[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33090-33091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16056]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Notice of Application to Amend an Endangered Species Act 
Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of Bull Trout on the Washington 
Department of Natural Resources Permit for Western Washington

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Permit Amendment Application.

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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 an incidental take permit PRT-
812521, issued to the Washington Department of Natural Resources under 
the Endangered Species Act (Act) on January 30, 1997. This request is 
pursuant to the Implementation Agreement for the Habitat Conservation 
Plan (Plan) accompanying incidental take permit PRT-812521. The 
Department of Natural Resources has requested the Service add bull 
trout to their permit.

DATES: Written comments regarding the application to add bull trout to 
the Department of Natural Resources' permit must be received on or 
before July 17, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. John Engbring, 
Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite 101, Lacey, 
Washington 98503; facsimile (360) 534-9331. Documents cited in this 
notice and comments received will be available for public inspection at 
the above office by appointment during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 
5 p.m., Monday through Friday).

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 30, 1997, the Service issued an incidental take permit 
(PRT-812521) to the Department of Natural Resources, pursuant to 
Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as 
amended (16 USC 1531 et seq.). This permit authorizes the incidental 
take of the threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis 
caurina) and other listed species in the course of the otherwise lawful 
forest management and other land-use activities within the range of the 
spotted owl. Pursuant to the Plan and the Implementation Agreement, the 
Department of Natural Resources received assurances from the Service 
that then-unlisted species occurring on their lands west of the Cascade 
Crest would be added to the permit upon listing of those species, in 
accordance with the Act, the Plan, and the Implementation Agreement.
    On June 8, 1998 (63 FR 31647), the Service published the final rule 
to list the Columbia River distinct population segment of bull trout as 
a threatened species. On May 20, 1998, the Service received a request 
from the Department of Natural Resources that bull trout be added to 
its incidental take permit (PRT 812521). The purpose of this notice is 
to seek public comment on the Department of Natural Resources' 
application to add bull trout to its permit.
    According to the Implementation Agreement for the Department of 
Natural Resources permit, if any species that was unlisted at the time 
of permit issuance subsequently becomes listed under the Act, the 
Department of Natural Resources may request a permit amendment to have 
that species added to their permit. Under the terms of the Plan and the 
Implementation Agreement, the Service would add the newly listed 
species to the Department of Natural Resources permit without requiring 
additional mitigation unless extraordinary circumstances exist.
    Prior to adding bull trout to the Department of Natural Resources' 
permit, the Service will determine if extraordinary circumstances exist 
and will also reinitiate consultation under section 7 of the Act to 
determine whether adding bull trout to the Department of Natural 
Resources' permit would be likely to jeopardize the continued existence 
or destroy modify the critical habitat of any listed species.

Bull Trout Conservation

    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. Bull 
trout spawn in the fall and the young have a strong association with 
stream bottoms, thus making 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. There is also a correlation between increasing road densities 
and declines in the health of bull trout populations. These 
characteristics make bull trout particularly susceptible to effects of 
timber-management and other stream-side and forest management 
activities. Historic adverse impacts to bull trout from forest 
management and related land-use activities included 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.

Department of Natural Resources Plan Measures

    The Department of Natural Resources' Plan utilizes a combination of 
conservation measures that are expected to adequately minimize or 
mitigate the impacts of any incidental take of bull trout. All 
fishbearing streams (Washington State Types 1 through 3) receive a 
conservatively managed buffer equal in width (measured horizontally 
from the 100-year floodplain) to a site-potential tree height (derived 
from 100-year site-index curves) or 150 feet, whichever is greater. The 
first 25 feet is a no-harvest zone. Perennial streams without fish 
(Type 4) receive a 100-foot buffer. Additional information, including a 
description of wind buffers, can be found in the Plan at pages IV 56-
59.
    Inner gorges and mass-wasting areas are protected by unstable 
hillslope and mass wasting protection provisions of

[[Page 33091]]

the Plan (IV 62) and it is expected that 50 percent of the seasonal 
streams (Type 5) will be protected as a result of the mass-wasting 
protection provisions. The other 50 percent of Type 5 streams receive 
interim protections as necessary and will be addressed within the Type 
5 research and adaptive-management component to be completed within the 
first 10 years of the Plan. Watershed Analysis can only increase, not 
decrease, the level of protection these streams receive. Road 
management is another critical component of the Department of Natural 
Resources' Plan (IV 62-68).
    Provisions for the Olympic Experimental State Forest are described 
in the Plan on pages IV 81-86, 106-121. In general, the strategy for 
the Olympic Experimental State Forest provides conservation very 
similar to the remainder of the Department of Natural Resources Plan, 
but a higher emphasis is placed on research, landscape assessments, and 
validation monitoring.
    These minimization and mitigation measures described above 
represent the minimum level of riparian conservation the Department of 
Natural Resources will provide under the Plan. Several aspects of the 
Plan, including riparian protection, are subject to adaptive 
management. To ensure that the mitigation and minimization strategies 
are effective, the Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic monitoring 
components that will provide feedback for adaptive management and, if 
needed, increase riparian protection.

    Dated: June 11, 1998.
Ronald E. Lambertson,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-16056 Filed 6-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P