Department of the Interior 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska Resource Advisory Council (RAC) has been cancelled.

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost. This information collection is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2016. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB.

The Bureau of Reclamation has made available to the public the Water Management Plans for four entities. For the purpose of this announcement, Water Management Plans (Plans) are considered the same as Water Conservation Plans. Reclamation is publishing this notice in order to allow the public an opportunity to review the Plans and comment on the preliminary determinations.

This notice informs the public that the Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs proclaimed approximately 128.30 acres, more or less, an addition to the Reservation of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota on June 8, 2016.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is acquired that allows such activities.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine threatened species status under the Endangered Species Act (Act), as amended, for the elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae), a bird species in Puerto Rico. This rule will add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We are also adopting a rule under the authority of section 4(d) of the Act (a ``4(d) rule'') that is necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the elfin- woods warbler.

Congress authorized the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to enter into agreements with third parties to lease the land or facilities of a Bureau-operated school in exchange for funding that benefits the school. This proposed rule establishes standards for the appropriate use of lands and facilities under a lease agreement, provisions for establishment and administration of mechanisms for the acceptance of consideration for the use and benefit of a school, accountability standards to ensure ethical conduct, and provisions for monitoring the amount and terms of consideration received, the manner in which the consideration is used, and any results achieved by such use.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications for a permit to conduct activities intended to enhance the survival of endangered or threatened species. Federal law prohibits certain activities with endangered species unless a permit is obtained.

Notice is hereby given that the Skinny Dipper Hot Springs, which is located on public lands administered by the Four Rivers Field Office, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is closed to all uses.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the extension of the public comment period on the Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Lower Klamath, Clear Lake, Tule Lake, Upper Klamath, and Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuges (Refuges). We opened the comment period on May 6, 2016, via a Federal Register notice, and now extend it to accommodate public requests. If you have already submitted comments, you do not need to resubmit them. They will be considered.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (applicant) for a 5-year incidental take permit under the endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The application addresses the potential for ``take'' of two listed animals, the valley elderberry longhorn beetle and giant garter snake, likely to result from the construction of a new flood protection levee and raised all- weather access road around the existing South River Pump Station. The applicant would implement a conservation program to minimize and mitigate the project activities, as described in the applicant's low- effect habitat conservation plan (HCP). We request comments on the application package, which includes the HCP and our preliminary determination that the HCP qualifies as a ``low-effect'' HCP, eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). We discuss our basis for this determination in our environmental action statement (EAS), also available for public review.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), are preparing a joint environmental impact statement/ environmental impact report (EIS/EIR) for the proposed restoration of ponds at the CDFW's Eden Landing Ecological Reserve (Reserve) in Alameda County, California. We intend to gather information necessary to prepare an EIS pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We encourage the public and other agencies to participate in the NEPA scoping process by attending the public scoping meeting and/or by sending written suggestions and information on the issues and concerns that should be addressed in the draft EIS/EIR, including the range of alternatives, appropriate mitigation measures, and the nature and extent of potential environmental impacts.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing a 30-day extension of the comment period on a petition, submitted pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, (SMCRA or the Act), requesting that we amend our self- bonding regulations to ensure that companies with a history of financial insolvency, and their subsidiary companies, are not allowed to self-bond coal mining operations. We are requesting comments on the merits of the petition and the rule changes suggested in the petition. Comments received will assist the Director of OSMRE in making the decision whether to grant or deny the petition.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (Act) prohibits activities with endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act also requires that we invite public comment before issuing recovery permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This collection is scheduled to expire on October 31, 2016.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) previously published a final rule ``Leasing of Osage Reservation Lands for Oil and Gas Mining'' on May 11, 2015, but due to a court order enjoining the final rule and subsequent remand, that version of the rule never became effective. This final rule amends the Code of Federal Regulations to reinstate the version of the rule that was in effect prior to the 2015 final rule because that prior version of the rule remains operative.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) invites public comments on, and plans to request approval to continue, the collection of information needed to evaluate and process applications for commercial, competitive, and organized group recreational uses of the public lands, and individual use of special areas. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has assigned control number 1004-0119 to this information collection.

The Bureau of Indian Education is updating its regulations governing grants to Tribal colleges and universities and Din[eacute] College. The Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978, as amended (TCCUA), authorizes Federal assistance to institutions of higher education that are formally controlled or have been formally sanctioned or chartered by the governing body of an Indian Tribe or Tribes. The Navajo Community College Assistance Act of 1978, as amended (NCCA) authorizes Federal assistance to the Navajo Nation in construction, maintenance, and operation of Din[eacute] College. This final rule would update implementing regulations in light of amendments to the TCCUA and the NCCA.

This notice informs the public that the Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs proclaimed approximately 2.00 acres, more or less, an addition to the reservation of the Bay Mills Indian Community of Michigan on March 31, 2016.

Following consultation with the General Services Administration, the Secretary of the Interior has renewed the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council (Council) charter for 2 years. A Federal advisory committee, the Council will foster partnerships to enhance public awareness of the importance of aquatic resources and the social and economic benefits of recreational fishing and boating in the United States.

The Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science (Committee) has a vacancy for a representative from state government in the region covered by the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is inviting comments on a collection of information that we will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The information collection request (ICR) concerns renewal to the paperwork requirements in the regulations under Subpart E, Oil and Gas Well- Completion Operations.

The National Park Service (NPS) has prepared a Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the restoration of native species in high elevation aquatic ecosystems within Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI)(Restoration Plan/Final EIS). The Restoration Plan/Final EIS will guide management actions by the NPS to restore and conserve the native species diversity and ecological function of selected high elevation aquatic ecosystems that have been adversely impacted by human activities and to increase the resistance and resilience of these species and ecosystems to human induced environmental modifications, such as nonnative fish, disease, and climate change. The Restoration Plan/Final EIS would be implemented over a period of 20 to 35 years, depending on the alternative selected, with an internal evaluation of management effectiveness scheduled every 5 to 10 years.

The purpose of this notice is to solicit public nominations for eight positions on the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area (D-E NCA) Advisory Council (Council). The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) was directed by the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 to establish the D-E NCA Council. The 10-member Council was formed in December 2010 to provide recommendations to the Secretary through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the development of a resource management plan (RMP) for the D-E NCA. The appointments of eight members of the Council are scheduled to expire in November 2016. This call for nominations is to fill those eight expiring appointments.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter the Service or we) proposes to establish annual hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds for the 2017-18 hunting season. We annually prescribe outside limits (frameworks) within which States may select hunting seasons. This proposed rule provides the regulatory schedule, announces the Service Migratory Bird Regulations Committee (SRC) and Flyway Council meetings, describes the proposed regulatory alternatives for the 2017-18 duck hunting seasons, and requests proposals from Indian tribes that wish to establish special migratory game bird hunting regulations on Federal Indian reservations and ceded lands. Migratory game bird hunting seasons provide opportunities for recreation and sustenance; aid Federal, State, and tribal governments in the management of migratory game birds; and permit harvests at levels compatible with migratory game bird population status and habitat conditions.