Fish and Wildlife Service July 13, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and environmental assessment (EA) for the Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge (refuge, NWR), located in Klickitat County, Washington, and the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, located in Yakima County, Washington. We provide this notice in compliance with our CCP policy to advise other Federal and State agencies, Tribes, and the public of our intentions and to obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues to consider in the planning process.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an application from NiSource, Inc. (Applicant), for an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). If approved, the permit would be for a 50-year period and would authorize incidental take of 10 species, 9 of which are federally listed and 1 of which is proposed. The applicant has prepared a multispecies habitat conservation plan (MSHCP) to cover a suite of activities associated with operation of a natural gas pipeline system; the MSHCP also analyzes 33 additional species and provides for measures to avoid take of those species. The Applicant has requested concurrence with their determination that activities will not take these 33 species if implemented in accordance with their MSHCP. We request public comment on the application and associated documents.