[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 35 (Monday, February 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9475-9477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03565]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R1-ES-2015-N007; FXES11120100000-156-FF01E00000]


Draft Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances, Receipt 
of Application for an Enhancement of Survival Permit for the Greater 
Sage-Grouse on Oregon Department of State Lands, and Draft 
Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have 
received an application from the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) 
for an enhancement of survival (EOS) permit under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The permit application includes 
a draft candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA) for the 
greater sage-grouse, addressing rangeland management activities on 
Oregon State Trust Lands administered by DSL. The Service also 
announces the availability of a draft environmental assessment (EA), 
prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(NEPA), addressing the proposed CCAA and issuance of an EOS permit. We 
invite comments from all interested parties on the application, 
including the draft CCAA and the draft EA.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received from 
interested parties no later than March 25, 2015.

ADDRESSES: To request further information or submit written comments, 
please use one of the following methods, and note that your information 
request or comments are in reference to the DSL CCAA.
     Internet: Documents may be viewed on the Internet at 
http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``DSL CCAA'' in the 
subject line of the message.
     U.S. Mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and 
Wildlife Office, 2600 SE 98th Ave., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97266.
     Fax: 503-231-6195, Attn: DSL CCAA.
     In-Person Viewing or Pickup: Documents will be available 
for public inspection by appointment during normal business hours at 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office, 
2600 SE 98th Ave., Suite 100, Portland, OR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Everett or Jennifer Siani, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office (see 
ADDRESSES), telephone: 503-231-6179. If you use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf, please call the Federal Information Relay Service 
at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We have received an application from DSL for 
an EOS permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) the ESA for incidental take of 
sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The permit application 
includes a draft

[[Page 9476]]

CCAA prepared by the Service and the DSL to conserve the greater sage-
grouse and its habitat on Oregon State Trust lands administered by DSL.

Background Information

    Private and other non-Federal property owners are encouraged to 
enter into CCAAs, in which they voluntarily undertake management 
activities on their properties to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat 
benefiting species that are proposed for listing under the ESA, 
candidates for listing, or species that may become candidates or 
proposed for listing. Through a CCAA and its associated EOS permit, the 
Service provides assurances to property owners that they will not be 
subjected to increased land use restrictions if the covered species 
become listed under the ESA in the future, provided certain conditions 
are met.
    Application requirements and issuance criteria for EOS permits for 
CCAAs are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 
17.22(d) and 17.32(d), respectively. See also our joint policy on 
CCAAs, which we published in the Federal Register with the Department 
of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National 
Marine Fisheries Service (64 FR 32726; June 17, 1999).
    On March 23, 2010, the Service determined that listing the greater 
sage-grouse under the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1538) was warranted, but precluded 
by the need to address higher priority species first. In anticipation 
of the potential listing of sage-grouse under the ESA, the DSL 
requested assistance from the Service in developing a sage-grouse CCAA 
for rangeland management activities on Oregon State Trust lands.

Proposed Action

    The Service proposes to approve the draft CCAA and to issue an EOS 
permit, both with a term of 30 years, to the DSL for incidental take of 
greater sage-grouse caused by covered activities, if permit issuance 
criteria are met. Covered activities on DSL lands would include sage-
grouse conservation, rangeland treatments, livestock management, 
recreation, and existing agricultural operations. Covered activities 
may be conducted by DSL or their authorized agents including lessees of 
DSL lands. The area covered under the proposed CCAA is approximately 
633,000 acres of Oregon State Trust Lands located in Baker, Crook, 
Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Lake, Malheur, and Union Counties, Oregon. 
The covered lands encompass approximately 380,705 acres of low-density 
sage-grouse habitat (or preliminary general habitat/PGH) and 
approximately 153,107 acres of core area sage-grouse habitat (or 
preliminary priority habitat/PPH). Sage-grouse currently use habitats 
on these lands for lekking (communal breeding displays), late-brood 
rearing, and wintering.
    The draft CCAA describes all of the threats to sage-grouse that 
have been identified on the covered lands, including: Loss and 
fragmentation of sagebrush habitat; large wildfires, as well as lack of 
fire in some areas; encroachment of junipers and other conifers; 
improper grazing; invasive plants; vegetation treatments that reduce or 
degrade sagebrush habitat; degradation of riparian areas; drought, as 
well as catastrophic flooding; disturbance from recreation and other 
activities; predation; West Nile virus; wild horses and burros; and 
insecticide use. The CCAAs also describe conservation measures the DSL 
would implement to address each threat.
    Under the CCAA, the DSL would prepare a Sage Grouse Habitat 
Assessment (SGHA), which would serve as a site-specific plan, for each 
land parcel under DSL administration. The SGHA would include 
conservation measures from the draft CCAA that would address all 
threats occurring on that parcel of land. The Service will review 
submitted SGHAs and approve them through a letter of concurrence if the 
SGHAs are consistent with the CCAA, EOS permit terms and conditions, 
and the CCAA standard. Should the sage-grouse become listed, take 
authorization would be effective once a minimum of 25 percent of the 
covered lands have completed and approved SGHAs. The amount of 
incidental take authorized will be proportional to the acres of habitat 
where SGHAs are being properly implemented. DSL staff will implement 
many of the conservation measures identified in the SGHAs, but measures 
directly related to grazing operations may be included as lessee 
responsibilities in their annual operating plans.

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    Approval of a CCAA and issuance of an EOS permit are Federal 
actions that trigger the need for compliance with NEPA. Pursuant to 
NEPA, we have prepared a draft EA to analyze the environmental impacts 
related to the issuance of an EOS permit for sage-grouse and 
implementation of the conservation measures under the proposed CCAA.
    The EA analyses two alternatives: The proposed action, which is 
described above, and the ``no action'' alternative. Under the no action 
alternative, the Service would not enter into the CCAA with DSL, nor 
issue the EOS permit. The Service also considered, but did not analyze 
in detail, two additional alternatives. The first of these would have 
required DSL to implement all grazing CMs immediately upon approval of 
the CCAA. This alternative was rejected, because immediate 
implementation would have to proceed prior to having the benefit of the 
completed SGHAs. The second additional alternative was a substantial 
reduction in the amount of cattle grazing on DSL lands. This 
alternative was rejected because it would be contrary to the economic 
purposes of State Trust Lands and could eventually lead to lands being 
used for other purposes less compatible with conservation of sage-
grouse habitat.

Public Comments

    You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods 
listed in the ADDRESSES section. We request data, information, 
opinions, or suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental 
agencies, the scientific community, Tribes, industry, or any other 
interested party on our proposed permit action. We particularly seek 
comments on the following: (1) Biological information and relevant data 
concerning the greater sage-grouse; (2) current or planned activities 
in the subject area and their possible impacts on the greater sage-
grouse; (3) identification of any other environmental issues that 
should be considered with regard to the proposed permit action; and (4) 
information regarding the adequacy of the draft CCAA pursuant to the 
requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.

Public Availability of Comments

    All comments and materials we receive become part of the public 
record associated with this action. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information (PII) in your comments, you should be aware that your 
entire comment--including your PII--may be made publicly available at 
any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your PII 
from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. 
Comments and materials we receive, as well as supporting documentation 
we use in preparing the EA, will be available for public inspection by 
appointment, during normal business hours, at our Oregon Fish and 
Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES).

[[Page 9477]]

Next Steps

    After completion of the EA based on consideration of public 
comments, we will determine whether adoption of the proposed CCAA 
warrants a finding of no significant impact or whether an environmental 
impact statement should be prepared. We will evaluate the proposed CCAA 
as well as any comments we receive, to determine whether implementation 
of the proposed CCAA would meet the requirements for issuance of an EOS 
permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA. We will also evaluate 
whether the proposed permit action would comply with section 7 of the 
ESA by conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation. We will 
consider the results of this consultation, in combination with the 
above findings, in our final analysis to determine whether or not to 
issue an EOS permit to the DSL. We will not make our final decision 
until after the end of the 30-day public comment period, and we will 
fully consider all comments we receive during the public comment 
period.

Authority

    We provide this notice in accordance with the requirements of 
section 10 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.) and their implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 40 
CFR 1506.6, respectively).

    Dated: February 10, 2015.
Richard Hannan,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 2015-03565 Filed 2-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P