Fish and Wildlife Service 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or ``we''), advise the public that we intend to gather information necessary to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed incidental take permit and associated Habitat Conservation Plan for the Beech Ridge Wind Energy Project (HCP). The proposed HCP is being prepared under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The incidental take permit is needed to authorize the incidental take of listed species as a result of implementing activities covered under the proposed HCP.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, (Act) and to designate critical habitat. Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the giant Palouse earthworm as threatened or endangered may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a review of the status of the species to determine if listing the giant Palouse earthworm is warranted. To ensure that this status review is comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding this species. Based on the status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on the petition,

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Restoration Center, Southwest Region, for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals by harassment incidental to construction of the Parson's Slough Project, a tidal wetlands restoration project on the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in northern Monterey County, California. In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA), as amended, we request comments on our proposed authorization for the applicant to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of southern sea otters for a period of 6 months beginning on September 1, 2010, and ending on March 1, 2011. We anticipate no take by injury or death and include none in this proposed authorization, which would be for take by harassment only.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the Amargosa toad (Anaxyrus nelsoni) as threatened or endangered and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the Amargosa toad is not warranted at this time. However, we ask the public to submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning the threats to the Amargosa toad or its habitat at any time.

We (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 November 30, 2010. 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. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is gathering the information needed to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and associated environmental assessment (EA) for Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). We publish this notice in compliance with our policy of advising other agencies and the public of our intentions to conduct detailed planning on refuges and obtain suggestions and information about the scope of issues to consider in the planning process.

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 a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The ESA laws require that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from CJR General Partnership (applicant) for an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are considering issuing a permit that would authorize the applicant's take of the federally threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and State threatened Mohave ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus mohavensis) incidental to otherwise lawful activities that would result in the permanent loss of 120 acres of habitat for the species near Oro Grande in San Bernardino County California. We invite comments from the public on the application, which includes the AgCon Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that fully describes the proposed project and measures the applicant will undertake to minimize and mitigate anticipated take of the species. We also invite comments on our preliminary determination that the HCP qualifies as a ``low- effect'' plan, which is eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended. We explain the basis for this determination in our draft Environmental Action Statement and associated Low-Effect Screening Form, both of which are also available for review.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan/Environmental Assessment (CCP/EA) for the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge for public review and comment. The CCP/EA, prepared under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, describes how the Service will manage the Refuge for the next 15 years. Draft compatibility determinations for several existing and proposed public uses are also available for review and public comment with the Draft CCP/EA.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and draft environmental assessment (EA) for Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) for public review and comment. In this draft CCP/EA we describe how we propose to manage the refuge for the next 15 years.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of an incidental take permit (ITP) application and habitat conservation plan (HCP). Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC (applicant) requests a 24-year ITP under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The applicant anticipates taking approximately 75 acres (ac) of Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)-occupied habitat incidental to land clearing and phosphate mining in Manatee County, Florida (project). The applicant's HCP describes the mitigation and minimization measures the

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the comment period on the proposed rule to amend our regulations to add Indian python (Python molurus, including Burmese python Python molurus bivittatus), reticulated python (Broghammerus reticulatus or Python reticulatus), Northern African python (Python sebae), Southern African python (Python natalensis), boa constrictor (Boa constrictor), yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), DeSchauensee's anaconda (Eunectes deschauenseei), green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), and Beni anaconda (Eunectes beniensis) to the list of injurious reptiles under the Lacey Act. If you have previously submitted comments, please do not resubmit them because we have already incorporated them in the public record and will fully consider them in our final decision.

This final rule establishes regulations for seasons, harvest limits, methods, and means related to taking of wildlife for subsistence uses in Alaska during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board (Board) completes the biennial process of revising subsistence hunting and trapping regulations in even-numbered years and subsistence fishing and shellfish regulations in odd-numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), notify the public that we are reinstating that portion of our December 5, 2002, proposed rule that concerns the listing of the mountain plover (Charadrius montanus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are not reinstating the portion of that proposed rule that concerned a proposed special rule under section 4(d) of the Act. We invite public comments on the proposed listing and announce the availability of new information relevant to our consideration of the status of the mountain plover. We encourage those who may have commented previously to submit additional comments, if appropriate, in light of this new information.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the comment period on our October 13, 2009, proposed revised designation of critical habitat for the arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We also announce the availability of a draft economic analysis (DEA) of the proposed revised designation of critical habitat for the arroyo toad; revisions to proposed critical habitat; and an amended required determinations section of the proposal. We are reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the items listed above. If you submitted comments previously, you do not need to resubmit them because we have already incorporated them into the public record and will fully consider them in preparation of the final rule.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Cumberland darter (Etheostoma susanae), rush darter (Etheostoma phytophilum), yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma moorei), chucky madtom (Noturus crypticus), and laurel dace (Phoxinus saylori) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to these species throughout their ranges, including, Cumberland darter in Kentucky and Tennessee, rush darter in Alabama, yellowcheek darter in Arkansas, and chucky madtom and laurel dace in Tennessee. We have determined that critical habitat for these species is prudent, but not determinable at this time.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to designate critical habitat for the Tumbling Creek cavesnail (Antrobia culveri) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We propose to designate as critical habitat approximately 25 acres (10.12 hectares) in one unit. The proposed critical habitat encompasses Tumbling Creek and associated springs, located near Protem, in Taney County, Missouri.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), the Honduran emerald hummingbird (Amazilia luciae). We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the Honduran emerald hummingbird may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a status review of the Honduran emerald hummingbird to determine if listing is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting information and data regarding this species.

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 a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The ESA requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to revise designated critical habitat for the Pecos assiminea (Assiminea pecos), and to newly designate critical habitat for the Roswell springsnail (Pyrgulopsis roswellensis), Koster's springsnail (Juturnia kosteri), and Noel's amphipod (Gammarus desperatus), under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. In total, we are proposing to designate as critical habitat approximately 515 acres (208.4 hectares) for the four species. The proposed critical habitat is located in Chaves County, New Mexico, and Pecos and Reeves Counties, Texas. We also announce the availability of the draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment for this action.

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 endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the environmental assessment for Egmont Key, Pinellas, and Passage Key National Wildlife Refuges. These three refuges, known as the Tampa Bay Refuges, are managed as part of the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex. In the final CCP, we describe how we will manage these refuges for the next 15 years.

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 a Federal permit is issued that allows such activities. The ESA requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

We (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. This ICR is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2010. 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. However, under OMB regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces the availability of a proposed HCP, accompanying ITP applications, and a dSEIS related to two proposed developments that would take the Alabama beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) and place fill in wetlands on the Fort Morgan peninsula, Baldwin County, Alabama. The HCP analyzes the take of the Federally endangered Alabama beach mouse and fill in wetlands incidental to construction and occupation of adjacent residential and recreational condominium developments: Beach Club West and Gulf Highlands Condominiums (collectively BCWGH) projects. Fort Morgan Paradise Joint Venture and Gulf Highlands Condominiums, LLC (applicants) request ITPs under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, (Act) as well as permits from the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (Corps) for placing fill in wetlands under jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The Applicants' HCP describes the