[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 236 (Friday, December 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63052-63053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29941]



=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Extension of the Public Comment Period--Availability of an 
Environmental Assessment and Receipt of an Application for a Residental 
Project Called Pineda Crossing/Windover Farms, Located in Brevard 
County, FL

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of the public comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service gives notice that the pubilc 
comment period on the environmental assessment/habitat conservation 
plan for the Pineda Crossing/Windover Farms projects (Applicant) 
application for an incidental take permit pursuant to Section 10(a) of 
the Endangered Species Act (Act) is being extended. The Applicant has 
been assigned permit number PRT-808474. The original 30-day comment 
period was to end on/about December 15, 1995 (FR 60:57247-48). In the 
intervening period, the Fish and Wildlife Service was forced to cease 
operations due to the lapse in Congressional appropriations during the 
period of November 14 through 19. The Fish and Wildlife Service was 
unable to expeditiously respond to the public requesting the 
documentation announced in the original Federal Register notice. The 
Fish and Wildlife Service is therefore extending the formal public 
comment period to allow opportunity for public review and submittal of 
comments.

DATES: The public comment period for this proposal, which originally 
closed on December 15, 1995, is now extended until December 26, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application, HCP, and EA may 
obtain a copy by writing the Service's Southeast Regional Office, 
Atlanta, Georgia. Documents will also be available for public 
inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the Regional 
Office, or the Jacksonville, Florida, Field Office. Written data or 
comments concerning the application, EA, or HCP should be submitted to 
the Regional Office. Please reference permit under PRT-808474 in such 
comments.

Regional Permit Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1875 
Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345, (telephone 404/
679-7110, fax 404/679-7081).
Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620 Southpoint 
Drive, 

[[Page 63053]]
South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216-0912, (telephone 904/232-
2580, fax 904/232-2404).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dawn Zattau at the Jacksonville, 
Florida, Field Office, or Rick G. Gooch at the Atlanta, Georgia, 
Regional Office.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) is a 
territorial, non-migratory cooperative breeding bird species. RCWs live 
in social units called groups which generally consist of a breeding 
pair, the current year's offspring, and one or more helpers (normally 
adult male offspring of the breeding pair from previous years). Groups 
maintain year-round territories near their roost and nest trees. The 
RCW is unique among North American woodpeckers in that it is the only 
woodpecker that excavates its roost and nest cavities in living pine 
trees. Each group member has its own cavity, although there may be 
multiple cavities in a single pine tree. The aggregate of cavity trees 
used by a breeding group is called a cluster. RCWs forage almost 
exclusively on pine trees and they generally prefer pines greater than 
10 inches diameter at breast height. Foraging habitat is contiguous 
with the cluster. The number of acres required to supply adequate 
foraging habitat depends on the quantity and quality of the pine stems 
available.
    The RCW is endemic to the pine forests of the Southeastern United 
States and was once widely distributed across 16 States. The species 
evolved in a mature, fire-maintained, ecosystem. The RCW has declined 
primarily due to the conversion of mature pine forests to young pine 
plantations, agricultural fields, residential and commercial 
developments, and to hardwood encroachment in existing pine forests due 
to fire suppression. The species is still widely distributed (presently 
occurs in 13 southeastern States), but remaining populations are highly 
fragmented and isolated. Presently, the largest populations occur on 
federally owned lands such as military installations and national 
forests. Continued development of the two tracts may result in death 
of, or harm to, any remaining RCWs through the loss of nesting and 
foraging habitat. The Service's EA outlines two alternatives in 
response to this application. The first alternative is a no-action 
alternative, which would result in the Service's denial of the request 
for incidental take. The second alternative is to accept the 
application as sufficient and issue an incidental take permit. Under 
Alternative 2, the applicants' HCP proposes to offset the anticipated 
level of incidental take, by implementing the following mitigation/
minimization measures, including providing adequate funding to ensure 
their success:

    1. For Pineda Crossing, temporary restrictions on construction 
activities at the project site will continue during the proposed 
period of 3 to 5 years of reproductive monitoring and 
translocations. This will provide temporary foraging, nesting, and 
roosting habitat. Construction within RCW habitat will not occur 
until translocations success is noted at the mitigation site or for 
3 years, whichever comes first. If young birds are not available for 
3 years, the HCP period will be extended to 5 years.
    2. Three new cluster sites will be created at the Hal Scott 
Preserve in Orange County. Each cluster site will con-sist of three 
completed cavities and two start holes. New cavities will be caged 
and inspected for 6 months for sap leakage. Any trees leaking sap 
will not be opened for use by RCW.
    3. Annual monitoring of nesting and roosting activity will be 
conducted at the project sites. During nesting season, weekly visits 
to occupied cavity trees will be conducted.
    4. At Windover Farms, the single male RCW will be relocated to 
the newly created clusters at Hal Scott Preserve, along with a young 
female from Pineda Crossing (if available), or from the Big 
Econlockhatchee population, of which the RCWs occupying Hal Scott 
are a part.
    5. The young birds from Pineda Crossing will be translocated to 
the newly created clusters at Hal Scott Preserve. Weekly visits will 
be conducted to the mitigation site once a week for 1 month after 
translocation to inspect the cavity and the surrounding area for the 
presence of these birds. Checks of the cluster sites will also be 
made four times during the following nesting season to monitor 
reproductive status and success.
    6. Young birds from the surrounding population in the Big Econ 
River area will be used, if necessary, to augment these created 
cluster sites during years of no reproduction on the Pineda Crossing 
site.
    7. At the mitigation site, inspections will be conducted in the 
fall and winter to locate the roost sites.

    Dated: December 1, 1995.
Noreen K. Clough,
Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 95-29941 Filed 12-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P