[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 13, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58209-58210]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28986]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Notice of Receipt of an Application, and Availability of an 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for an 
Incidental Take Permit by Union Camp Corporation, Woodlands Division, 
for Forest Management in South-Central Alabama

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Union Camp Corporation, Woodlands Division (Applicant), seeks 
an incidental take permit (ITP) from the Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), (Act) as amended. The ITP would 
authorize for a period of 30 years, the incidental take of a threatened 
species, the Red Hill's salamander (Phaeognathus hubrichti). The 
proposed take is incidental to forest management activities on about 
3,810 acres owned by the Applicant in Butler, Conecuh, Covington, and 
Crenshaw Counties, Alabama. The Service also announces the availability 
of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) 
for this ITP application. The HCP, which is required by Section 
10(a)(2)(A) of the Act, was prepared and submitted by the Applicant 
with the permit application. Copies of the EA and/or HCP may be 
obtained by making a request in writing to the Regional Office (see 
ADDRESSES). This notice also advises the public that the Service has 
made preliminary determinations that issuing an ITP to the Applicant is 
not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the 
human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, (NEPA) as amended. The 
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is based on information 
contained in the EA and HCP. The final determination will be made no 
sooner than 30 days from the date of this notice. This notice is 
provided pursuant to Section 10(c) of the Act and National 
Environmental Policy Act Regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

DATES: Written comments on the application, EA and HCP should be sent 
to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be received 
on or before December 13, 1996.

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, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345 
(Attn: Endangered Species Permits), or at the Jackson, Mississippi, 
Field Office, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi 
39213. Written data or comments concerning the application, EA, or HCP 
should be submitted to the Regional Office. Comments must be submitted 
in writing to be processed. Please reference permit number PRT-821527 
in such comments, or in requests for the documents discussed herein. 
Requests for the documents

[[Page 58210]]

must be in writing to be adequately processed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick G. Gooch, Regional Permit 
Coordinator, Atlanta, Georgia (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/
679-7110; or Mr. Will McDearman at the Jackson, Mississippi, Field 
Office (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 601/965-4900 ext. 24.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Red Hill's salamander (RHS), 
Phaeognathus hubrichti, is a plethodontid salamander known only from 
the Red Hills region of south-central Alabama in portions of Butler, 
Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, and Monroe Counties. This physiographic 
subdivision of the Gulf Coastal Plain is distinguished by hilly, 
dissected terrain, frequently with steep side slopes extending 200 feet 
from the ridge to the base of the lower slope. Natural vegetation of 
these moist, steep, sheltered slopes and ravines consists of a beech-
magnolia forest community. Characteristic woody species in the forest 
overstory include American beech (Fagus grandifolia), bigleaf magnolia 
(Magnolia macrophylla), southern magnolia (M. grandiflora), white oak 
(Quercus alba), and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Portions of 
this and closely related forest types in the Red Hills region are 
underlain by clays, claystones, and siltones of the Tallahatta and 
Hatchetigbee formations. RHS occupy subterranean burrows within the 
fissures and channels of these formations on relatively steep slopes 
beneath undisturbed and moderately disturbed hardwood and hardwood-pine 
dominated forests. RHS, which rarely leave their burrows, prey upon 
ground-dwelling arthropods located within burrows or outside burrows 
near the burrow entrance. Substrates of the Tallahatta and Hatchetigbee 
formation apparently are important for maintaining suitable moisture 
required for these amphibians. Other important factors preventing the 
dessication of RHS microhabitat include loamy soils, leaf litter from 
deciduous trees, and a well developed overstory canopy of hardwoods 
that intercepts direct sunlight. Timber management practices that 
reduce or eliminate the forest canopy, disturb or compact soils, and 
convert hardwood-dominated forests to pine-dominated forests can 
incidentally kill or injure RHS in violation of Section 9 of the Act. 
Such practices can involve timber harvest, the operation of vehicular 
logging equipment, timber regeneration, and site preparation in habitat 
occupied by RHS. Based on RHS surveys conducted by the Applicant, RHS 
may occur on about 3,810 acres of lands owned or managed by Union Camp 
Corporation. This represents about seven percent of the rangewide total 
habitat estimated to remain in 1978.
    The EA considers the environmental consequences of two 
alternatives. The proposed action is the issuance of the ITP based upon 
the submittal of the HCP. This action is based on a preliminary 
determination by the Service that the HCP will satisfy the requirements 
of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act. By this alternative, the HCP 
restricts timber management activities in habitat preferred by RHS. 
Preferred habitat occupies about 1,816 acres with steep (>30 degree) 
slopes, underlain by the Tallahatta or Hatchetigbee formations, with a 
hardwood or mixed hardwood-pine forest. Pine will be harvested by 
limited single tree selection while maintaining a hardwood canopy 
coverage over at least 90 percent of a site. To minimize disturbance to 
soils and destruction of burrows, no vehicular logging equipment will 
operate within preferred habitat. Felled timber will be pulled from 
preferred habitat by cable from vehicular or other logging equipment 
located in adjacent, non-preferred habitat. In habitat marginally 
suitable for RHS, about 1,994 acres, normal industrial forest 
silvicultural practices will be applied. Marginally suitable habitat 
consists of slopes less than 30 degrees, with Tallahata or Hatchetigbee 
formations and forest cover of mixed hardwood-pine or pine. RHS 
populations in marginally suitable habitat will be significantly 
reduced or eliminated as a result of clearcutting, site preparation, 
and conversion to pine forests. Because RHS are more common and 
abundant in preferred (optimal) habitat, the HCP will conserve core RHS 
populations where most RHS exist. Populations in preferred habitat are 
expected to remain viable, contributing to the recovery of the species. 
The HCP also includes maintaining forest buffer zones adjacent to 
preferred habitat, staff training to implement the HCP, funding, and 
monitoring and reporting of management actions in preferred and 
marginally suitable habitat.
    The second alternative in the EA is the no action alternative in 
which the Service would not issue the ITP. The basis for this 
alternative would be the failure of the Applicant to satisfy 
requirements of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act for ITP issuance. 
Without the authority to incidentally take RHS, the Applicant is 
expected to continue to manage forests in occupied habitat according to 
existing current company guidelines or modified guidelines that 
substantially reduce or eliminate the likelihood of incidental take in 
preferred and marginally suitable habitat.
    Such measures, in comparison to the first alternative, would be 
expected to involve additional restrictions on timber harvest and 
managing habitat occupied by RHS in a manner to avoid incidental take.
    As stated above, the Service has made a preliminary determination 
that the issuance of this ITP is not a major Federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the 
meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of NEPA and will result in the FONSI. This 
preliminary determination is based on information in the EA and HCP. 
The determination may be revised due to public comment received in 
response to this notice. An excerpt from the FONSI reflecting the 
Service's finding on the application is provided below:
    Based on the analysis conducted by the Service, it has been 
determined that:
    1. Issuance of an ITP would not have significant effects on the 
human environment in the project area.
    2. The proposed take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity.
    3. The Applicant has ensured that adequate funding will be provided 
to implement the measures proposed in the submitted HCP.
    The Service will also evaluate whether the issuance of a Section 
10(a)(1)(B) ITP complies with Section 7 of the Act by conducting an 
intra-Service Section 7 consultation. The results of the Section 7 
biological opinion, in combination with the above findings, will be 
used in the final analysis to determine whether or not to issue the 
ITP.

    Dated: November 11, 1996.
Garland B. Pardue,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 96-28986 Filed 11-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P