Fish and Wildlife Service October 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Federal joint lead agencies, and the State of California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), acting as the California Environmental Quality Act State lead agency, have made available for public review and comment the Suisun Marsh Habitat Management, Preservation, and Restoration Plan (SMP) Draft EIS/EIR. The SMP is a comprehensive 30-year plan designed to address various conflicts regarding use of resources within approximately 51,000 acres of the Suisun Marsh (Marsh), with the focus on achieving an acceptable multi- stakeholder approach to the restoration of tidal wetlands and the enhancement of managed wetlands and their functions.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regarding an expected application from Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for a permit authorizing incidental take of Federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA).We are revising our previous notice of intent (NOI) of November 2008 in order to gather information necessary to prepare a joint EIS/environmental impact report (EIR) on the habitat conservation plan (HCP) for PG&E's operation, maintenance, and minor new construction activities in the North Coast, Central Coast, Sacramento Valley, and Sierra regions.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to change the status of spikedace (Meda fulgida) and loach minnow (Tiaroga cobitis) from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, and to designate critical habitat for both species. In total, we are proposing approximately 1,168 kilometers (726 mi) of streams as critical habitat for spikedace, and 1,141 kilometers (709 miles) of streams as critical habitat for loach minnow. The proposed critical habitat is located in Apache, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai Counties, Arizona, and Catron, Grant, and Hidalgo Counties in New Mexico.

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act 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 IC is scheduled to expire on May 31, 2011. 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.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFGD) has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an Enhancement of Survival Permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended. The requested permit would authorize take of the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis; hereafter, NEC) resulting from certain habitat improvement and land use activities should the species be listed as endangered or threatened in the future. The permit application includes a proposed Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) between the NHFGD and the Service. In accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), we have prepared a draft categorical exclusion of the impacts of the requested permit. We are accepting comments on the permit application, proposed CCAA, and draft NEPA document.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from Pacific Renewable Energy Generation LLC (applicant) for an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are considering issuing an incidental take permit (ITP) that would authorize the applicant's take of the federally endangered El Segundo Blue Butterfly incidental to otherwise lawful activities that would result in the loss of Coast Buckwheat, which serves as butterfly habitat. We invite comments from the public on the application, which includes the Geotechnical Boring Project Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), and on our preliminary determination that the HCP qualifies as a low-effect plan that is eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended.

On June 9, 2010, by unanimous vote, the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission established by the ``Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population,'' signed at Washington, DC, on October 16, 2000, adopted a limit to the take of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population. The decision of the Commission is that the total take should be limited to 58 bears per year to be shared between the United States of America and the Russian Federation. Both the United States and the Russian Federation are proceeding to implement the decision of the Commission.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have issued the following permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals or both. We issue these permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The CCP describes how we will manage the Refuge for the next 15 years.

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act 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 IC is scheduled to expire on February 28, 2011. 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.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to establish a policy to guide Service employees to increase efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the Service's mission through partnerships with Friends organizations (volunteer/advocate). Today, Friends organizations play a vital role in helping to fulfill the Service's mission of ``working with others, to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.'' This draft policy provides guidance for Service employees who work with Friends organizations to increase community involvement in our programs. Specifically, it includes guidance regarding financial and administrative practices, Friends Partnership Agreements, and revenue generating operations. We propose to incorporate this draft policy as Part 633, chapters 1-4 of the Fish and Wildlife Service Manual.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Environmental Assessment (EA) for Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Goals and objectives in the CCP describe how the agency intends to manage the refuge over the next 15 years.

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 a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The ESA requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

The Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) (Applicant) has submitted an application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit (permit) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The Applicant is requesting a permit to authorize incidental take of the federally endangered Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis), the federally threatened Newell's (Townsends) shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli), and the band-rumped storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro), a Federal candidate species that could become listed during the term of the permit (collectively, these three species are hereafter referred to as the ``Covered Species''). The permit application includes a draft Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that describes the Applicant's actions and the measures the Applicant will implement to minimize, mitigate, and monitor incidental take of the Covered Species, and a draft Implementing Agreement (IA). The Service also announces the availability of a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) that has been prepared to evaluate the permit application in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We are making the permit application package and draft EA available for public review and comment.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the environmental assessment (EA) for Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). In this final CCP, we describe how we will manage this refuge for the next 15 years.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus) as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the Sacramento splittail is not warranted at this time. However, we ask the public to submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning the threats to the Sacramento splittail or its habitat at any time.

These guidelines set forth best practices that we, the Fish and Wildlife Service, find are appropriate for safely and nonlethally deterring polar bears from damaging private and public property and endangering the public. Anyone deciding to carry out the deterrence measures or practices set out in this rule may do so without our written authorization or supervision. As discussed in the background section of the proposed rule (75 FR 21571) as well as in our responses to public comments, we authorize other, more aggressive deterrence activities through separate provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This rule is being promulgated to better inform the public on the safe deterrence of polar bears as directed under the MMPA and not because of specific or recurring incidences.

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 a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The ESA requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

This notice announces a meeting of the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task Force. The meeting is open to the public. The meeting topics are identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), collectively the Services, advise interested parties of our intent to conduct public scoping under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to gather information to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) related to incidental take permit (ITP) applications from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) for incidental take of species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as well as unlisted species should they become listed during the term of the proposed permit. The WDFW has identified specific land management and recreation activities that currently occur on state Wildlife Areas that may cause incidental take. In support of the ITP applications, the WDFW is proposing to implement a habitat conservation plan (HCP) on approximately 900,000 acres of their state Wildlife Areas. The term of the proposed HCP and ITP's will occur after the public scoping process.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to revise the regulations regarding permit provisions for waterfowl. Specifically, we propose to revise certain permit provisions for the muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) at 50 CFR 21.14, 21.25, and 21.54. We take this action to address public concerns resulting from a final rule we published on March 1, 2010 (75 FR 9316), that revised the regulations for the muscovy duck. We request comments from the public on these proposed changes to the regulations.