[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 222 (Tuesday, November 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68692-68693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27232]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R4-ES-2014-N182; 40120-1112-0000-F2]
Amendment of a Joint Programmatic Candidate Conservation
Agreement With Assurances and Safe Harbor Agreement, Upper Little Red
River Watershed, Arkansas
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Under the Endangered Species Act, we, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, announce the receipt and availability of a revised
joint Safe Harbor Agreement and Candidate Conservation Agreement with
Assurances (revised agreement) and accompanying documents for
establishing a programmatic enrollment of willing landowners by the
parties to the revised agreement: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the
Fish and Wildlife Service, Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office
(parties). The revised agreement analyzes effects of conservation
measures and certain land uses on two endangered species--the
yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma moorei), a fish, and rabbitsfoot
(Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), a mussel--in the Upper Little Red
River Watershed, northcentral Arkansas, so that these listed species,
as well as 19 candidate and other unlisted species, might be added to
those already covered by the existing enhancement of survival permits.
We invite public comments on these documents.
DATES: We must receive any written comments at our Regional Office (see
ADDRESSES) on or before December 18, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Documents are available for public inspection by appointment
during normal business hours at the Fish and Wildlife Service's
Regional Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30345;
or at the Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office, Fish and Wildlife
Service, 1500 Museum Road, Suite 105, Conway, AR 72032.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Harris, At-Risk Species
Coordinator, at the Regional Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 404-
679-7066; or Mr. Chris Davidson, Endangered Species Coordinator, at the
Arkansas Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 501-513-4481.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We announce the availability of the revised
Agreement, which incorporates the yellowcheek darter, rabbitsfoot, and
19 State species of concern. The yellowcheek darter and rabbitsfoot
became federally listed after the original enhancement of survival
permits were issued in February 2007. The yellowcheek darter was
originally covered by the Candidate Conservation Agreement with
Assurances, but would now be transferred under the Safe Harbor
Agreement. The Service previously advertised (71 FR 53129), and issued
enhancement of survival permits, TE138910 (Safe Harbor) and TE138911
(Candidate Conservation) as 30-year enhancement of survival permits
covering the speckled pocketbook (Lampsilis streckeri) and yellowcheek
darter, respectively.
The parties request amendment of the enhancement of survival
permits, for their remaining terms, under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the
Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
[[Page 68693]]
seq.), as amended. The parties' revised agreement describes
conservation practices designed to protect and enhance streambed and
bankside habitats for the benefit of the yellowcheek darter,
rabbitsfoot, and the 19 State species of concern on private or non-
Federal public lands enrolled under the revised agreement.
We specifically request information, views, and opinions from the
public via this notice on our proposed Federal action, including our
determination that the revised agreement, including its proposed
conservation measures, would have minor or negligible effects on the
species covered by the revised agreement. Therefore, we determined that
the revised agreement is a ``low-effect'' project and qualifies for
categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as provided by the Department of the
Interior Manual (516 DM 2 Appendix 1 and 516 DM 6 Appendix 1). A low-
effect project involves (1) minor or negligible effects on federally
listed or candidates or their habitats, and (2) minor or negligible
effects on other environmental values or resources. Further, we
specifically solicit information regarding the adequacy of the revised
agreement per 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.
The revised agreement describes land use practices and monitoring
to ensure the continued survival of the covered species. Enrolled
landowners who implement these measures would receive assurances
against take liability for federally listed species, or for those
species that might become federally listed in the future. Conservation
land use practices will vary according to the needs of a particular
enrolled landowner. Typical measures include controlling livestock
access to streams; protection, enhancement, or restoration of
streamside or in-stream habitats; species reintroduction to unoccupied
suitable habitat; and other conservation measures that may be developed
in the future.
Public Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of
several methods. Please reference TE138910 or TE138911 in such
comments. You may mail comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service's
Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also comment via the internet
to [email protected]. Please include your name and return address in
your email message. If you do not receive a confirmation from us that
we have received your email message, contact us directly at either
telephone number listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Finally, you may hand-deliver comments to either of our offices
listed under ADDRESSES.
Covered Area
The revised agreement covers approximately 558,615 acres of
potentially eligible lands in the Upper Little Red River watershed in
northcentral Arkansas. Lands eligible to enroll in the revised
agreement include any non-Federal properties within the watershed of
the Upper Little Red River, Archey Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork, and
Devils Fork upstream from Greers Ferry Reservoir.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the enhancement of survival permit amendment
applications, including the revised agreement, and any comments we
receive, to determine whether the amendment applications meet the
requirements of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act. We will also evaluate
whether amendment of the section 10(a)(1)(A) enhancement of survival
permits would comply with section 7 of the Act by conducting an intra-
Service section 7 consultation. We will use the results of this
consultation, in combination with the above findings, in our final
analysis to determine whether or not to amend the enhancement of
survival permits. If we determine that the requirements are met, we
will amend the enhancement of survival permits to add yellowcheek
darter and rabbitsfoot to the Safe Harbor, and amend the Candidate
Conservation Agreement to remove yellowcheek darter and to add the 19
species of State concern.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: October 23, 2014.
Mike Oetker,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2014-27232 Filed 11-17-14; 8:45 am]
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