Fish and Wildlife Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct activities intended to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on these applications. Before issuing any of the requested permits, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of a draft environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), supported by a draft habitat conservation plan (draft HCP). IP Aramis, LLC (applicant) has applied for an ITP under the ESA for the Aramis Solar Energy Generation and Storage Project in Alameda County, California. The requested ITP, which would be in effect for a period of 32 years, if granted, would authorize incidental take of the federally threatened California red-legged frog, federally threatened Central Distinct Population Segment of the California tiger salamander (Central California tiger salamander), federally endangered San Joaquin kit fox, Federal candidate monarch butterfly, and non-listed golden eagle, which is protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act). We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on the application. Before issuing the requested permit, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from St. John Methodist Church of Sebring Inc. (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) and blue-tailed mole-skink (Eumeces egregius lividus) incidental to the construction of a residential development in Highlands County, Florida. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the Department of the Interior (DOI) is issuing a public notice of its intent to modify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Privacy Act system of records, INTERIOR/FWS-21, Permits System. FWS is consolidating all of the FWS permits systems of records under this system of records notice (SORN) and making updates to accurately reflect management of the system of records. This modified system will be included in DOI's inventory of record systems.

Notice is hereby given of the trustees' (Department of the Interior, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) intent to proceed with restoration planning actions to address injuries to natural resources resulting from the discharge of oil associated with a 1999 mystery spill along the northern Oregon and southern Washington coastline. The purpose of this restoration planning effort is to assess injuries to natural resources resulting from the spill and develop and implement a plan for the restoration of these injured resources.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are initiating 5-year status reviews of the Aleutian shield fern and the Alaska breeding population of Steller's eider under the Endangered Species Act. A 5- year status review is based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. We are requesting submission of any new information on these species that has become available since the last reviews of the species. We invite comments and information from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

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 without change.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Metro Heights Montebello, LLC (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally threatened coastal California gnatcatcher and endangered least Bell's vireo incidental to construction of the Montebello Hills Phase B Project, in the City of Montebello, Los Angeles County, California. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

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

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 without change.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Sacramento Municipal Utility District (applicant) for an incidental take permit (permit) under the Endangered Species Act and an accompanying draft habitat conservation plan (plan). We also announce the availability of a draft environmental assessment pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed plan, and the Service's draft environmental assessment. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on applications to conduct certain activities with foreign species that are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). With some exceptions, the ESA prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is issued that allows such activities. The ESA also requires that we invite public comment before issuing permits for any activity otherwise prohibited by the ESA with respect to any endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability of the draft revised National European Green Crab Management and Control Plan (2023 EGC plan). The Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force recently approved the 2023 EGC plan to be posted in the Federal Register for public comment. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, Federal agencies, and other relevant parties.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce findings that 10 species are not warranted for listing as endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that it is not warranted at this time to list Hupp's Hill cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus parvicollis), Hubbard's cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus hubbardi), overlooked cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus praetermissus), Shenandoah cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus limicola), Little Kennedy cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus cordicollis), Holsinger's cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus holsingeri), Hubricht's cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus hubrichti), silken cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus sericus), Pinale[ntilde]o talussnail (Sonorella grahamensis), and San Xavier talussnail (Sonorella eremita). However, we ask the public to submit to us at any time any new information relevant to the status of any of the species mentioned above or their habitats.

This notice corrects the scoping comment period of the Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to Reconsider a Highway Right-of-Way Application and Associated Amendment of an Incidental Take Permit, Washington County, Utah, published in the Federal Register on November 16, 2023. The initial notice had an incorrect end date of the scoping period of December 18, 2023. The correct end date of the scoping period is December 21, 2023.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct activities intended to enhance the propagation and survival of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on these applications. Before issuing the requested permits, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the comment period on our August 22, 2023, proposed rule to list the toothless blindcat (Trogloglanis pattersoni) and widemouth blindcat (Satan eurystomus), two cavefish species from the Edwards Aquifer in Bexar County, Texas, as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are reopening the proposed rule's comment period to give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted, as they are already incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in our final determinations.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the northern distinct population segment (DPS) of the western spadefoot (Spea hammondii), an amphibian occurring in central and northern California, and the southern DPS of the western spadefoot, occurring in southern California and northwestern Mexico, as threatened DPSs under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. This determination serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the western spadefoot range-wide. After a review of the best scientific and commercial information available, we find that listing the northern and southern DPSs of the western spadefoot as threatened is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the northern and southern DPSs of the western spadefoot as threatened DPSs with a rule issued under section 4(d) of the Act (``4(d) rule''). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add the northern DPS and southern DPS of the western spadefoot to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the two DPSs. Due to the current lack of data sufficient to perform required analyses, we conclude that the designation of critical habitat for the northern DPS and southern DPS of the western spadefoot is not determinable at this time.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives notice of a public meeting of the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task Force in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the ANS Task Force is to develop and implement a program for U.S. waters to prevent introduction and dispersal of aquatic invasive species; to monitor, control, and study such species; and to disseminate related information.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing a new information collection in use without Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (the agencies), publish this notice to announce the availability of a draft addendum to the Federal Land Managers' Air Quality Related Values Work Group's (FLAG's) Phase 1 Report, which the agencies last revised in 2010 (FLAG 2010 report). We are proposing an addendum to include a provision related to temporary emissions. We invite comments and information on the draft addendum from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Vistas at Davenport, LLC (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed sand skink and blue-tailed mole skink incidental to the construction of a residential development in Polk County, Florida. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

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

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) developed a proposed barred owl management strategy (management strategy) to address the threat of the nonnative, invasive barred owl (Strix varia) to the native northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, this notice announces the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) evaluating the impacts on the human environment related to the proposed management strategy and associated take of barred owls, which is prohibited under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act unless authorized by the Service by permit or regulation. We invite public comments on the proposed management strategy and DEIS from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), invite the public to comment on permit applications regarding foreign bird species for which the Service has jurisdiction under the Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA). With some exceptions, the WBCA prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is issued that allows such activities. The WBCA also requires that we invite public comment before issuing permits for any activity it otherwise prohibits.