[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 60 (Friday, March 28, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15153-15154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-7515]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 031403F ]


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the availability of a draft Routine 
Road Maintenance Program (RMP) that Marion County, Oregon, Department 
of Public Works, has submitted pursuant to Endangered Species Act 
(ESA). NOAA Fisheries promulgated a protective rule for 14 threatened 
salmon and steelhead Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs). The RMP 
would affect four ESUs of threatened salmonids identified in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. The 4(d) rule provides for limits on 
ESA take prohibitions for the various activities set out in the rule. 
The RMP addresses the limit for routine road maintenance activities of 
any state, city, county or port. This document serves to notify the 
public of the availability of the RMP for review and comment before a 
final approval or disapproval is made by NOAA Fisheries.

DATES: Written comments on the draft RMP must be received no later than 
5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on April 28, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Dr. Nancy Munn, Habitat 
Conservation Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, 525 NE Oregon 
Street, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97232.
    Comments may also be faxed to 503-231-6893. Copies of the entire 
RMP are available on the Internet at: http://publicworks.co.marion.or.us/environment/salmon/Limit10/PDF/Oct2002/02index.htm, or from the address posted on that site. Comments will not 
be accepted if submitted via email or the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Nancy Munn at phone number: 503-
231-6269, or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is relevant to the following 
four threatened salmon ESUs:
    Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha); threatened Upper 
Willamette River (UWR) and Lower Columbia River (LCR).
    Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss); threatened Upper Willamette River 
(UWR) and Lower Columbia River (LCR).

Background

    Marion County submitted the RMP for routine road maintenance 
activities that might affect certain salmonid ESUs listed as threatened 
in Marion County. The RMP was designed so that routine road maintenance 
activities would be protective of salmonids and their habitat.
    As specified in the July 10, 2000, ESA 4(d) rule for salmon and 
steelhead (65 FR 42422) under limit 10(I), take prohibitions to 
threatened species of salmonids do not apply to routine road 
maintenance activities of a state, county, city or port that complies 
with a program that is substantially similar to that contained in the 
Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Routine Road Maintenance 
Water Quality and Habitat Guide Best Management Practices (Guide, July 
1999), and that is determined to meet or exceed the protections 
provided in the ODOT Guide. NOAA Fisheries may approve a routine road 
maintenance program of any state, city, county or port that contains 
management practices that are equivalent to or better than those in the 
ODOT Guide. Prior to final approval of a routine road maintenance 
program, NOAA Fisheries must publish notification in the Federal 
Register announcing the program's availability for public review and 
comment.
    Part 1 of the RMP is a cover letter to D. Robert Lohn, Regional 
Administrator of NOAA Fisheries and a statement of commitment from 
Marion County to implement the RMP. In Part 2, the RMP describes the 
program and provides information on the legal authority for the 
program. In Part 3, the RMP provides a description of the geographic 
area to which the program applies, including a list of county roads or 
locations where maintenance activities may impact streams, the location 
of salmon habitat in the relevant watersheds, and an analysis of the 
environmental baseline of those watersheds. Part 3 also includes maps 
that show fish distributions and other relevant background information. 
In Part 4 , the RMP describes the listed species distribution and 
status, and in Part 5, a bibliography of relevant reports are provided. 
In Part 6, the RMP makes an affirmative conclusion that the program is 
substantially similar to or better than ODOT's program, and summarizes 
the training, monitoring, and reporting elements of the RMP.
    The RMP also includes four attachments that are fundamental to the

[[Page 15154]]

program. Attachment 1 is a table that compares ODOT's and Marion 
County's best management practices. Attachment 2 describes the best 
management practices being implemented by Marion County, including 
their dust abatement activities. Attachment 3 describes and provides 
documentation for the Salmon Recovery Mapping Project. The Salmon 
Recovery Mapping Project documents the best available biological and 
natural resource geospatial data relevant to threatened salmonids in 
Marion County and directs or limits best management practices where 
their activities are adjacent to or have the potential to affect 
threatened salmonids. The end result is two mapping projects: the 
Sensitive Area Maps that depict the relevant biological and natural 
resource data at a scale that can be used to direct activities on the 
ground, and the Environmentally Sensitive Zone Maps that direct or 
limit best management practices along county roads. The maps are 
available for review on the Internet at the site identified in 
ADDRESSES. Attachment 4 provides instructions on how to connect the 
best management practices to the Environmentally Sensitive Zone Maps.
    The RMP defines what activities are routine road maintenance. These 
consist of maintenance activities that are conducted on currently 
serviceable structures, facilities, and equipment, involve no expansion 
of or change in use, and do not result in significant negative 
hydrological impact. The Marion County best management practices 
(Attachment 2) includes activities beyond routine road maintenance 
activities as presented in ODOT's Guide (e.g., park maintenance, ferry 
maintenance and operation, fleet maintenance, service districts) and 
these specific activities are not eligible for approval at this time. 
Approval or disapproval or the RMP will depend on NOAA Fisheries' 
findings after public review and comment.

Authority

    Under section 4 of the ESA, the Secretary of Commerce is required 
to adopt such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable for the 
conservation of species listed as threatened. The ESA salmon and 
steelhead 4(d) rule (65 FR 424222, July 10, 2000) identifies specific 
categories of activities that contribute to the conservation of listed 
salmonids and sets out the criteria for such activities. The rule 
further provides that the prohibitions of paragraph (a) of the rule do 
not apply to activities associated with routine road maintenance 
provided that a state or local program has been approved by NOAA 
Fisheries to be in accordance with the salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule 
(65 FR 424222, July 10, 2000).

    Dated: March 18, 2003.
Phil Williams,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-7515 Filed 3-27-03; 8:45 am]
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