Fish and Wildlife Service August 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) are proposing to renew an information collection.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, published a final rule to revise our regulations regarding permits that we issue for certain activities involving eagles. In that final rule, we revised the permit application fees for certain eagle permits. These permits are included in a table of permit application fees for numerous Service programs. Because of a formatting error in the rule, the revisions to the fee table were not incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) as intended. With this document, we correct the formatting error to properly reflect current application fees for eagle permits in the CFR and also remove two entries in the fee table pertaining to permits that no longer exist. This rule is purely an administrative action and does not affect the provisions of the original rule in any substantive way.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) is amending its Forested Trust Lands Habitat Conservation Plan (2010 HCP) to incorporate the terms of a settlement agreement and add lands that it acquired since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued an incidental take permit (permit) to DNRC in December 2011. The Service is proposing to amend the associated permit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to authorize additional take of all but one of the species covered in the 2010 HCP resulting from addition of the acquired lands. We announce the availability of the following documents for review and comment by the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments: Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) for amending the 2010 HCP and permit; Proposed Amended HCP Commitments for Additional Lands and Terms of the Settlement Agreement (Attachment A of the Draft SEIS); and Draft DNRC Assessment of Incidental Take for the Proposed Amended HCP (Attachment C of the Draft SEIS).

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (MMPA), and its implementing regulations, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce that we have revised our stock assessment report (SAR) for the southern sea otter stock in the State of California, including incorporation of public comments. We now make our final revised SAR available to the public.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are advising the public that we intend to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on a proposed Endangered Species Act incidental take permit (ITP) application from Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) for the federally threatened Northern spotted owl and the California spotted owl. The California spotted owl was recently petitioned for listing under the ESA. The activities to be covered would include timber harvest and timber management SPI conducts on its lands in the State of California. We are also announcing the initiation of a 30-day public scoping process to engage Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments; special interest groups; and the public in the identification of issues and concerns, potential impacts, and possible alternatives to the Service's Proposed Action.

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 recover and enhance the survival of endangered species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), prohibits certain activities that may impact endangered species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The ESA also requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

Under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (Act), we, the

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 (Act) prohibits activities with listed species unless a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The Act requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

Having completed our review of the application materials for corrosion-inhibited copper shot, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter Service or we) proposes to approve the shot for hunting waterfowl and coots. We have concluded that this type of shot left in terrestrial or aquatic environments is unlikely to adversely affect fish, wildlife, or their habitats. Approving this shot formulation would increase the nontoxic shot options for hunters.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a public teleconference of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (Council). The Council provides advice about wildlife and habitat conservation endeavors that benefit wildlife resources; encourage partnership among the public, sporting conservation organizations, states, Native American tribes, and the Federal Government; and benefit recreational hunting.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered and threatened 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, propose to increase the hunting activities available at nine National Wildlife Refuges (NWR), open one NWR to sport fishing for the first time, and add pertinent refuge-specific regulations for other NWRs that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing for the 2017-2018 season.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter the Service or we) proposes to establish annual hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds for the 2018-19 hunting season. We annually prescribe outside limits (frameworks) within which States may select hunting seasons. This proposed rule provides the regulatory schedule, announces the Service Migratory Bird Regulations Committee (SRC) and Flyway Council meetings, describes the proposed regulatory alternatives for the 2018-19 duck hunting seasons, and requests proposals from Indian tribes that wish to establish special migratory game bird hunting regulations on Federal Indian reservations and ceded lands. Migratory bird hunting seasons provide opportunities for recreation and sustenance; aid Federal, State, and tribal governments in the management of migratory game birds; and permit harvests at levels compatible with migratory game bird population status and habitat conditions.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce our intent to prepare a draft environmental analysis/document under the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended (NEPA), for the proposed issuance of an incidental take permit (ITP) under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), for the draft General Conservation Plan for Oil and Gas Activities in Santa Barbara County (GCP). The GCP is being developed to streamline environmental permitting and compliance with the ESA for proponents engaged in geophysical exploration (seismic), development, extraction, storage, transport, remediation, and/or distribution of crude oil, natural gas, and/or other petroleum products, and construction, maintenance, operation, repair, and decommissioning of oil and gas pipelines and well field infrastructure. The GCP is a conservation plan as required under the ESA for issuance of incidental take permits. Participation in the GCP would be voluntary. ITP holders would be authorized for incidental take of threatened and endangered wildlife species that could result from the activities covered under the GCP. The GCP would include conservation measures for an endangered plant species that would also be covered under the plan. We also are announcing the initiation of a public scoping process to engage Federal, tribal, State, and local governments and the public in the identification of issues and concerns, potential impacts, and possible alternatives to the proposed action. The Service is inviting input regarding development of a draft environmental analysis/document, which will evaluate the impacts to the human environment associated with issuance of ITPs and implementation of the GCP and alternatives.