[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58249-58250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24105]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XA668


Notice of Availability of Proposed Low Effect Habitat 
Conservation Plan for Tumalo Irrigation District's Tumalo Conservation 
Project

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of application.

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SUMMARY: NMFS advises interested parties of Tumalo Irrigation 
District's (TID) application for an incidental take permit, pursuant to 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, (ESA). The requested 50-year permit 
would authorize the incidental take of Middle Columbia River Steelhead 
in the Deschutes River basin that may occur from irrigation activities 
and construction of water conservation projects implemented by TID. 
NMFS is requesting comments on the permit application and on Tumalo 
Irrigation District's low effect Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The 
application and HCP are available for public review.

DATES: Written comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. Pacific 
Standard Time on October 20, 2011.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning the proposed issuance of an 
incidental take permit and the HCP should be addressed to: Scott 
Carlon, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite 
1100, Portland, OR 97232, facsimile number 503-231-2318. Comments may 
be submitted by e-mail to the following address: 
[email protected]. In the subject line of the e-mail, include the 
document identifier: Tumalo Irrigation District HCP.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Carlon, NMFS (503) 231-2379.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability of Documents

    Individuals seeking copies of the proposed HCP should contact NMFS 
by telephone (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) or by letter (see 
ADDRESSES). Copies of the subject documents also are available for 
public inspection during regular business hours at NMFS' Hydropower 
Division Office (see ADDRESSES) and are available at the following Web 
site: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov.

Statutory Authority

    Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the taking of any listed species. 
The definition of ``take'' under the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)) includes 
to harass, harm, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or 
attempt to engage in any such conduct. NMFS' definition of ``harm'' 
includes significant habitat modification or degradation where it 
actually kills or injures fish or wildlife by significantly impairing 
essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, spawning, 
migrating, rearing, and sheltering (64 FR 60727, November 8, 1999).
    Section 10 of the ESA and implementing regulations specify 
requirements for the issuance of incidental take permits (ITP) to non-
Federal entities for the incidental take of endangered and threatened 
species. NMFS's regulations governing permits for incidental taking of 
threatened and endangered species are at 50 CFR 222.307. Any proposed 
take must be incidental to otherwise lawful activities, not appreciably 
reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species in 
the wild, and minimize and mitigate the impacts of such take to the 
maximum extent practicable. In addition, the applicant must prepare and 
submit an HCP describing the impact that will likely result from such 
taking, the conservation measures to minimize and mitigate the take, 
the funding available to implement such steps, alternatives to such 
taking, and the reason such alternatives are not being implemented.

Background

    The Tumalo Irrigation District (TID) is an 8,200-acre irrigation 
project located northwest of Bend in Deschutes County, Oregon. TID is 
seeking a permit from NMFS for the incidental take of ESA-listed Middle 
Columbia River (MCR) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that are being 
reintroduced into historic habitat downstream of TID. The ITP would 
provide ESA regulatory certainty for TID's existing operations and 
proposed water conservation projects providing that TID meets the 
permit conditions. Existing operations included in the HCP as covered 
activities include the diversion of flow from Tumalo Creek and the 
Deschutes River, maintenance activities associated with diversion 
structures and conveyance systems, and water conservation projects 
including piping portions of the irrigation canals.
    TID has a total water right of 211.25 cubic feet per second (cfs) 
and diverts water from two locations: Tumalo Creek

[[Page 58250]]

at river mile 3 (river km 4.8) and the Deschutes River at river mile 
165 (river km 265.5). TID's water rights consist of 201.75 cfs from 
Tumalo Creek and 9.5 cfs of natural flow from the Deschutes River. TID 
also has rights to stored water in Crescent Lake Reservoir. The 
irrigation season usually runs from April through October. Peak 
diversions normally reach about 190 cfs during the months of May, June 
and July but begin to decrease in late July. Flow diverted from Tumalo 
Creek is conveyed via the Tumalo Feed Canal. Diversion rates from 
Tumalo Creek range between 40 and 70 cfs in April and increase steadily 
through May with peak diversion between 130 and 150 cfs during the 
months of May and June, diminishing to about 50 cfs by September.
    Flow diverted by TID from the Deschutes River is conveyed via the 
Bend Feed Canal. Diversion rates are at or near 10 cfs in April and 
gradually increase May through July. Starting in about mid-July and 
running through September, the majority of TID diversions (about 60 
percent) are taken from the Deschutes River, reaching roughly 120 cfs. 
During the off-season (November through March), diversions into TID are 
eliminated except for occasional stock runs of about 50 to 60 cfs to 
fill stock ponds.
    TID conducts all maintenance activities during the off-season with 
the exception of year round removal of debris and the need for 
emergency repairs. Maintenance actions include repair and improvements 
to diversion structures and canals, occasional (every few years) 
dredging behind diversion dams, removing vegetation from canals and 
ditches, and inspection of flow measurement instrumentation. Both the 
Tumalo Creek and Deschutes River diversions are fitted with fish 
screens, so all maintenance on these structures occur during the off-
season.
    TID has installed pipe in a portion of the Tumalo Feed Canal and 
proposes to complete piping the remaining open sections (about 6 miles 
(9.65 km) of canal) by October 31, 2015. Once completed, TID estimates 
that approximately 20 cfs of water will be conserved that is now lost 
through evaporation and seepage. Upon completion of piping, the 
conserved water will be transferred to the State of Oregon for 
permanent instream water use in the form of senior water rights. This 
will increase flow in Tumalo Creek and the Deschutes River below Tumalo 
Creek by about 11.8 cfs during the irrigation season and is expected to 
cool water in the Deschutes by roughly 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56 
degrees C). The remaining 8.2 cfs will be in the form of stored water 
rights in Crescent Lake Reservoir and will be used by the State of 
Oregon to supplement flows in Crescent Creek and the Deschutes River.
    To improve monitoring of its diversion rates, TID will replace an 
existing flow and temperature measurement structure located in Tumalo 
Creek downstream of the Tumalo Feed Canal diversion. The existing 
structure does not give accurate measurements when flows are high. TID 
will also install a meter in the Tumalo Feed Canal downstream of its 
confluence with the Bend Feed Canal to measure the combined diversion 
rate. TID will submit yearly progress reports to NMFS and the Oregon 
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
    Historically, MCR steelhead did not occur in Tumalo Creek or the 
reach of the Deschutes River where TID diverts water. The upstream 
limit for anadromous fish, including MCR steelhead, in the Deschutes 
River was Big Falls at about river mile 132 (river km 212.4). Tumalo 
Creek enters the Deschutes River roughly 28 river miles (45.1 km) 
upstream of Big Falls and the Deschutes River diversion is about 33 
river miles (53.1 km) above Big Falls. MCR steelhead are not being 
reintroduced above this natural barrier.
    NMFS may approve the HCP as a low effect HCP, as provided in the 
Habitat Conservation Planning Handbook (NMFS and USFWS 1996). 
Determination of low effect HCPs is based upon the plan having: Minor 
or negligible effects on Federally-listed, proposed, or candidate 
species and their habitats; minor or negligible effects on other 
environmental values or resources; and, impacts that considered 
together with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably 
foreseeable similarly situated projects would not result, over time, in 
cumulative effects to the environmental values or resources which would 
be considered significant. If the plan qualifies as a low-effect HCP, 
the NEPA consideration would be covered by a categorical exclusion, and 
NMFS would not need to conduct further analysis.

Request for Comments

    If you wish to comment on the permit application or the HCP, you 
may submit your comments to the address listed in the ADDRESSES section 
of this document. We will evaluate this permit application, associated 
documents, and comments submitted to determine whether to issue the 
permit. All comments received are a part of the public record and will 
generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. All 
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.) 
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do 
not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or 
protected information. We will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in 
the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to 
electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, 
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    If we determine that the legal criteria are met, we will issue an 
incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA to the TID 
for take of the proposed covered species, incidental to otherwise 
lawful activities in accordance with the terms of the permit. We will 
not make our final decision until after the end of the 30-day comment 
period, and will fully consider all comments received during the 
comment period. NMFS provides this notice pursuant to section 10(c) of 
the ESA and pursuant to implementing regulations for NEPA (40 CFR 
1506.6).

    Dated: September 15, 2011.
Therese Conant,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-24105 Filed 9-19-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P