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

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have issued the following permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. We issue these permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

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 (Service), have received an application from John Scardino of Highlands at Double R, LLC for an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The permit would authorize take of the federally endangered California tiger salamander (Santa Barbara distinct population segment), incidental to otherwise lawful activities associated with the Rice Ranch Development Project draft low-effect habitat conservation plan. We invite public comment.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from Betteravia Ranches, LLC for an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The permit would authorize take of the federally endangered California tiger salamander (Santa Barbara distinct population segment) and the federally threatened California red-legged frog, incidental to otherwise lawful activities associated with the Curletti Farming Project draft low-effect habitat conservation plan. We invite public comment.

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

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 (Service), announce a 6-month extension of the final determination of whether to list the Louisiana pinesnake (Pituophis ruthveni) as a threatened species. We also reopen the comment period on the proposed rule to list the species for an additional 30 days. We are taking this action based on substantial disagreement regarding available information related to the interpretation of the available survey data used to determine the Louisiana pinesnake's status and trends. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted as they are already incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in the final rule. We will submit a final listing determination to the Federal Register for publication on or before April 6, 2018.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have issued the following permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. We issue these permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the candy darter (Etheostoma osburni) as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (Act), and to designate critical habitat. After review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the candy darter is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the candy darter (Etheostoma osburni), a freshwater fish species from Virginia and West Virginia, as a threatened species under Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to this species. The effect of this regulation will be to add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), proposed in an earlier document this year to establish annual hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds for the 2018-19 hunting season. This supplement to that proposed rule provides the regulatory alternatives for the 2018-19 duck hunting seasons, announces the Service Migratory Bird Regulations Committee (SRC) and Flyway Council meetings, and provides Flyway Council recommendations resulting from their March meetings.

The best available scientific and commercial data indicate that threats to Astragalus desereticus (Deseret milkvetch) identified at the time of listing in 1999 are not as significant as originally anticipated and are being adequately managed. Therefore, the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Consequently, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to remove (delist) Astragalus desereticus from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants (List). This determination is based on a thorough review of all available information, which indicates that this species' population is much greater than was known at the time of listing in 1999 and that threats to this species have been sufficiently minimized. This document also serves as the 12-month finding on a petition to remove this species from the List. We are seeking information, data, and comments from the public on the proposed rule to remove the Astragalus desereticus from the List.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), withdraw the proposed rule to list the Kenk's amphipod (Stygobromus kenki), an invertebrate from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (Act) as amended. This withdrawal is based on our conclusion that the threats to the species as identified in the proposed rule are not as significant as we previously determined and the proposed listing is not warranted. We base this conclusion on our analysis of new information concerning the results of new surveys, current and future threats, and conservation efforts. We find the best scientific and commercial data available indicate that the Kenk's amphipod does not meet the statutory definitions of an endangered or threatened species. Therefore, we are withdrawing our proposed rule to list the Kenk's amphipod as an endangered species.

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 prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is acquired that allows such activities.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have issued the following permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. We issue these permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare a joint environmental impact statement (EIS) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We are a cooperating agency with the BLM on the development of this EIS. The BLM will be analyzing potential impacts of their decision regarding Hycroft Resource and Development Incorporated's (Hycroft/applicant) proposed expansion as described in BLM's notice of intent published in December 2014. This EIS will also analyze impacts associated with the Service's eagle take permit decisions. The Service will evaluate the applicant's Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP), which describes their request to remove inactive golden eagle nests and their request for incidental take authorization for impacts resulting from removing eagle nests, mining operations, and expansion of the existing facility. We are considering the applicant's request, as allowed under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act), for nest removal for the purpose of resource development and recovery operations and incidental take. The BLM has already conducted public scoping regarding the proposed expansion of the Hycroft mine.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), list the Sonoyta mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale), a turtle from Arizona in the United States and Sonora in Mexico, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. This rule adds the Sonoyta mud turtle to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extends the Act's protections to this subspecies.

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.

In December 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed an environmental assessment (EA) on the take of peregrine falcons for use in falconry. In 2009 and 2010, we published notices in the Federal Register describing the take limits and geographic allocation of take for first-year fall-migrant (passage) peregrine falcons consistent with the selected alternative in that EA. The overall take limits have remained constant since 2009. This notice is to inform the public that, at the request of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Central Flyway Councils, we have reviewed recent data and are revising the take limits for passage peregrine falcons beginning in the fall of 2017.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have issued the following permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. We issue these permits under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an application from the San Lorenzo Valley Water District for a 20-year incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The application addresses the potential for ``take'' of the federally endangered Mount Hermon June beetle and Zayante band- winged grasshopper that is likely to occur incidental to the replacement of a water storage tank and infrastructure at the existing water storage tank site in Felton, Santa Cruz County, California. We invite comments from the public on the application package, which includes a low-effect habitat conservation plan.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are making a technical correction to remove the endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus) from certain regulations that apply to certain threatened primates. These regulations apply only to threatened species, and Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys were reclassified as an endangered species in 1990. Therefore, the provisions of the regulations for threatened primates do not apply to this species. We are correcting this error in the Code of Federal Regulations.

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.

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).