[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 166 (Monday, August 29, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51084-51086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17068]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit for the 
Florida Scrub-Jay Resulting From Construction of a Single-Family Home 
in Brevard County, FL

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Maronda Homes, Inc. (Applicant) requests an incidental take 
permit (ITP) for a duration of 10 years, pursuant to section 
10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended 
(U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The Applicant requests a permit to remove about 
0.24 acre of Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) (scrub-jay) 
foraging, sheltering, and possibly nesting habitat incidental to lot 
preparation for the construction of a single-family home and supporting 
infrastructure in Section 23, Township 23 South, Range 35 East, Port 
St. John, Brevard County, Florida. The proposed destruction of 0.24 
acre of foraging, sheltering, and possibly nesting habitat could result 
in the take of one family of scrub-jays.
    The Applicant's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) describes the 
mitigation and minimization measures proposed to address the effects of 
the project to the scrub-jay. These measures are outlined in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. The Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service) has determined that the Applicant's proposal, including the 
proposed mitigation and minimization measures, will individually and 
cumulatively have a minor or negligible effect on the species covered 
in the HCP. Therefore, the ITP is a ``low-effect'' project and 
qualifies as a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), as provided by the Department of the Interior Manual 
(516 DM 2, Appendix 1 and 516 DM 6, Appendix 1). We announce the 
availability of the ITP application and HCP for the incidental take 
application. Copies of the application and HCP may be obtained by 
making a request to the Southeast Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). 
Requests must be in writing to be processed. This notice is provided 
pursuant to section 10 of the Endangered Species Act and NEPA 
regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

DATES: Written comments on the ITP application and HCP should be sent 
to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be received 
on or before September 28, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application and HCP may obtain 
a copy by writing the Service's Southeast Regional Office at the 
address below. Please reference permit number TE103390-0 in such 
requests. Documents will also be available for public inspection by 
appointment during normal business hours at the Southeast Regional 
Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 
200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345 (Attn: Endangered Species Permits), or at 
the Jacksonville Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620 
Southpoint Drive South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216-0912 
(Attn: Field Supervisor).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Dell, Regional HCP 
Coordinator, Southeast Regional Office (see ADDRESSES above), 
telephone: 404/679-7313, facsimile: 404/679-7081; or Ms. Erin Gawera, 
Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Jacksonville Field Office (see ADDRESSES 
above), telephone: 904/232-2580, ext. 121.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to comment, you may submit 
comments by any one of several methods. Please reference permit number 
TE103390-0 in such comments. You may mail comments to the Service's 
Southeast Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also comment via the 
Internet to [email protected]. Please submit comments over the 
Internet as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and 
any form

[[Page 51085]]

of encryption. Please also include your name and return address in your 
e-mail message. If you do not receive a confirmation from us that we 
have received your e-mail message, contact us directly at either 
telephone number listed above (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 
Finally, you may hand-deliver comments to either Service office listed 
above (see ADDRESSES). Our practice is to make comments, including 
names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review 
during regular business hours. Individual respondents may request that 
we withhold their home addresses from the administrative record. We 
will honor such requests to the extent allowable by law. There may also 
be other circumstances in which we would withhold from the 
administrative record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If 
you wish us to withhold your name and address, you must state this 
prominently at the beginning of your comments. We will not, however, 
consider anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.
    The Florida scrub-jay (scrub-jay) is geographically isolated from 
other species of scrub-jays found in Mexico and the western United 
States. The scrub-jay is found exclusively in peninsular Florida and is 
restricted to xeric uplands (areas of dry, sandy soils, supporting the 
growth of oak-dominated scrub). Increasing urban and agricultural 
development has resulted in habitat loss and fragmentation, which has 
adversely affected the distribution and numbers of scrub-jays. The 
total estimated population is between 7,000 and 11,000 individuals.
    The decline in the number and distribution of scrub-jays in east-
central Florida has been exacerbated by tremendous urban growth in the 
past 50 years. Much of the historic commercial and residential 
development has occurred on the dry soils which previously supported 
scrub-jay habitat. Based on existing soils data, much of the historic 
and current scrub-jay habitat of coastal east-central Florida occurs 
proximal to the current shoreline and larger river basins. Much of this 
area of Florida was settled early because few wetlands restricted urban 
and agricultural development. Due to the effects of urban and 
agricultural development over the past 100 years, much of the remaining 
scrub-jay habitat is now relatively small and isolated. What remains is 
largely degraded, due to the interruption of the natural fire regime, 
which is needed to maintain xeric uplands in conditions suitable for 
scrub-jays.
    Residential construction for Maronda Homes, Inc. would take place 
within Section 23, Township 23 South, Range 35 East, Port St. John, 
Brevard County, Florida on Lot 07, Block 59. This lot is within 
locations where scrub-jays were sighted during surveys for this species 
from 1999 to 2003.
    Scrub-jays affected by the issuance of this permit are found on the 
extreme western edge of a large area supporting a 16-family cluster of 
birds that inhabits urban areas, commercial development, and 
undeveloped native habitat in the Tico and Grissom territory cluster 
just south of Port St. John, Florida. This cluster of scrub-jays is 
part of a larger metapopulation complex of scrub-jays that persists in 
northern Brevard County. The number of scrub-jay families in the 
vicinity of the project site and in the northern Brevard County 
metapopulation has declined in recent years. Survey results indicate 
that the number of scrub-jay families has declined in the Tico and 
Grissom cluster from 72 in the early 1990s to 47 in 2002 (33 percent 
decline). Similarly, the number of families of scrub-jays within the 
northern Brevard County metapopulation, which includes the Tico and 
Grissom territory cluster, has declined from 102 to 67 families (34 
percent decline) during this same time period. Both of these observed 
rates of decline approximate the four percent per year decline 
estimated by recent research findings.
    The decline in numbers of scrub-jay families in northern Brevard 
County is the cumulative result of habitat destruction, fragmentation, 
and degradation. Metapopulation viability analysis suggests that this 
metapopulation of scrub-jays has a high quasi-extinction risk if no 
further conservation efforts are undertaken to acquire and manage land 
for the benefit of scrub-jays. However, with active acquisition and 
management of habitat in the metapopulation, the quasi-extinction risk 
decreases substantially.
    The demographic viability, and thus future biological value, of 
scrub-jays within highly urbanized areas (e.g., residential areas, 
industrial sites, and other commercial development) is problematic in 
most situations, but the contribution urban scrub-jays have on 
metapopulation dynamics is not certain. Research conducted in central 
Florida suggests that juvenile and adult scrub-jays living within urban 
areas have low survival rates and that the persistence of scrub-jays in 
these environments is largely dependent on immigration from other low-
quality habitat. In this instance, urban scrub-jays may have a negative 
impact on the demographic viability of the overall metapopulation since 
available breeders are essentially lost to habitats in which mortality 
exceeds recruitment. Other research conducted in east-central Florida 
suggests that recruitment will exceed mortality if optimal habitat 
conditions exist, regardless of whether the habitat is in a pristine or 
urban setting. In this case, urban scrub-jays would be as 
demographically important as scrub-jays in more pristine habitats.
    Regardless of whether the breeding territory is in an urbanized 
area or more pristine natural area, the success of a breeding pair is 
highly dependent on the quality of habitat within the territory. In 
most instances, scrub-jay habitat in urban settings is degraded due to 
long-term fire suppression and there is no indication that habitat in 
these settings will be managed in the future. Thus, we generally 
believe, and existing research supports, that in most urban settings, 
scrub-jays occupy less than optimal habitat and are therefore less 
demographically viable than birds occupying habitat in areas that are 
actively managed. Consequently, scrub-jays living within suburban areas 
of Port St. John and urbanized areas of Brevard County appear to be 
demographically doomed over the long term and the only potential 
biological value these birds currently have is in providing a source of 
breeders for other adjacent lands that are actively managed for 
conservation purposes. One such site is located approximately two miles 
north off of County Road 50 in the southern end of Titusville. The 52 
acres of scrub at this site is managed for scrub-jays through Brevard 
County's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (EELS). Future 
acquisition is proposed by EELS for areas northwest and south of the 
project site, but until these lands are secured and managed, dispersing 
scrub-jays from the city may not find suitable habitat.
    Construction of the Applicant's single-family residence and 
infrastructure will result in harm to scrub-jays, incidental to the 
carrying out of these otherwise lawful activities. Habitat alteration 
associated with the proposed residential construction will reduce the 
availability of foraging, sheltering, and possible nesting habitat for 
one family of scrub-jays. The Applicant agrees to avoid construction 
during the nesting season if active nests are found on site, but no 
other on-site minimization measures are proposed to reduce take of 
scrub-jays. The lot

[[Page 51086]]

encompasses about 0.24 acre and the footprint of the home, 
infrastructure, and landscaping preclude retention of scrub-jay habitat 
on the project site. On-site minimization may not be a biologically 
viable alternative because of increasing negative demographic effects 
caused by urbanization.
    Based on the above information, scrub-jays in the vicinity of the 
Applicant's lot, currently have little long-term demographic value to 
the metapopulation overall. Consequently, the Service has determined 
that the loss of 0.24 acre of habitat is likely to result in only minor 
or negligible impacts on the species.
    The Applicant proposes to mitigate for the loss of 0.24 acre of 
scrub-jay habitat by contributing a total of $3,216 to the Florida 
Scrub-jay Conservation Fund administered by the National Fish and 
Wildlife Foundation. Funds in this account are earmarked for use in the 
conservation and recovery of scrub-jays and may include habitat 
acquisition, restoration, and/or management. The $3,216 is sufficient 
to acquire and perpetually manage about 0.48 acre of suitable occupied 
scrub-jay habitat based on a replacement ratio of 2 mitigation acres 
per 1 impact acre. The cost is based on previous acquisitions of 
mitigation lands in southern Brevard County at an average $5,700 per 
acre, plus a $1,000-per-acre management endowment necessary to ensure 
future management of acquired scrub-jay habitat.
    We have determined that the HCP is a low-effect plan that is 
categorically excluded from further NEPA analysis, and does not require 
the preparation of an EA or EIS. This preliminary determination may be 
revised based on our review of public comment we receive in response to 
this notice. Low-effect HCPs are those involving: (1) Minor or 
negligible effects on federally listed or candidate species and their 
habitats, and (2) minor or negligible effects on other environmental 
values or resources. The Applicant's HCP qualifies for the following 
reasons:
    1. Issuance of the ITP would result in minor or negligible effects 
on the Florida scrub-jay population as a whole. We do not anticipate 
significant direct or cumulative effects to the Florida scrub-jay 
population as a result of the construction project.
    2. Issuance of the ITP would not have adverse effects on known 
unique geographic, historic, or cultural sites, or involve unique or 
unknown environmental risks.
    3. Issuance of the ITP would not result in any significant adverse 
effects on public health or safety.
    4. The project does not require compliance with Executive Order 
11988 (Floodplain Management), Executive Order 11990 (Protection of 
Wetlands), or the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, nor does it 
threaten to violate a Federal, State, local or tribal law or 
requirement imposed for the protection of the environment.
    5. Issuance of the ITP would not establish a precedent for future 
action or represent a decision in principle about future actions with 
potentially significant environmental effects.
    We have determined that issuance of this incidental take permit 
qualifies as a categorical exclusion under NEPA, as provided by the 
Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 2, Appendix 1, and 516 DM 6, 
Appendix 1). Therefore, no further NEPA documentation will be prepared.
    We will evaluate the HCP and comments submitted thereon to 
determine whether the application meets the requirements of section 
10(a) of the Act. If it is determined that those requirements are met, 
the ITP will be issued for incidental take of the Florida scrub-jay. We 
will also evaluate whether issuance of the section 10(a)(1)(B) ITP 
complies with section 7 of the Act by conducting an intra-Service 
section 7 consultation. The results of this consultation, in 
combination with the above findings, will be used in the final analysis 
to determine whether or not to issue the ITP.

    Dated: August 3, 2005.
Sam D. Hamilton,
Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 05-17068 Filed 8-26-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P