Fish and Wildlife Service November 3, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (MMPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has issued letters of authorization for the nonlethal take of polar bears and Pacific walrus incidental to oil and gas industry exploration, development, and production activities in the Beaufort Sea and the adjacent northern coast of Alaska and incidental to oil and gas industry exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea and the adjacent western coast of Alaska. These letters of authorization stipulate conditions and methods that minimize impacts to polar bears and Pacific walrus from these activities. These letters of authorization are available electronically at the following location: https://www.fws.gov/ alaska/fisheries/mmm/itr.htm.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received, from Roseburg Resources Company (RRC) and Oxbow Timber I, LLC (Oxbow), an application for an enhancement of survival permit (permit) for the federally threatened northern spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The permit application includes a draft safe harbor agreement (SHA) addressing access to RRC and Oxbow lands for the survey and removal of barred owls as part of the Service's Barred Owl Removal Experiment in Lane County, Oregon. The Service also announces the availability of a draft environmental assessment (EA) that has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We are making the permit application, including the draft HCP and the draft EA, available for public review and comment.