Receipt of Enhancement of Survival Permit Applications in Support of Quail Country Programmatic Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances for North Florida and Southwest Georgia; Categorical Exclusion, 21705-21706 [2023-07532]
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21705
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 69 / Tuesday, April 11, 2023 / Notices
based approach can yield reliable and
valid results that are comparable to
those in the past studies, if not better.
Number of
respondents
Information collection
Responses
per annum
Burden hour
per response
Annual
burden hours
Hourly
cost per
response *
Annual cost
First PHA Survey ..........................................
Second PHA Survey .....................................
300
500
1
1
300
500
0.75
0.75
225
375
$38.18
$38.18
$8,590.50
$14,317.50
Total .......................................................
800
1
800
1.5
600
$76.36
$22,908.00
B. Solicitation of Public Comment
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
This notice is soliciting comments
from members of the public and affected
parties concerning the collection of
information described in section A on
the following:
(1) Whether the proposed collection
of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) Ways to minimize the burden of
the collection of information on those
who are to respond; including through
the use of appropriate automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
(5) ways to minimize the burden of
the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
HUD encourages interested parties to
submit comment in response to these
questions.
Fish and Wildlife Service
C. Authority
Section 3507 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C.
chapter 35.
Anna P. Guido,
Department Reports Management Officer,
Office of Policy Development and Research,
Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023–07533 Filed 4–10–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
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Frequency
of response
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:45 Apr 10, 2023
Jkt 259001
[Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0037;
FXES11140400000–223–FF04EF4000]
Receipt of Enhancement of Survival
Permit Applications in Support of Quail
Country Programmatic Candidate
Conservation Agreement With
Assurances for North Florida and
Southwest Georgia; Categorical
Exclusion
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comments.
AGENCY:
We, the Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service), announce receipt of
two separate applications, one each
from the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) and
the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources (GADNR), for enhancement of
survival permits under the Endangered
Species Act. The FWC and GADNR have
each applied for a separate permit
associated with the implementation of
the Quail Country Programmatic
Candidate Conservation Agreement with
Assurances (CCAA) for 12 species in
North Florida and Southwest Georgia.
Successful implementation of the CCAA
is expected to enhance the habitat of the
species and protect their habitats from
destruction and degradation. We request
public comment on the applications,
which include the CCAA, and on the
Service’s preliminary determination that
the proposed permitting actions may be
eligible for a categorical exclusion
pursuant to the Council on
Environmental Quality’s National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
regulations, the Department of the
Interior’s (DOI) NEPA regulations, and
the DOI Departmental Manual. To make
this preliminary determination, we
prepared a draft environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form,
both of which are also available for
public review. We invite comment from
the public and local, State, Tribal, and
Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written
comments on or before May 11, 2023.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00104
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may
obtain copies of the documents online
in Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0037
at https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to
submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by
one of the following methods:
• Online: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0037.
• U.S. mail: Public Comments
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R4–
ES–2023–0037; U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, MS: JAO/3W, 5275 Leesburg
Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michele Elmore, by U.S. mail (see
ADDRESSES), by telephone 706–544–
6428, or via email at michele_elmore@
fws.gov. Individuals in the United States
who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing,
or have a speech disability may dial 711
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States
should use the relay services offered
within their country to make
international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
announce receipt of an application from
the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) and
the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources (GADNR) (collectively,
applicants) for enhancement of survival
permits associated with a candidate
conservation agreement with assurances
(CCAA) under the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
The applications address the potential
take of 12 species via implementation of
the CCAA on eligible non-Federal lands
in Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon,
Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla Counties,
Florida, as well as in Baker, Brooks,
Calhoun, Colquitt, Crisp, Decatur,
Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Grady, Lee,
Macon, Marion, Miller, Mitchell,
Pulaski, Schley, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor,
Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, Seminole,
Webster, Wilcox, and Worth Counties,
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11APN1
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21706
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 69 / Tuesday, April 11, 2023 / Notices
Georgia (collectively ‘‘Quail Country’’).
Covered species include the eastern
diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus
adamanteus), Florida pine snake
(Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus),
frosted elfin (Callophrys irus), gopher
frog (Lithobates (Rana) capito), gopher
tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus),
Henslow’s sparrow (Ammodramus
henslowii), monarch butterfly (Danaus
plexippus), southeastern American
kestrel (Falco sparverius paulus),
southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys
pinetis), southern hognose snake
(Heterodon simus), striped newt
(Notophthalmus perstriatus), and a
raptor, the swallow-tailed kite
(Elanoides forficatus) (collectively,
‘‘covered species’’).
The CCAA was developed to facilitate
collaboration between private property
owners and State and Federal agencies
to benefit the covered species on
enrolled lands in accordance with the
Service’s CCAA policy (81 FR 95164;
December 27, 2016) and regulations (50
CFR 17.22(d) and 50 CFR 17.32(d)). Tall
Timbers Research Station and Land
Conservancy will act as a cooperator
under this CCAA. Successful
implementation of the CCAA is
expected to enhance and protect the
habitat of the covered species from
destruction and degradation, which are
the most common threats to the species.
This CCAA is unique in that some of the
covered species are listed by the FWC
as State endangered, threatened, species
of special concern, or rare species.
Typically, a CCAA and an enhancement
of survival permit would provide an
enrolled non-Federal property owner
with Federal regulatory assurances any
CCAA-covered species that become
federally listed under the ESA in the
future. In this case, an enrolled property
owner would not only receive
assurances from the Service in the event
of Federal listing, but also regulatory
assurances from the FWC for species
that are already State listed in Florida
[Rule 68A–27.007(2)(c), F.A.C.].
The applicants have requested a term
of 30 years for the permits, with the
possibility of extension if requested by
the applicants prior to permit
expiration. We request public comment
on the applications, which include the
applicants’ CCAA, and on the Service’s
preliminary determination that the
proposed permitting actions may qualify
for a categorical exclusion pursuant to
the Council on Environmental Quality’s
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) regulations (40 CFR 1501.4), the
Department of the Interior (DOI) NEPA
regulations (43 CFR 46), and the DOI
Departmental Manual (516 DM
8.5(C)(2)). To make this preliminary
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:45 Apr 10, 2023
Jkt 259001
determination, we prepared a draft
environmental action statement and
low-effect screening form, both of which
are also available for public review.
Candidate Conservation Agreements
With Assurances
Under a CCAA, participating property
owners voluntarily undertake
management activities on their lands to
remove or reduce threats and enhance,
restore, or maintain habitat benefiting
species that may warrant listing under
the ESA. CCAAs encourage private and
other non-Federal property owners to
implement conservation efforts for
candidate and at-risk species on their
lands by assuring they will not be
subjected to increased property use
restrictions should the species become
listed as ‘‘threatened’’ or ‘‘endangered’’
under the ESA in the future.
Application requirements and issuance
criteria for CCAAs are found in 50 CFR
17.22(d) and 17.32(d).
National Environmental Policy Act
Compliance
The issuance of these permits is a
Federal action that triggers the need for
compliance with NEPA. The Service has
made a preliminary determination that
the proposed permit issuance is eligible
for categorical exclusion under NEPA,
based on the following criteria: (1)
Implementation of the CCAA would
result in minor or negligible adverse
effects on federally listed, proposed, and
candidate species and their habitats; (2)
implementation of the CCAA would
result in minor or negligible adverse
effects on other environmental values or
resources; and (3) impacts of the CCAA,
considered together with the impacts of
other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable similarly situated projects,
would not result over time in significant
cumulative adverse effects to
environmental values or resources. To
make this determination, we used our
low-effect screening form, which is also
available for public review.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone
number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, be aware that your entire
comment, including your personal
identifying information, may be made
available to the public. While you may
request that we withhold your personal
identifying information, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the
applications and the comments to
determine whether to issue the
PO 00000
Frm 00105
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
requested permits. We will also conduct
an intra-Service consultation pursuant
to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the
effects of the proposed take of the
species. After considering the preceding
and other matters, we will determine
whether the permit issuance criteria of
section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA have been
met. If met, the Service will issue a
permit to each of the applicants (Georgia
PER0119056 and Florida PER0119117)
for incidental take of the covered
species in accordance with the CCAA.
Authority
The Service provides 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 17.32) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.) and its implementing regulations
(40 CFR 1500–1508 and 43 CFR 46).
Peter Maholland,
Field Supervisor, Georgia Ecological Services
Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2023–07532 Filed 4–10–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–HQ–FAC–2022–N053; FF09F42300
FVWF97920900000 053]
Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership
Council; Call for Nominations
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Call for nominations.
AGENCY:
The Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretaries) seek nominations for
individuals to be considered for
membership on the Sport Fishing and
Boating Partnership Council.
DATES: Email submissions must be
received by May 11, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Please email nominations to
Tom McCann, Designated Federal
Officer, Sport Fishing and Boating
Partnership Council, at thomas_
mccann@fws.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom
McCann, Designated Federal Officer, via
email at thomas_mccann@fws.gov, or by
telephone at 703–358–2056. Individuals
in the United States who are deaf,
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY,
TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States
should use the relay services offered
within their country to make
SUMMARY:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 11, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21705-21706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07532]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037; FXES11140400000-223-FF04EF4000]
Receipt of Enhancement of Survival Permit Applications in Support
of Quail Country Programmatic Candidate Conservation Agreement With
Assurances for North Florida and Southwest Georgia; Categorical
Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt
of two separate applications, one each from the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources (GADNR), for enhancement of survival permits under
the Endangered Species Act. The FWC and GADNR have each applied for a
separate permit associated with the implementation of the Quail Country
Programmatic Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA)
for 12 species in North Florida and Southwest Georgia. Successful
implementation of the CCAA is expected to enhance the habitat of the
species and protect their habitats from destruction and degradation. We
request public comment on the applications, which include the CCAA, and
on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting
actions may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the
Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA
regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary
determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and
low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public
review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and
Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before May 11, 2023.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents online
in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: JAO/3W, 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Elmore, by U.S. mail (see
ADDRESSES), by telephone 706-544-6428, or via email at
[email protected]. Individuals in the United States who are deaf,
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
announce receipt of an application from the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources (GADNR) (collectively, applicants) for enhancement of
survival permits associated with a candidate conservation agreement
with assurances (CCAA) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
The applications address the potential take of 12 species via
implementation of the CCAA on eligible non-Federal lands in Gadsden,
Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla Counties,
Florida, as well as in Baker, Brooks, Calhoun, Colquitt, Crisp,
Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Grady, Lee, Macon, Marion, Miller,
Mitchell, Pulaski, Schley, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Terrell, Thomas,
Tift, Turner, Seminole, Webster, Wilcox, and Worth Counties,
[[Page 21706]]
Georgia (collectively ``Quail Country''). Covered species include the
eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), Florida pine
snake (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus), frosted elfin (Callophrys
irus), gopher frog (Lithobates (Rana) capito), gopher tortoise
(Gopherus polyphemus), Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii),
monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), southeastern American kestrel
(Falco sparverius paulus), southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys pinetis),
southern hognose snake (Heterodon simus), striped newt (Notophthalmus
perstriatus), and a raptor, the swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides
forficatus) (collectively, ``covered species'').
The CCAA was developed to facilitate collaboration between private
property owners and State and Federal agencies to benefit the covered
species on enrolled lands in accordance with the Service's CCAA policy
(81 FR 95164; December 27, 2016) and regulations (50 CFR 17.22(d) and
50 CFR 17.32(d)). Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy
will act as a cooperator under this CCAA. Successful implementation of
the CCAA is expected to enhance and protect the habitat of the covered
species from destruction and degradation, which are the most common
threats to the species. This CCAA is unique in that some of the covered
species are listed by the FWC as State endangered, threatened, species
of special concern, or rare species. Typically, a CCAA and an
enhancement of survival permit would provide an enrolled non-Federal
property owner with Federal regulatory assurances any CCAA-covered
species that become federally listed under the ESA in the future. In
this case, an enrolled property owner would not only receive assurances
from the Service in the event of Federal listing, but also regulatory
assurances from the FWC for species that are already State listed in
Florida [Rule 68A-27.007(2)(c), F.A.C.].
The applicants have requested a term of 30 years for the permits,
with the possibility of extension if requested by the applicants prior
to permit expiration. We request public comment on the applications,
which include the applicants' CCAA, and on the Service's preliminary
determination that the proposed permitting actions may qualify for a
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR
1501.4), the Department of the Interior (DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR
46), and the DOI Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make this
preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also
available for public review.
Candidate Conservation Agreements With Assurances
Under a CCAA, participating property owners voluntarily undertake
management activities on their lands to remove or reduce threats and
enhance, restore, or maintain habitat benefiting species that may
warrant listing under the ESA. CCAAs encourage private and other non-
Federal property owners to implement conservation efforts for candidate
and at-risk species on their lands by assuring they will not be
subjected to increased property use restrictions should the species
become listed as ``threatened'' or ``endangered'' under the ESA in the
future. Application requirements and issuance criteria for CCAAs are
found in 50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d).
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
The issuance of these permits is a Federal action that triggers the
need for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary
determination that the proposed permit issuance is eligible for
categorical exclusion under NEPA, based on the following criteria: (1)
Implementation of the CCAA would result in minor or negligible adverse
effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species and their
habitats; (2) implementation of the CCAA would result in minor or
negligible adverse effects on other environmental values or resources;
and (3) impacts of the CCAA, considered together with the impacts of
other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable similarly situated
projects, would not result over time in significant cumulative adverse
effects to environmental values or resources. To make this
determination, we used our low-effect screening form, which is also
available for public review.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information,
may be made available to the public. While you may request that we
withhold your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee
that we will be able to do so.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the applications and the comments to
determine whether to issue the requested permits. We will also conduct
an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to
evaluate the effects of the proposed take of the species. After
considering the preceding and other matters, we will determine whether
the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA have
been met. If met, the Service will issue a permit to each of the
applicants (Georgia PER0119056 and Florida PER0119117) for incidental
take of the covered species in accordance with the CCAA.
Authority
The Service provides 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
17.32) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508 and 43 CFR 46).
Peter Maholland,
Field Supervisor, Georgia Ecological Services Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-07532 Filed 4-10-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
