[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 222 (Tuesday, November 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68692-68693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27232]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R4-ES-2014-N182; 40120-1112-0000-F2]


Amendment of a Joint Programmatic Candidate Conservation 
Agreement With Assurances and Safe Harbor Agreement, Upper Little Red 
River Watershed, Arkansas

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under the Endangered Species Act, we, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, announce the receipt and availability of a revised 
joint Safe Harbor Agreement and Candidate Conservation Agreement with 
Assurances (revised agreement) and accompanying documents for 
establishing a programmatic enrollment of willing landowners by the 
parties to the revised agreement: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, 
Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office 
(parties). The revised agreement analyzes effects of conservation 
measures and certain land uses on two endangered species--the 
yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma moorei), a fish, and rabbitsfoot 
(Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), a mussel--in the Upper Little Red 
River Watershed, northcentral Arkansas, so that these listed species, 
as well as 19 candidate and other unlisted species, might be added to 
those already covered by the existing enhancement of survival permits. 
We invite public comments on these documents.

DATES: We must receive any written comments at our Regional Office (see 
ADDRESSES) on or before December 18, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Documents are available for public inspection by appointment 
during normal business hours at the Fish and Wildlife Service's 
Regional Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30345; 
or at the Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office, Fish and Wildlife 
Service, 1500 Museum Road, Suite 105, Conway, AR 72032.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Harris, At-Risk Species 
Coordinator, at the Regional Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 404-
679-7066; or Mr. Chris Davidson, Endangered Species Coordinator, at the 
Arkansas Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 501-513-4481.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We announce the availability of the revised 
Agreement, which incorporates the yellowcheek darter, rabbitsfoot, and 
19 State species of concern. The yellowcheek darter and rabbitsfoot 
became federally listed after the original enhancement of survival 
permits were issued in February 2007. The yellowcheek darter was 
originally covered by the Candidate Conservation Agreement with 
Assurances, but would now be transferred under the Safe Harbor 
Agreement. The Service previously advertised (71 FR 53129), and issued 
enhancement of survival permits, TE138910 (Safe Harbor) and TE138911 
(Candidate Conservation) as 30-year enhancement of survival permits 
covering the speckled pocketbook (Lampsilis streckeri) and yellowcheek 
darter, respectively.
    The parties request amendment of the enhancement of survival 
permits, for their remaining terms, under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the 
Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et

[[Page 68693]]

seq.), as amended. The parties' revised agreement describes 
conservation practices designed to protect and enhance streambed and 
bankside habitats for the benefit of the yellowcheek darter, 
rabbitsfoot, and the 19 State species of concern on private or non-
Federal public lands enrolled under the revised agreement.
    We specifically request information, views, and opinions from the 
public via this notice on our proposed Federal action, including our 
determination that the revised agreement, including its proposed 
conservation measures, would have minor or negligible effects on the 
species covered by the revised agreement. Therefore, we determined that 
the revised agreement is a ``low-effect'' project and qualifies for 
categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as provided by the Department of the 
Interior Manual (516 DM 2 Appendix 1 and 516 DM 6 Appendix 1). A low-
effect project involves (1) minor or negligible effects on federally 
listed or candidates or their habitats, and (2) minor or negligible 
effects on other environmental values or resources. Further, we 
specifically solicit information regarding the adequacy of the revised 
agreement per 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.
    The revised agreement describes land use practices and monitoring 
to ensure the continued survival of the covered species. Enrolled 
landowners who implement these measures would receive assurances 
against take liability for federally listed species, or for those 
species that might become federally listed in the future. Conservation 
land use practices will vary according to the needs of a particular 
enrolled landowner. Typical measures include controlling livestock 
access to streams; protection, enhancement, or restoration of 
streamside or in-stream habitats; species reintroduction to unoccupied 
suitable habitat; and other conservation measures that may be developed 
in the future.

Public 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 can 
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.
    If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of 
several methods. Please reference TE138910 or TE138911 in such 
comments. You may mail comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service's 
Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also comment via the internet 
to [email protected]. Please include your name and return address in 
your email message. If you do not receive a confirmation from us that 
we have received your email message, contact us directly at either 
telephone number listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Finally, you may hand-deliver comments to either of our offices 
listed under ADDRESSES.

Covered Area

    The revised agreement covers approximately 558,615 acres of 
potentially eligible lands in the Upper Little Red River watershed in 
northcentral Arkansas. Lands eligible to enroll in the revised 
agreement include any non-Federal properties within the watershed of 
the Upper Little Red River, Archey Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork, and 
Devils Fork upstream from Greers Ferry Reservoir.

Next Steps

    We will evaluate the enhancement of survival permit amendment 
applications, including the revised agreement, and any comments we 
receive, to determine whether the amendment applications meet the 
requirements of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act. We will also evaluate 
whether amendment of the section 10(a)(1)(A) enhancement of survival 
permits would comply with section 7 of the Act by conducting an intra-
Service section 7 consultation. We will use the results of this 
consultation, in combination with the above findings, in our final 
analysis to determine whether or not to amend the enhancement of 
survival permits. If we determine that the requirements are met, we 
will amend the enhancement of survival permits to add yellowcheek 
darter and rabbitsfoot to the Safe Harbor, and amend the Candidate 
Conservation Agreement to remove yellowcheek darter and to add the 19 
species of State concern.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 
et seq.) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

    Dated: October 23, 2014.
Mike Oetker,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2014-27232 Filed 11-17-14; 8:45 am]
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