Fish and Wildlife Service November 13, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, this notice announces the availability of the Final Recirculated Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan (MSHCP), Final Recirculated Environmental Impact Report/Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR/EIS), and Implementing Agreement. The Coachella Valley Association of Governments, Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, County of Riverside, Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Riverside County Parks and Open Space District, Riverside County Waste Management District, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, California Department of Transportation, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, and the cities of Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Rancho Mirage (Applicants) 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 of 1973, as amended (Act). The permit is needed to authorize incidental take of listed animal species due to development and certain other activities in the approximately 1.1 million acre Plan Area in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California. The Service is publishing this notice to inform the public of the proposed action and to make available for review the Final EIR/ EIS, which includes responses to public comments received on the March 2007, Recirculated Draft EIR/Supplemental Final EIS. The MSHCP also incorporates a Public Use and Trails Plan, which includes proposals that address non-motorized recreation activities on Federal and non-Federal lands in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a Cooperating Agency in this planning process and will use this Final EIR/EIS to make decisions on BLM-administered public lands pertaining to trail use in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The proposals constitute activity (implementation) level actions in furtherance of the California Desert Conservation Area Plan (1980), as amended, and the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Management Plan (2004). The BLM will issue a separate Record of Decision regarding non- motorized recreation activities on public lands.