[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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