[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 17 (Friday, January 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5480-5481]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01573]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R2-ES-2012-N240; FXES11150200000-134-FF02ENEH00]


Draft Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances and Draft 
Environmental Assessment; Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, New Mexico and 
Colorado

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: Vermejo Park, LLC, d/b/a Vermejo Park Ranch (Applicant), has 
applied for an enhancement of survival permit pursuant to Section 
10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The 
permit application includes a draft Candidate Conservation Agreement 
with Assurances (CCAA) between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service) and Vermejo Park Ranch for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout in 
Taos County, New Mexico, and Costilla County, Colorado. If the Rio 
Grande cutthroat trout becomes listed in the future, the enhancement of 
survival permit will become effective, authorizing incidental take of 
Rio Grande cutthroat trout resulting from ongoing, otherwise lawful 
activities on enrolled lands. The draft CCAA and the draft 
environmental assessment are available for public review, and we seek 
public comment on the potential issuance of the above permit.

DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by 
March 26, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application, the draft CCAA, 
the draft EA, or other related documents may obtain copies by written 
or telephone request to Field Supervisor, New Mexico Ecological 
Services Field Office, 505-346-2525 (U.S. mail address below). 
Electronic copies of these documents are available for review on the 
New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office Web site: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/NewMexico/. The application and related 
documents will be available for public inspection, by appointment only, 
during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) at the New Mexico 
Ecological Services Field Office at the address below.
    Comments concerning the application, the draft CCAA, the draft EA, 
or other related documents should be submitted in writing to the Field 
Supervisor, by U.S. mail at the New Mexico Ecological Services Field 
Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2105 Osuna NE., Albuquerque, NM 
87113; by telephone at 505-346-2525; or by facsimile at 505-346-2542. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
    Please refer to Permit number TE72923A-0 when submitting comments. 
Please specify if comments are in reference to the draft CCAA, draft 
EA, or both.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wally ``J'' Murphy, Field Supervisor, 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico Ecological Services Field 
Office, at the address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With the assistance of the Service, the 
Applicant proposes to implement conservation measures for the Rio 
Grande cutthroat trout by removing threats to its survival and 
reintroducing it to historically occupied streams. The proposed CCAA 
would be in effect for 25 years on Vermejo Park Ranch in Taos County, 
New Mexico, and Costilla County, Colorado. This area constitutes the 
CCAA's Covered Area. The CCAA has been developed in support of a 
section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.) (Act) enhancement of survival permit.
    If approved, Vermejo Park Ranch will be provided assurances that, 
should the Rio Grande cutthroat trout be listed, the Service will not 
require them to provide additional land, water, or financial resources, 
nor will there be any further restrictions to their land, water, or 
financial resources than they committed to under the CCAA provisions 
(50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d)). Furthermore, if the Rio Grande 
cutthroat trout is listed, participants would be provided incidental 
take authorization under the enhancement of survival permit for the 
level of incidental take on the enrolled lands consistent with the 
activities under the CCAA provisions.

Background

    The Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis) is 
native to the Rio Grande, Pecos River, and Canadian River basins in New 
Mexico and Colorado. It is the southernmost subspecies of cutthroat 
trout. Because of nonnative species introductions, Rio Grande cutthroat 
trout are now restricted to streams that are narrow and small compared 
to the larger streams they once occupied; these populations occupy 
approximately 10 percent of historical habitat. Rio Grande cutthroat 
trout face a variety of imminent threats, including fragmentation and 
isolation, small population size, presence of nonnative trout, whirling 
disease, poor habitat conditions, fire, drought, and the effects of 
climate change. Because of the range contraction and the imminent 
threats, we made the Rio Grande cutthroat trout a candidate species on 
May 14, 2008 (73 FR 27900), indicating that listing of the Rio Grande 
cutthroat trout was warranted but precluded by higher priority actions. 
The species was given a listing priority number of 9, indicating a 
subspecies facing imminent threats of moderate to low magnitude.
    Currently, cooperative efforts are in place to restore this 
subspecies to the Rio Costilla watershed, where much of the habitat for 
Rio Grande cutthroat trout exists on private land. The CCAA was 
initiated in order to facilitate conservation and restoration of the 
Rio Grande cutthroat trout on private lands in New Mexico. Expected 
conservation benefits for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout from 
implementation of the conservation measures in this CCAA will be 
recognized through additional connected populations being maintained 
over time.
    Furthermore, Rio Grande cutthroat trout conservation will be 
enhanced by providing regulatory assurances under the Act for the 
participating property owner. There will be a measure of security for 
the participating landowner in the knowledge that they will not incur 
additional land use restrictions if the species is listed under the 
Act. The

[[Page 5481]]

Applicant has committed to implementation of the CCAA and requests 
issuance of the enhancement of survival permit in order to address the 
take prohibitions of section 9 of the Act should the species become 
listed in the future.
    The draft CCAA and application for the enhancement of survival 
permit are not eligible for categorical exclusion under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. A draft environmental 
assessment has been prepared to further analyze the direct, indirect, 
and cumulative impacts of the CCAA on the quality of the human 
environment and other natural resources.

Public Availability of Comments

    All comments we receive become part of the public record. Requests 
for copies of comments will be handled in accordance with the Freedom 
of Information Act, NEPA, and Service and Department of the Interior 
policies and procedures. 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 can ask us to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee we will be able to 
do so.

Authority

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

Joy E. Nicholopoulos,
Acting Regional Director, Region 2, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
[FR Doc. 2013-01573 Filed 1-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P