[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4866-4867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01292]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R6-ES-2013-N009; FF06E16000-123-FXES11130600000D2]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Enhancement of 
Survival Permit Application; Draft Black-Footed Ferret Programmatic 
Safe Harbor Agreement and Environmental Assessment; Reopening of Public 
Comment Period

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are 
reopening the public comment period for an application from the Black-
footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Coordinator for an enhancement of 
survival permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended 
(ESA). The documents available for public review are a draft 
programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement (Agreement) to reintroduce the 
federally endangered black-footed ferret on properties of voluntary 
participants across the species' range to further recovery of this 
species and a draft environmental assessment (EA) pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If you have previously 
submitted comments, please do not resubmit them, because we have 
already incorporated them in the public record and will fully consider 
them in our final decision.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted by February 22, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Send comments by U.S. mail to Kimberly Tamkun, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center, 
P.O. Box 190, Wellington, CO, 80549-0190, or via email to 
[email protected]. You also may send comments by facsimile to (970) 
897-2732. The draft Agreement and EA are available on the Black-Footed 
Ferret Recovery Program Web site at http://www.blackfootedferret.org/ org/. 
You also may review copies of these documents during regular business 
hours at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center (Ferret 
Center), 19180 North East Frontage Road Carr, CO, 80612-9719. If you do 
not have access to the Web site or cannot visit our office, you may 
request copies by telephone at (970) 897-2730 ext. 238 or by letter to 
the Ferret Center.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pete Gober, Black-footed Ferret 
Recovery

[[Page 4867]]

Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (970) 897-2730 ext. 224; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 19, 2012, we published a Federal 
Register notice (77 FR 75185) announcing the availability of the draft 
Agreement and EA for public review for 30 days, pursuant to the ESA (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). We are providing the public more time to review 
these documents by reopening the public comment period for another 30 
days in response to requests from the American Farm Bureau Federation, 
U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester from Montana, U.S. Senators Pat 
Roberts and Jerry Moran from Kansas, and Congressman Tim Huelskamp from 
Kansas. We agree with the requesters that the additional time is needed 
to review the documents due to the scope and complexity of the 
Agreement and because the holidays occurred during the first comment 
period.
    For background and more information on the draft Agreement and EA, 
see our December 19, 2012, notice (77 FR 75185). For information on 
where to view the documents and how to submit comments, please see the 
ADDRESSES section above.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you may 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered 
Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations 
(50 CFR 17.22) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 
U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

    Dated: January 15, 2013.
Michael Thabault,
Acting Regional Director--Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie Region, 
Denver, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2013-01292 Filed 1-22-13; 8:45 am]
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