[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58249-58250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24105]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XA668
Notice of Availability of Proposed Low Effect Habitat
Conservation Plan for Tumalo Irrigation District's Tumalo Conservation
Project
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of application.
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SUMMARY: NMFS advises interested parties of Tumalo Irrigation
District's (TID) application for an incidental take permit, pursuant to
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, (ESA). The requested 50-year permit
would authorize the incidental take of Middle Columbia River Steelhead
in the Deschutes River basin that may occur from irrigation activities
and construction of water conservation projects implemented by TID.
NMFS is requesting comments on the permit application and on Tumalo
Irrigation District's low effect Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The
application and HCP are available for public review.
DATES: Written comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. Pacific
Standard Time on October 20, 2011.
ADDRESSES: All comments concerning the proposed issuance of an
incidental take permit and the HCP should be addressed to: Scott
Carlon, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite
1100, Portland, OR 97232, facsimile number 503-231-2318. Comments may
be submitted by e-mail to the following address:
[email protected]. In the subject line of the e-mail, include the
document identifier: Tumalo Irrigation District HCP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Carlon, NMFS (503) 231-2379.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
Individuals seeking copies of the proposed HCP should contact NMFS
by telephone (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) or by letter (see
ADDRESSES). Copies of the subject documents also are available for
public inspection during regular business hours at NMFS' Hydropower
Division Office (see ADDRESSES) and are available at the following Web
site: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov.
Statutory Authority
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the taking of any listed species.
The definition of ``take'' under the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)) includes
to harass, harm, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or
attempt to engage in any such conduct. NMFS' definition of ``harm''
includes significant habitat modification or degradation where it
actually kills or injures fish or wildlife by significantly impairing
essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, spawning,
migrating, rearing, and sheltering (64 FR 60727, November 8, 1999).
Section 10 of the ESA and implementing regulations specify
requirements for the issuance of incidental take permits (ITP) to non-
Federal entities for the incidental take of endangered and threatened
species. NMFS's regulations governing permits for incidental taking of
threatened and endangered species are at 50 CFR 222.307. Any proposed
take must be incidental to otherwise lawful activities, not appreciably
reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species in
the wild, and minimize and mitigate the impacts of such take to the
maximum extent practicable. In addition, the applicant must prepare and
submit an HCP describing the impact that will likely result from such
taking, the conservation measures to minimize and mitigate the take,
the funding available to implement such steps, alternatives to such
taking, and the reason such alternatives are not being implemented.
Background
The Tumalo Irrigation District (TID) is an 8,200-acre irrigation
project located northwest of Bend in Deschutes County, Oregon. TID is
seeking a permit from NMFS for the incidental take of ESA-listed Middle
Columbia River (MCR) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that are being
reintroduced into historic habitat downstream of TID. The ITP would
provide ESA regulatory certainty for TID's existing operations and
proposed water conservation projects providing that TID meets the
permit conditions. Existing operations included in the HCP as covered
activities include the diversion of flow from Tumalo Creek and the
Deschutes River, maintenance activities associated with diversion
structures and conveyance systems, and water conservation projects
including piping portions of the irrigation canals.
TID has a total water right of 211.25 cubic feet per second (cfs)
and diverts water from two locations: Tumalo Creek
[[Page 58250]]
at river mile 3 (river km 4.8) and the Deschutes River at river mile
165 (river km 265.5). TID's water rights consist of 201.75 cfs from
Tumalo Creek and 9.5 cfs of natural flow from the Deschutes River. TID
also has rights to stored water in Crescent Lake Reservoir. The
irrigation season usually runs from April through October. Peak
diversions normally reach about 190 cfs during the months of May, June
and July but begin to decrease in late July. Flow diverted from Tumalo
Creek is conveyed via the Tumalo Feed Canal. Diversion rates from
Tumalo Creek range between 40 and 70 cfs in April and increase steadily
through May with peak diversion between 130 and 150 cfs during the
months of May and June, diminishing to about 50 cfs by September.
Flow diverted by TID from the Deschutes River is conveyed via the
Bend Feed Canal. Diversion rates are at or near 10 cfs in April and
gradually increase May through July. Starting in about mid-July and
running through September, the majority of TID diversions (about 60
percent) are taken from the Deschutes River, reaching roughly 120 cfs.
During the off-season (November through March), diversions into TID are
eliminated except for occasional stock runs of about 50 to 60 cfs to
fill stock ponds.
TID conducts all maintenance activities during the off-season with
the exception of year round removal of debris and the need for
emergency repairs. Maintenance actions include repair and improvements
to diversion structures and canals, occasional (every few years)
dredging behind diversion dams, removing vegetation from canals and
ditches, and inspection of flow measurement instrumentation. Both the
Tumalo Creek and Deschutes River diversions are fitted with fish
screens, so all maintenance on these structures occur during the off-
season.
TID has installed pipe in a portion of the Tumalo Feed Canal and
proposes to complete piping the remaining open sections (about 6 miles
(9.65 km) of canal) by October 31, 2015. Once completed, TID estimates
that approximately 20 cfs of water will be conserved that is now lost
through evaporation and seepage. Upon completion of piping, the
conserved water will be transferred to the State of Oregon for
permanent instream water use in the form of senior water rights. This
will increase flow in Tumalo Creek and the Deschutes River below Tumalo
Creek by about 11.8 cfs during the irrigation season and is expected to
cool water in the Deschutes by roughly 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56
degrees C). The remaining 8.2 cfs will be in the form of stored water
rights in Crescent Lake Reservoir and will be used by the State of
Oregon to supplement flows in Crescent Creek and the Deschutes River.
To improve monitoring of its diversion rates, TID will replace an
existing flow and temperature measurement structure located in Tumalo
Creek downstream of the Tumalo Feed Canal diversion. The existing
structure does not give accurate measurements when flows are high. TID
will also install a meter in the Tumalo Feed Canal downstream of its
confluence with the Bend Feed Canal to measure the combined diversion
rate. TID will submit yearly progress reports to NMFS and the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Historically, MCR steelhead did not occur in Tumalo Creek or the
reach of the Deschutes River where TID diverts water. The upstream
limit for anadromous fish, including MCR steelhead, in the Deschutes
River was Big Falls at about river mile 132 (river km 212.4). Tumalo
Creek enters the Deschutes River roughly 28 river miles (45.1 km)
upstream of Big Falls and the Deschutes River diversion is about 33
river miles (53.1 km) above Big Falls. MCR steelhead are not being
reintroduced above this natural barrier.
NMFS may approve the HCP as a low effect HCP, as provided in the
Habitat Conservation Planning Handbook (NMFS and USFWS 1996).
Determination of low effect HCPs is based upon the plan having: Minor
or negligible effects on Federally-listed, proposed, or candidate
species and their habitats; minor or negligible effects on other
environmental values or resources; and, impacts that considered
together with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable similarly situated projects would not result, over time, in
cumulative effects to the environmental values or resources which would
be considered significant. If the plan qualifies as a low-effect HCP,
the NEPA consideration would be covered by a categorical exclusion, and
NMFS would not need to conduct further analysis.
Request for Comments
If you wish to comment on the permit application or the HCP, you
may submit your comments to the address listed in the ADDRESSES section
of this document. We will evaluate this permit application, associated
documents, and comments submitted to determine whether to issue the
permit. All comments received are a part of the public record and will
generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. All
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do
not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. We will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in
the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to
electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel,
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
If we determine that the legal criteria are met, we will issue an
incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA to the TID
for take of the proposed covered species, incidental to otherwise
lawful activities in accordance with the terms of the permit. We will
not make our final decision until after the end of the 30-day comment
period, and will fully consider all comments received during the
comment period. NMFS provides this notice pursuant to section 10(c) of
the ESA and pursuant to implementing regulations for NEPA (40 CFR
1506.6).
Dated: September 15, 2011.
Therese Conant,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-24105 Filed 9-19-11; 8:45 am]
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