Fish and Wildlife Service 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12- month finding on a petition to list the Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly (Atlantea tulita) as endangered and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After reviewing all available scientific and commercial information, we find that the listing of the Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly is warranted. Currently, however, listing the Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly is precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Upon publication of this 12-month petition finding, we will add the Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly to our candidate species list. If an emergency situation develops with this species that warrants an emergency listing, we will act immediately to provide additional protection. We will develop a proposed rule to list the Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly as our priorities allow. We will make any determination on critical habitat during development of the proposed listing rule. During any interim period, we will address the status of the candidate taxon through our annual Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR).

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental assessment (Draft CCP/EA) for Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, Louisiana, and Pearl River County, Mississippi, for public review and comment. In this Draft CCP/EA, we describe the alternative we propose to use to manage this refuge for the 15 years following approval of the final CCP.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, determine threatened status for the salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This final rule implements the Federal protections provided by the Act for this species. We are also publishing a special rule for the species.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (DCCP) and environmental assessment (EA) for the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex (refuge complex) for public review and comment. The refuge complex is made up of Ankeny, Baskett Slough, and William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuges (refuges), located in Benton, Linn, Marion, and Polk Counties, Oregon. In the DCCP and EA, we describe and evaluate alternatives, including our preferred alternative, for managing the refuge complex for the 15 years following approval of the final CCP.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), advise the public that we intend to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the impacts of several alternatives relating to the proposed issuance of an Endangered Species Act Permit to Fowler Ridge Wind Farm LLC, Fowler Ridge Wind Farm II LLC, Fowler Ridge Wind Farm III LLC, and Fowler Ridge Wind Farm IV LLC (Applicant) for incidental take of the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), a Federal endangered species, from activities associated with the operation of Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in Benton County, Indiana. We also announce a public comment period.

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 October 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 public is invited to comment on the following application for approval to conduct certain activities with birds that are protected in accordance with the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, Department of Commerce) and other Federal, State, and tribal partners, announce that we are seeking public comments and information necessary to prepare a draft National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (Strategy). The Strategy will provide a unified approach reflecting shared principles and science-based practicesfor reducing the negative impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, plants, habitats, and our natural resource heritage. It will serve as a valuable tool for Federal and State agencies, wildlife managers, tribes, and private landowners as they continue to manage their lands and natural resources in a changing environment.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a public meeting of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (Council).

We amend the regulations governing captive propagation of raptors in the United States. We reorganize the current regulations, and add or change some provisions therein. The changes make it easier to understand the requirements for raptor propagation, make it simpler to conduct raptor propagation, and clarify the procedures for obtaining a propagation permit. These regulations continue to prohibit propagation of golden eagles, though we may consider allowing it in the future.

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 Swan Lake 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 (Service), are designating revised critical habitat for Astragalus jaegerianus (Lane Mountain milk-vetch) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In total, approximately 14,069 acres (ac) (5,693 hectares (ha)) of land in 2 units located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, fall within the boundaries of the revised critical habitat designation.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), make available the final environmental impact statement (EIS), the final Hays County regional habitat conservation plan (RHCP) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), and our draft record of decision (ROD). Our intended action is the issuance of a 30-year incidental take permit (ITP) for the Preferred Alternative (described below) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), to Hays County, Texas (the County), to incidentally take golden-cheeked warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia) and black-capped vireo (Vireo atricapilla). Under the RHCP, the County will mitigate for take by establishing a preserve system of 10,000-15,000 acres to mitigate for incidental take of covered species. Each preserve acquisition will be subject to Service approval and will generate mitigation credits based on the number of acres and quality of potential occupied habitat for the covered species.

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 our decision to withdraw the proposed listing of the mountain plover (Charadrius montanus) as a threatened species under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a thorough review of all available scientific and commercial information, we have determined that the species is not endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of its range. We make this determination because threats to the species as identified in the proposed rule are not as significant as earlier believed and currently available data do not indicate that the threats to the species and its habitat, as analyzed under the five listing factors described in section 4(a)(1) of the Act, are likely to endanger the species in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) for Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Sussex County, Delaware. An environmental impact statement (EIS) evaluating effects of various CCP alternatives will also be prepared. 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 are also requesting public comments. This notice also advises the public that we have reconsidered a 2005 notice, in which we announced our intention to develop an environmental assessment (EA) for the refuge. Comments already received in response to the previous notice will be considered during preparation of the subject CCP/EIS.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or USFWS) are re-evaluating the listing of the Minnesota population of gray wolves (Canis lupus) and propose to revise it to conform to current statutory and policy requirements. We propose to identify the Minnesota population as a Western Great Lakes (WGL) Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of the gray wolf and to remove this DPS from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We propose these actions because the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that the WGL DPS does not meet the definitions of threatened or endangered under the Act. This proposed rule, if made final, would remove the currently designated critical habitat for the gray wolf in Minnesota and Michigan and the current special regulations for gray wolves in Minnesota. We also propose to revise the range of the gray wolf (the species C. lupus) by removing all or parts of 29 eastern states that we now recognize were not part of the historical range of the gray wolf. New information indicates that these areas should not have been included in the original listing of the gray wolf. In this proposed rule, we recognize recent taxonomic information indicating that the gray wolf subspecies Canis lupus lycaon should be elevated to the full species C. lycaon. Given that a complete status review of this newly recognized species has never been conducted, we are initiating a rangewide review of the conservation status of C. lycaon in the United States and Canada. This rule also constitutes the initiation of our five-year review of the status of gray wolves under section 4(c)(2) of the Act, as well as the initiation of status reviews specific to gray wolves in the Pacific Northwest and Mexican wolves in the Southwest United States and Mexico.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reestablishing the Sonoran pronghorn, a federally listed endangered mammal, in its historical habitat in King Valley, Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, in Yuma County, and the Barry M. Goldwater Range East, Maricopa County, in southwestern Arizona. We are reestablishing the Sonoran pronghorn under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, and classify that reestablished population as a nonessential experimental population (NEP). The NEP is located in southwestern Arizona in an area north of Interstate 8 and south of Interstate 10, bounded by the Colorado River on the west and Interstate 10 on the east; and an area south of Interstate 8, bounded by Highway 85 on the west, Interstates 10 and 19 on the east, and the United States-Mexico border on the south. This action is one of the recovery actions that the Service, Federal and State agencies, and other partners are conducting throughout the historical range of the species. This final rule establishes the NEP and provides for limited allowable legal taking of Sonoran pronghorn within the defined NEP area. An Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact have been prepared for this action (see ADDRESSES section below).

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental assessment (Draft CCP/EA) for Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) for public review and comment. In the Draft CCP/ EA, we describe the alternative we propose to use to manage this refuge for the 15 years following approval of the final CCP.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) nonnative rat eradication project final environmental impact statement (FEIS). In the FEIS we describe a range of alternatives for eliminating nonnative rats from Palmyra Atoll (Atoll). We are publishing this notice to inform the public of the proposed action and to announce the availability of the FEIS.

Under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition and a proposed rule to remove the Morelet's crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) throughout its range from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife due to recovery. This action is based on a thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial data, including new information that became available after we received the petition, which indicates that the species' status had improved to the point that the Morelet's crocodile is not likely to become threatened within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. If this proposed rule is finalized, the Morelet's crocodile will remain protected under the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. We are seeking information, data, and comments from the public on this proposed rule.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), advise the public that we intend to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the impacts of, and alternatives to, the proposed issuance of an incidental take permit (ITP)under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), to Bexar County, Texas, and the City of San Antonio, Texas (applicants). The ITP would authorize incidental take of five Federally listed species resulting from residential, commercial, and other development activities associated with the proposed Southern Edwards Plateau (SEP) Regional Habitat Conservation Plan (RHCP), which includes Bexar and surrounding counties. We also announce plans for a series of public scoping meetings throughout the proposed plan area and the opening of a public comment period.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that the petition does not present substantial information indicating that listing the species may be warranted. Therefore, we are not initiating a status review in response to this petition. However, we ask the public to submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning the status of, or threats to, the smooth-billed ani or its habitat at any time.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to revise the List of Migratory Birds by both adding and removing species. Reasons for the changes to the list include adding species based on new taxonomy and new evidence of occurrence in the United States or U.S. territories, removing species no longer known to occur within the United States, and changing names to conform to accepted use. The net increase of 19 species (23 added and 4 removed) brings the total number of species protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) to 1,026. We regulate most aspects of the taking, possession, transportation, sale, purchase, barter, exportation, and importation of migratory birds. An accurate and up-to-date list of species protected by the MBTA is essential for public notification and regulatory purposes.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently initiated 5- year reviews for the Oregon silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta), northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), and Stephanomeria malheurensis (Malheur wire-lettuce) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for details. Because we may not have received some comments submitted by email, we now reopen the comment period. We request any new information on these species that may have a bearing on their classification as endangered or threatened. Based on the results of our 5-year reviews we will determine whether these species are properly classified under the Act.