Fish and Wildlife Service June 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following application for a permit to conduct activities intended to enhance the survival of endangered species. Federal law prohibits certain activities with endangered species unless a permit is obtained.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), issue Endangered Species Act incidental take permits and help applicants develop conservation plans as a prerequisite to obtaining those permits. We announce the availability of and request public comment on a draft revision of our joint Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Handbook, which describes requirements, procedures, and guidance for permit issuance and conservation-plan development. The HCP Handbook initially was released in 1996, and revised by addendum in July 2000.

The United States, as a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), will attend the seventeenth regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) in Johannesburg, South Africa, September 24 to October 5, 2016. Currently, the United States is developing its negotiating positions on proposed resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals), as well as other agenda items that have been submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES committees, and the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP17. With this notice we announce the provisional agenda for CoP17, solicit your comments on the items on the provisional agenda, and announce a public meeting to discuss the items on the provisional agenda.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), in response to a request under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA), as amended, from Quintillion Subsea Operation, LLC, propose to authorize the incidental taking by harassment of small numbers of Pacific walruses from July 15-November 15, 2016. The area specified for inclusion in the proposed authorization includes Federal waters of the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Southern Beaufort Seas, the marine waters of the State of Alaska, and coastal land adjacent to Nome, Kotzebue, Point Hope, Wainwright, Barrow, and Oliktok Point, as shown in Figure 1. The applicant has requested this authorization for its planned cable-laying activities. We anticipate no take by injury or death and include none in this proposed authorization, which if finalized, will be for take by harassment only.

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 Federal authorization is acquired that allows such activities.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to designate critical habitat for the elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae) under the Endangered Species Act (Act). In total, approximately 10,977 hectares (ha) (27,125 acres (ac)) in the Maricao, San Germ[aacute]n, Sabana Grande, Yauco, R[iacute]o Grande, Canovanas, Las Piedras, Naguabo, Ceiba, Cayey, San Lorenzo, Guayama, and Patillas Municipalities in Puerto Rico fall within the boundaries of the proposed critical habitat designation. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to this species' critical habitat. We also announce the availability of a draft economic analysis for the proposed designation.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications for a permit to conduct activities intended to enhance the survival of endangered or threatened species. Federal law prohibits certain activities with endangered species unless a permit is obtained.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (applicant) for a 5-year incidental take permit under the endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The application addresses the potential for ``take'' of two listed animals, the valley elderberry longhorn beetle and giant garter snake, likely to result from the construction of a new flood protection levee and raised all- weather access road around the existing South River Pump Station. The applicant would implement a conservation program to minimize and mitigate the project activities, as described in the applicant's low- effect habitat conservation plan (HCP). We request comments on the application package, which includes the HCP and our preliminary determination that the HCP qualifies as a ``low-effect'' HCP, eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). We discuss our basis for this determination in our environmental action statement (EAS), also available for public review.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), are preparing a joint environmental impact statement/ environmental impact report (EIS/EIR) for the proposed restoration of ponds at the CDFW's Eden Landing Ecological Reserve (Reserve) in Alameda County, California. We intend to gather information necessary to prepare an EIS pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We encourage the public and other agencies to participate in the NEPA scoping process by attending the public scoping meeting and/or by sending written suggestions and information on the issues and concerns that should be addressed in the draft EIS/EIR, including the range of alternatives, appropriate mitigation measures, and the nature and extent of potential environmental impacts.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of the Recovery Plan for four plant species of the Santa Rosa Plain: The Sonoma sunshine, Burke's goldfields, the Sebastopol meadowfoam, and the Sonoma County Distinct Population Segment of the California Tiger Salamander. The recovery plan includes recovery objectives and criteria, and specific actions necessary to achieve removal of the species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) is proposing changes to the permanent subsistence migratory bird harvest regulations in Alaska. These regulations would enable Alaska Natives to sell authentic native articles of handicraft or clothing that contain inedible byproducts from migratory birds that were taken for food during the Alaska migratory bird subsistence harvest season. These proposed regulations were developed under a co-management process involving the Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Alaska Native representatives.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from Rolling Hills Preparatory School (applicant) for a 25-year incidental take permit for the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are requesting comments on the permit application and on the preliminary determination that the proposed Habitat Conservation Plan qualifies as a ``low-effect'' Habitat Conservation Plan, eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended. The basis for this determination is discussed in the environmental action statement (EAS) and the associated low-effect screening form, which are also available for public review.

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have sent an Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval. We summarize the ICR below and describe the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost. 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 U.S. District Court for Alaska in its October 17, 2011, order in Peratrovich et al. v. United States and the State of Alaska, 3:92-cv-0734-HRH (D. Alaska), enjoined the United States ``to promptly initiate regulatory proceedings for the purpose of implementing the subsistence provisions in Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) with respect to submerged public lands within Tongass National Forest'' and directed entry of judgment. To comply with the order, the Federal Subsistence Board (Board) must initiate a regulatory proceeding to identify those submerged lands within the Tongass National Forest that did not pass to the State of Alaska at statehood and, therefore, remain Federal public lands subject to the subsistence provisions of ANILCA. Following the Court's decision, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA-Forest Service (USDA-FS) started a review of hundreds of potential pre-statehood (January 3, 1959) withdrawals in the marine waters of the Tongass National Forest. In April and October of 2015, BLM submitted initial lists of submerged public lands to the Board. This proposed rule would add those submerged parcels to the subsistence regulations to ensure compliance with the Court order. Additional listings will be published as BLM and the USDA-FS continue their review of pre-statehood withdrawals.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), designate critical habitat for the Zuni bluehead sucker (Catostomus discobolus yarrowi) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In total, approximately 55.7 kilometers (km) (34.6 miles (mi)) in McKinley and Cibola Counties, New Mexico, fall within the boundaries of the critical habitat designation.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are revising the rule for the African elephant promulgated under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), to increase protection for African elephants in response to the alarming rise in poaching to fuel the growing illegal trade in ivory. The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) was listed as threatened under the ESA effective June 11, 1978, and at the same time a rule was promulgated under section 4(d) of the ESA (a ``4(d) rule'') to regulate import and use of specimens of the species in the United States. This final rule updates the current 4(d) rule with measures that are appropriate for the current conservation needs of the species. We adopted measures that are necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the African elephant as well as appropriate prohibitions from section 9(a)(1) of the ESA.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce 90- day findings on two petitions to list or delist wildlife under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that one petition, which requests that we remove the golden- cheeked warbler from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted, and we are not initiating a status review in response to this petition. We refer to this as a ``not-substantial petition finding.'' We also find that the other petition, which requests that we list the U.S. population of northwestern moose (Alces alces andersoni) as an endangered or threatened distinct population segment (DPS), presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this document, we are initiating a review of the status of this population to determine if the petitioned action is warranted. To ensure that this status review is comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding this subspecies. Based on the status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on the petition, which will address whether the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act.

Under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (Act), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on incidental take permit applications for take of the federally listed American burying beetle resulting from activities associated with the geophysical exploration (seismic) and construction, maintenance, operation, repair, and decommissioning of oil and gas well field infrastructure within Oklahoma. If approved, the permits would be issued under the approved Amended Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan Associated with Issuance of Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits for the American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma (ICP).