Fish and Wildlife Service August 16, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the public comment period on our review of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis) to determine if candidate status is warranted. The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), requires that we identify species of wildlife and plants that are endangered or threatened, based on the best available scientific and commercial information. Through the Federal rulemaking process, we add these species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife at 50 CFR 17.11 or the List of Endangered or Threatened Plants at 50 CFR 17.12. As part of this program, we maintain a list of species that we regard as candidates for listing. A candidate is one for which we have on file sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threats to support a proposal to list as endangered or threatened but for which preparation and publication of a proposal is precluded by higher-priority listing actions. During or prior to April of 2008, we will make a determination concerning the results of the status review for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and, shortly thereafter, we will publish this determination in the Federal Register. Comments previously submitted on the status of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout need not be resubmitted as they have been incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in preparation of the final revised status review.

This notice advises the public that the City of Greeley (Applicant) has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended. The proposed permit would authorize the incidental take of Preble's meadow jumping mouse, Zapus hudsonius preblei (Preble's), federally-listed as threatened, through loss and modification of its habitat, periodically used for foraging, breeding and/or hibernation, associated with construction and installation of a toe drain around the base of the perimeter of two raw water storage ponds located at the City of Greeley's Bellvue Filter Plant in Larimer County, Colorado. The duration of the permit would be 10 years from the date of issuance. We announce the receipt of the Applicant's incidental take permit application, which includes a Low-Effect Habitat Conservation Plan (LEHCP) for Preble's at the Bellvue Filter Plant site. The LEHCP fully describes the project and the measures the Applicant would undertake to minimize and mitigate project impacts to Preble's. A bald eagle nest also exists near the project area. In the LEHCP, the Applicant proposes to avoid all adverse impacts to the bald eagle through restrictions on the timing of the project, and thus does not seek coverage under the permit for the eagle. The Service plans to process the application under a categorical exclusion from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 in accordance with our Habitat Conservation Planning and Incidental Take Permit Processing Handbook (November 1996). We request comments on the permit application, including the LEHCP.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are implementing the Captive Wildlife Safety Act (CWSA) in a new subpart K of part 14, Importation, Exportation, and Transportation of Wildlife, in Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The CWSA amends the Lacey Act by making it illegal to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase, in interstate or foreign commerce, live lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, or cougars, or any hybrid combination of any of these species, unless certain exceptions are met.