[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12247-12248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6494]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement on a Permit
Application to Incidentally Take Threatened and Endangered Species in
Association With the San Joaquin County Multiple Species Conservation
Plan in San Joaquin County, CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) and the County of San Joaquin, California, intend to
prepare a joint Federal Environmental Impact Statement/State
Environmental Impact Report (Statement/Report), pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality
Act. The Service intends to proceed with preparation of the joint
Statement/Report in response to an anticipated application by San
Joaquin County to obtain a 30-year permit under the Federal Endangered
Species Act that would authorize incidental take of up to approximately
100 species of plants and animals. The anticipated application would be
accompanied by a Habitat Conservation Plan. This notice describes the
proposed action and alternatives, and the history of the scoping
process.
DATES: Written comments will be accepted by the Service at the address
below until April 14, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Information and comments related to preparation of the joint
Statement/Report should be submitted to Mr. Wayne White, Field
Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3310 El Camino Avenue,
Suite 120, Sacramento, California 95821. Written comments also may be
sent by facsimile to (916) 979-2723.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Peter Cross, Division of
Endangered Species, at the above Sacramento address, telephone (916)
979-2725.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
Background material will be available for public inspection, by
appointment, during normal business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday) at the above Service address.
History of the Scoping Process
The public scoping process for the Statement/Report was formally
initiated with the publication by San Joaquin County of a Notice of
Public Hearing Scoping Meetings and Notice of Preparation/Notice of
Intent for the Preparation of a Joint Environmental Impact Report/
Environmental Impact Statement for the San Joaquin County Multi-species
Habitat Conservation and Open Space Plan in The Record (the largest
distribution newspaper in San Joaquin County) on January 22, 1997. This
Notice also was sent to 271 organizations, agencies, native American
tribes and other interested public within San Joaquin County and
adjacent cities and counties. On February 6, 1997, the Service attended
a public scoping meeting held in the city of Stockton, California,
pursuant to the January 22 notice. During this meeting, concern was
raised regarding the potential impact of linear projects that could
create significant dispersal barriers to certain species that will be
addressed in the Habitat Conservation Plan (e.g., water delivery
canals). The Service intends to use the information collected at the
February 6 scoping meeting and a second scoping meeting held on March
5, 1997, in Lodi, California, as well as other information and comments
received in development of the joint Statement/Report.
Proposed Action
San Joaquin County intends to submit an application to the Service
for a 30-year incidental take permit under Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The
application would include a Multi-Species Habitat Conservation and Open
Space Plan (Plan) that would serve as a Habitat Conservation Plan as
defined by Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Act.
The Service anticipates that San Joaquin County would seek a permit
authorizing incidental take, now or in the future, of up to
approximately 100 species, to the extent that take is prohibited under
Section 9 of the Act for each of these species. The anticipated permit
application would include 12 listed species: the endangered San Joaquin
kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), Conservancy fairy shrimp
(Branchinecta conservatio), longhorn fairy shrimp (Branchinecta
longiantenna), vernal pool tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus packardi), large-
flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia grandiflora), and palmate-bracted
bird's-beak (Cordylanthus palmatus), and the threatened California red-
legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii), valley elderberry longhorn beetle
(Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), vernal pool fairy shrimp
(Branchinecta lynchi), delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), giant
garter snake (Thamnophis gigas), and Aleutian Canada goose (Branta
canadensis leucopareia). In addition, the anticipated application
likely would seek assurances for future incidental take, should it
become necessary, of 83 currently unlisted species. These unlisted
species include 4 species proposed for listing: the Sacramento
splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), succulent owl's clover (fleshy
owl's clover) (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulenta) and Colusa grass
(Neostapfia colusana), currently proposed for threatened status, and
Greene's tuctoria (Tuctoria greenei), currently proposed for endangered
status. Should an unlisted species covered by the Plan be listed in the
future, take authorization would become effective upon listing under
the Act.
The anticipated Plan would encompass all of San Joaquin County:
approximately 1,400 square miles (900,000 acres), including 43 percent
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Plan, however, would only be
applicable to the area covered by those jurisdictions choosing to adopt
the Plan. The anticipated Plan would allow conversion of up to 104,299
acres of land to non-open space uses while providing compensation for
approximately 100 plant and animal species and 52 vegetative
communities, including the conversion of vernal pools to such uses
pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act.
The anticipated Plan would have multiple purposes, all of which
address the conversion of open space (for wildlife, agricultural,
recreational, educational, flood control and other uses) to non-open
space uses. The anticipated Plan would allow new development to proceed
with predetermined, standardized mitigation
[[Page 12248]]
measures for habitat loss. The anticipated Plan would eliminate the
need for project surveys and mitigation negotiations, and would be
limited to payment of a fee (or in-lieu land dedications, if preferred)
and implementation of incidental take avoidance measures.
The anticipated Plan would be completed by the San Joaquin Council
of Governments (Council of Governments) through a planning process
pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding adopted by the Service, San
Joaquin Council of Governments, San Joaquin County, the California
Department of Fish and Game, Caltrans, and the cities of Escalon,
Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, Stockton, and Tracy.
Only those agencies adopting the Plan would be covered by it.
Agencies indicating interest in adopting the anticipated Plan are: the
San Joaquin Council of Governments; San Joaquin County; Caltrans;
Federal Highway Administration; San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency;
Stockton East Water District; Reclamation Districts, some local School
Districts; East Bay Municipal Utilities District; and the cities of
Escalon, Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, Stockton, and Tracy. To receive
coverage under the Plan, incidental take authorizations would be
required by each of these entities from the Service and California
Department of Fish and Game.
The Plan would be voluntary for individual project proponents. This
means that if the anticipated Plan is prepared and approved and its
associated incidental take permit issued, individuals would have the
option of either participating in the Plan or negotiating directly with
the State and Federal permitting agencies. Specifically, for local
jurisdictions adopting the Plan, the following alternatives would be
available to individuals undertaking activities covered by the Plan
within that jurisdiction unless exempted by the Plan: (1) Pay the
appropriate fee; (2) dedicate, as conservation easements or fee title,
habitat lands; or (3) perform/undertake alternative mitigation as
approved by the permittee. Such alternative mitigation would be
equivalent to, or otherwise consistent with, the purposes of the
anticipated Plan.
Alternatives
To date, the following alternatives have been considered during the
planning process:
Full Plan Alternative/Proposed Project: The anticipated Plan would
include coverage for approximately 100 special status species and 52
vegetative communities occurring in the County, including wetlands,
specifically vernal pools.
No Plan Alternative: This alternative would maintain the current
process of negotiating mitigation and obtaining incidental take permits
for impacts to wildlife habitat on a project-by-project basis.
Moderate Plan Alternative A: This alternative would exclude species
not currently listed under the State and Federal Endangered Species
Acts (i.e., non-listed species of special concern) and would exclude
wetland mitigation under the anticipated Plan.
Moderate Plan Alternative B: This alternative would address Plan
funding if some jurisdictions do not participate in the Plan and if a
five-acre exemption is adopted during reauthorization of the Federal
Endangered Species Act.
Economic Alternatives: This alternative would involve a single fee
versus the tiered fee provided for in the Proposed Project.
Mitigation Alternatives: This would involve a one-half to one
compensation level with increased preserve enhancements for
agricultural habitat lands versus the one-to-one compensation with
lesser preserve enhancements provided for in the Proposed Project.
The comment period will provide an opportunity to address the
potential effects of these alternatives and to propose others.
Interested persons are encouraged to comment on the issues and
alternatives to be addressed in the joint Statement/Report.
Environmental review of the joint Statement/Report will be in
accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), National
Environmental Policy Act regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), other
appropriate regulations, and Service procedures for compliance with
those regulations. The notice is being furnished in accordance with
section 1501.7 of the National Environmental Policy Act to obtain
suggestions and information from other agencies and the public on the
scope of issues to be addressed in the joint Statement/Report.
Dated: March 7, 1997.
Thomas J. Dwyer,
Regional Director, Region 1,
Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 97-6494 Filed 3-13-97; 8:45 am]
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