed water conservation projects providing that TID meets the
permit conditions. Existing operations included in the HCP as covered
activities include the diversion of flow from Tumalo Creek and the
Deschutes River, maintenance activities associated with diversion
structures and conveyance systems, and water conservation projects
including piping portions of the irrigation canals.
TID has a total water right of 211.25 cubic feet per second (cfs)
and diverts water from two locations: Tumalo Creek
[[Page 58250]]
at river mile 3 (river km 4.8) and the Deschutes River at river mile
165 (river km 265.5). TID's water rights consist of 201.75 cfs from
Tumalo Creek and 9.5 cfs of natural flow from the Deschutes River. TID
also has rights to stored water in Crescent Lake Reservoir. The
irrigation season usually runs from April through October. Peak
diversions normally reach about 190 cfs during the months of May, June
and July but begin to decrease in late July. Flow diverted from Tumalo
Creek is conveyed via the Tumalo Feed Canal. Diversion rates from
Tumalo Creek range between 40 and 70 cfs in April and increase steadily
through May with peak diversion between 130 and 150 cfs during the
months of May and June, diminishing to about 50 cfs by September.
Flow diverted by TID from the Deschutes River is conveyed via the
Bend Feed Canal. Diversion rates are at or near 10 cfs in April and
gradually increase May through July. Starting in about mid-July and
running through September, the majority of TID diversions (about 60
percent) are taken from the Deschutes River, reaching roughly 120 cfs.
During the off-season (November through March), diversions into TID are
eliminated except for occasional stock runs of about 50 to 60 cfs to
fill stock ponds.
TID conducts all maintenance activities during the off-season with
the exception of year round removal of debris and the need for
emergency repairs. Maintenance actions include repair and improvements
to diversion structures and canals, occasional (every few years)
dredging behind diversion dams, removing vegetation from canals and
ditches, and inspection of flow measurement instrumentation. Both the
Tumalo Creek and Deschutes River diversions are fitted with fish
screens, so all maintenance on these structures occur during the off-
season.
TID has installed pipe in a portion of the Tumalo Feed Canal and
proposes to complete piping the remaining open sections (about 6 miles
(9.65 km) of canal) by October 31, 2015. Once completed, TID estimates
that approximately 20 cfs of water will be conserved that is now lost
through evaporation and seepage. Upon completion of piping, the
conserved water will be transferred to the State of Oregon for
permanent instream water use in the form of senior water rights. This
will increase flow in Tumalo Creek and the Deschutes River below Tumalo
Creek by about 11.8 cfs during the irrigation season and is expected to
cool water in the Deschutes by roughly 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56
degrees C). The remaining 8.2 cfs will be in the form of stored water
rights in Crescent Lake Reservoir and will be used by the State of
Oregon to supplement flows in Crescent Creek and the Deschutes River.
To improve monitoring of its diversion rates, TID will replace an
existing flow and temperature measurement structure located in Tumalo
Creek downstream of the Tumalo Feed Canal diversion. The existing
structure does not give accurate measurements when flows are high. TID
will also install a meter in the Tumalo Feed Canal downstream of its
confluence with the Bend Feed Canal to measure the combined diversion
rate. TID will submit yearly progress reports to NMFS and the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Historically, MCR steelhead did not occur in Tumalo Creek or the
reach of the Deschutes River where TID diverts water. The upstream
limit for anadromous fish, including MCR steelhead, in the Deschutes
River was Big Falls at about river mile 132 (river km 212.4). Tumalo
Creek enters the Deschutes River roughly 28 river miles (45.1 km)
upstream of Big Falls and the Deschutes River diversion is about 33
river miles (53.1 km) above Big Falls. MCR steelhead are not being
reintroduced above this natural barrier.
NMFS may approve the HCP as a low effect HCP, as provided in the
Habitat Conservation Planning Handbook (NMFS and USFWS 1996).
Determination of low effect HCPs is based upon the plan having: Minor
or negligible effects on Federally-listed, proposed, or candidate
species and their habitats; minor or negligible effects on other
environmental values or resources; and, impacts that considered
together with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable similarly situated projects would not result, over time, in
cumulative effects to the environmental values or resources which would
be considered significant. If the plan qualifies as a low-effect HCP,
the NEPA consideration would be covered by a categorical exclusion, and
NMFS would not need to conduct further analysis.
Request for Comments
If you wish to comment on the permit application or the HCP, you
may submit your comments to the address listed in the ADDRESSES section
of this document. We will evaluate this permit application, associated
documents, and comments submitted to determine whether to issue the
permit. All comments received are a part of the public record and will
generally be posted to https://www.regulations.gov without change. All
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do
not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. We will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in
the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to
electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel,
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
If we determine that the legal criteria are met, we will issue an
incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA to the TID
for take of the proposed covered species, incidental to otherwise
lawful activities in accordance with the terms of the permit. 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. NMFS provides this notice pursuant to section 10(c) of
the ESA and pursuant to implementing regulations for NEPA (40 CFR
1506.6).
Dated: September 15, 2011.
Therese Conant,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-24105 Filed 9-19-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
