Fish and Wildlife Service February 26, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), announce the FY 2007 priority list of wildlife and sport fish conservation projects from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA). As required by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs Improvement Act of 2000, each year AFWA submits a list of projects to us for consideration of funding by the Multistate Conservation Grant Program. We then review and award grants from this list.

Green Diamond Resource Company (Green Diamond) (previously Simpson Timber Company) has applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to amend its existing incidental take permit (ITP) for the federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina; ``NSO''). The existing ITP was issued in 1992, in association with a Habitat Conservation Plan (Plan) and Implementation Agreement (IA), pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended. The proposed ITP amendment would authorize the take of eight additional owl pairs on Green Diamond's ownership in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, California. These additional takes would be authorized during the existing permit term expiring in 2022, and would provide Green Diamond operational flexibility while they and the Service further consider and evaluate the findings of a 10-year, comprehensive Plan review. The application for permit amendment includes proposed amendments to the existing IA and Plan, which describe the proposed action and the measures that Green Diamond will undertake to minimize and mitigate take of the NSO.