[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 85 (Monday, May 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24565-24567]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11825]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Notice of Intent To Amend an Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of 
Bull Trout on the Plum Creek Timber Company Permit for Timber Harvest 
in the State of Washington

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Fish and Wildlife 
Service (Service) has received a request to add bull trout (Salvelinus 
confluentus) to the species covered by permit PRT-808398 issued to Plum 
Creek Timber Company, L.P., on June 27, 1996. This request is pursuant 
to the Implementation Agreement for the Habitat Conservation Plan 
accompanying incidental take permit PRT-808398. The Service is 
proposing to add bull trout to Plum Creek's permit.

DATES: Written comments regarding the addition of bull trout to the 
Plum Creek permit should be received on or before June 3, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. John Engbring, 
Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., 
Suite 101, Lacey, Washington 98503. Documents cited in this notice and 
comments received will be available for public inspection by 
appointment during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. William Vogel, Wildlife Biologist, 
Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., 
Suite 101, Lacey, Washington 98503; telephone (360) 753-4367.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 27, 1996, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued an 
incidental take permit (PRT-808398) to Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P., 
pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.). This permit authorizes the 
incidental take of the threatened northern spotted owl (Strix 
occidentalis caurina), marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus 
marmoratus), and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos=U.a. horribilis), and the 
endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus), in the course of the otherwise 
legal forest management and related land-use activities in portions of 
King and Kittitas Counties, Washington. Pursuant to the Habitat 
Conservation Plan and the Implementation Agreement, Plum Creek received 
assurances from the Service that then-unlisted vertebrate species would 
be added to the permit upon listing under the Act, if doing so were 
consistent with the Implementation Agreement.
    On June 13, 1997 (62 FR 32268), the Service proposed to list the 
Klamath River population of bull trout as endangered and the Columbia 
River population of bull trout as threatened. On September 11, 1997, 
Plum Creek requested that bull trout be added to its permit. While the 
Service has not yet made a final decision on listing bull trout as a 
threatened or endangered species, the Service is proposing to respond 
to Plum Creek's request and determine if addition of the Columbia River 
distinct population segment of bull trout to the permit is warranted. 
The purpose of this notice is to seek public comment on the Service's 
proposal to add bull trout to Plum Creek's permit.

Implementation Agreement Provisions

    The Implementation Agreement is a legal document describing the 
roles and responsibilities of the Service and Plum Creek during the 
permit period. Under the Implementation Agreement, plan species are 
those vertebrate species dependent on the various habitat types 
analyzed in the Habitat Conservation Plan. In the Plum Creek Habitat 
Conservation Plan, bull trout are a plan species. The Implementation 
Agreement specifies that should any of the plan species that were 
unlisted at the time of permit issuance subsequently become listed 
under the Act, Plum Creek may request a permit amendment to have that 
species added to their permit.
    Plum Creek received assurances that, absent extraordinary 
circumstances, plan species would be added to the permit without 
requiring additional mitigation from Plum Creek if the Service 
determined that such action would not appreciably reduce the likelihood 
of the survival and recovery of the affected species, or any other 
species, in the wild and that adding the species to the permit would be 
consistent with the Service's other responsibilities. Absent 
extraordinary circumstances, plan species would be added to the permit 
without requiring additional mitigation from Plum Creek. Extraordinary 
circumstances are defined in the Implementation Agreement as a 
substantial and material adverse change in the status of the species.
    To determine whether adding bull trout to Plum Creek's permit would 
appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of bull 
trout or

[[Page 24566]]

any other species, the Service will reinitiate the Section 7 process 
under the Act. The Service will also determine whether the permit 
amendment meets each of the issuance criteria described in Section 
10(a)(2)(B) and that a substantial and material adverse change in the 
status of bull trout has not occurred since the permit issuance.

Bull Trout Requirements and New Information Since Permit Issuance

    The Service is currently reviewing information about bull trout to 
determine whether extraordinary circumstances exist and/or whether 
adding bull trout to Plum Creek's permit would appreciably reduce the 
ability of bull trout to survive and recover in the wild. The Service 
is also reviewing public comments on the proposed rule to list the 
Klamath River population of bull trout as endangered and the Columbia 
River population of bull trout as threatened, and will make a final 
listing determination soon. Information collected as part of the 
listing determination process is also being used to make the permit 
amendment decision. This information is available for review at the 
address listed above.
    The Service has identified five distinct population segments of 
bull trout: (1) Coastal/Puget Sound; (2) Klamath River; (3) Columbia 
River; (4) Jarbidge River; and (5) Saskatchewan River (June 13, 1997, 
62 FR 32268). The Columbia River population segment includes the entire 
Columbia River Basin and all its tributaries, excluding the isolated 
bull trout populations found in the Jarbidge River of Nevada. In the 
Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan area, bull trout have been 
documented in the Yakima River subbasin, which is part of the proposed 
Columbia River Basin distinct population segment. Within the planning 
area, bull trout are documented to occur upstream of Cle Elum Lake, 
within and upstream of Kachess and Kechelus Lakes, and in the Cle Elum 
River downstream of Kechelus Lake.
    The Yakima River subbasin encompasses 6,155 square miles and 
contains about 1,900 river miles of perennial streams. Predominant land 
use within the subbasin includes irrigated agriculture 
(1,000 square miles), urbanization (50 square 
miles), timber harvesting (2,200 square miles), and grazing 
(2,900 square miles) (DOI 1996). About 150 square miles of 
the subbasin is managed for timber production by Plum Creek and these 
lands are located within 3 subpopulation areas of the 7 subpopulation 
areas within the Yakima River subbasin.
    Despite an extensive survey effort, bull trout have not been found 
in the Green River drainage upstream of the Howard Hansen Dam. The 
Green River drainage is part of the Coastal/Puget Sound distinct 
population segment. The Coastal/Puget Sound distinct population segment 
has not been proposed for listing under the Act ( June 13, 1997, 62 FR 
32268) and is not being considered for addition to the Plum Creek 
permit.
    Bull trout rely on cold, clean water. They are most closely 
associated with complex habitats, including large woody debris, 
undercut banks, boulders, and pools. Cover provides critical rearing, 
foraging, and resting habitat, and protection from predators. The fact 
that bull trout spawn in the fall and that the young have a strong 
association with substrates makes them particularly vulnerable to 
altered stream flow patterns and channel instability. Bull trout prefer 
cold, low-gradient streams with loose, clean gravels for spawning and 
rearing. Bull trout appear to have strict water temperature tolerances 
and maintaining cold water temperatures is important for bull trout. 
Water temperature is controlled not only by shade (as influenced by 
canopy coverage of adjacent riparian stands), but by groundwater 
sources, sedimentation, influx of water from upstream areas, presence 
of large woody debris, elevation, and other factors.
    Historic adverse impacts to bull trout from forest management and 
related land-use activities include removal of large woody debris from 
streams and riparian areas, inputs of sediment from upslope logging and 
road construction, elevated stream temperatures, and transportation of 
logs within the channel network. Current management actions to minimize 
impacts from timber harvest include managing riparian buffers to 
provide large woody debris, shade, root strength, detrital inputs, and 
sediment filtration; managing upslope areas to reduce peak flows, mass-
wasting, and other man-caused inputs of sediment; adequately addressing 
construction, maintenance, and abandonment of roads so as to reduce the 
delivery of fine sediments to streams; and avoiding any unnatural 
blockages to fish passage or alterations in channel morphology. There 
are several recent treatments of the effects of forest management, 
especially forest roads, on bull trout (Baxter et al. In press; Quigley 
and Arbelbide 1997; Quigley et al. 1996; and Thurow et al. 1997). 
Thurow determined that increasing road densities and their related 
effects are associated with declines in four non-anadromous salmonid 
species (including bull trout). Thurow found a correlation between low 
road densities and healthy populations of salmonids. Therefore, 
addressing impacts from roads is extremely important to protect 
critical bull trout habitat requirements.

Minimization and Mitigation Measures

    The Environmental Impact Statement developed for the initial permit 
decision analyzed the effects that implementing the Habitat 
Conservation Plan would have on bull trout. The Service believed that 
the Habitat Conservation Plan would have minimal adverse impacts on 
bull trout and that it generally provided improving conditions for bull 
trout. Buffers on fishbearing and other perennial streams were expected 
to provide for the natural processes and functions that bull trout rely 
on such as large woody debris inputs, detrital and litter input, root-
strength and bank stability. The Service expected to see reductions in 
delivery of fine sediment from roads and recovery of forest stand 
structures to improve hydrologic conditions, and reductions in peak 
flows and mass-wasting risks.
    The Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan utilizes a combination of 
conservation measures that are expected to protect bull trout. All 
fishbearing streams receive a conservatively managed buffer 200 feet in 
width (measured horizontally). The first 30 feet is a no-harvest zone. 
Perennial streams without fish and spatially intermittent streams 
containing perennial subsurface flow both receive a 100-foot managed 
buffer if they are located above bull trout streams. The management of 
these buffers is dictated by post-harvest criteria as well as by stand-
level amounts of various forest stages. For instance, over the 50-year 
duration Habitat Conservation Plan, these areas are scheduled to 
improve from 37 percent mature forest or better to 60 percent mature 
forest or better. Any riparian habitat area entered for selective 
harvest must retain minimum standards designed to maintain riparian 
functions. Inner gorges and mass-wasting areas are protected. The 
entire area is undergoing Watershed Analysis on an accelerated 5-year 
schedule that can only increase (not decrease) the level of protection 
these streams and sensitive areas receive. Even-aged harvest units will 
contain an average of 6 snags or snag recruitment trees per acre. Where 
harvest units contain ephemeral streams with definable channels, a 
portion of the leave trees are often aggregated in these areas due to 
logistical constraints. Additionally,

[[Page 24567]]

because rotations are long (65-120 years depending on species and site) 
and selective harvest is used liberally (about 80 percent of east-side 
harvests are uneven-aged management), fewer ephemeral streams are 
exposed to the temporary yet harsh conditions of a standard clearcut at 
any given time than would be observed under standard commercial 
forestry.
    Road management is another important component of the Habitat 
Conservation Plan and will also be addressed through watershed 
analysis. Watershed Analysis examines potential risks to the resources, 
such as sediment delivery from roads, and develops prescriptions to 
reduce the vulnerability of the resources. For instance, as a result of 
the Quartz Mountain Watershed Analysis within the Habitat Conservation 
Plan area, a road-sediment budget was established that included an 
elaborate monitoring system. In that watershed, sediment delivery must 
be reduced to target levels prior to construction of new roads.
    In the Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan area, the known bull 
trout locations are within the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone. In that 
area, as part of the Habitat Conservation Plan's grizzly bear 
conservation strategy, open roads under Plum Creek's control must be 
reduced to below 1 mile per section within the first 10 years of the 
plan.
    The minimization and mitigation measures described above represent 
the minimum level of riparian conservation that Plum Creek has 
committed to implement. Several aspects of the Habitat Conservation 
Plan, including watershed analysis, are subject to adaptive management 
as described below. If additional actions are necessary to protect bull 
trout, adjustments would be made to watershed analysis-derived 
prescriptions and to the interim and minimum buffer prescriptions.
    Monitoring and Adaptive Management: To ensure that the mitigation 
and minimization strategies are effective, the Habitat Conservation 
Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic monitoring components that will 
provide feedback for adaptive management. For habitat conditions, Plum 
Creek will conduct bank-full and low-flow cross-sectional and 
longitudinal channel profiles, Wolman pebble counts, large woody debris 
counts, permanent photo points to document changes in channel 
morphology and substrate composition, and measurement of the frequency 
and residual volume of pools. To analyze the effects on stream 
temperatures, Plum Creek will initiate a study to measure potential 
differences in stream temperatures for four riparian prescriptions, 
including 300-foot no-harvest riparian buffers on fish-bearing streams 
on National Forest lands. Streams with verified populations of bull 
trout, or those on the Clean Water Act 303(d) list, will be monitored 
for stream temperature at a minimum of two locations per stream. 
Diurnal fluctuations and maximum annual temperature will be evaluated. 
Bull trout streams will have additional temperature measurements to 
monitor conditions during the spawning season, and to evaluate the 
effects of groundwater input on stream temperature. Ambient air 
temperature will also be monitored.
    In addition to habitat monitoring, Plum Creek will assess salmonid 
populations in a watershed with recovering habitat conditions. To 
assess the biological integrity of streams, Plum Creek will continue 
long-term monitoring of aquatic macro-invertebrates.
    Plum Creek will also conduct watershed analysis and re-evaluations 
of watershed analyses to provide updated information on hillslope 
conditions, stream channel conditions, and the effectiveness of 
resource protection prescriptions. Examples of monitoring and research 
done as a result of watershed analysis include: (1) A road sediment 
production study; (2) McNeil sampling of streams to assess fine 
sediment levels; (3) installation of stream gages; (4) testing of 
digital elevation hydrologic models; (5) stream temperature monitoring; 
and (6) stream surveys to evaluate channel changes and large woody 
debris levels. If monitoring results indicate that prescriptions are 
ineffective or inadequate, the prescriptions will be changed to make 
them effective and adequate.

References

Baxter, C.V., Frissell, C.A. and F.R. Hauer. In press. 
Geomorphology, logging roads and the distribution of bull trout 
(Salvelinus confluentus) spawning in a forested river basin: 
implications for management and conservation.
Quigley, T.M., R.W. Haynes and R.T. Graham, technical editors. 1996. 
Integrated scientific assessment for ecosystem management in the 
interior Columbia Basin and portions of the Klamath and Great 
Basins. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific 
Northwest Research Station. Portland, Oregon.
Quigley, T.M. and S.J. Arbelbide, technical editors. 1997. An 
assessment of ecosystem components in the interior Columbia Basin 
and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins: Volume III. U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 
Research Station. Portland, Oregon.
Thurow, R.F., D.C. Lee and B.E. Rieman. 1997. Distribution and 
status of seven native salmonids in the Interior Columbia River 
Basin and portions of the Klamath River and Great Basins. North 
American Journal of Fisheries Management 17: 1094-1110.
U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Commerce. 1996. 
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Issuance of a 
Permit to Allow Incidental Take of Threatened and Endangered 
Species: Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P., Lands in the I-90 
Corridor, King and Kittitas Counties, Washington. (U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service). Olympia, 
Washington. March 1996.

    Dated: April 29, 1998.
Thomas J. Dwyer,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-11825 Filed 5-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P