[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10885-10887]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-04550]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-2016-N019; FF08ESMF00-FXES11120800000F2-167]


Draft Environmental Assessment for the Candidate Conservation 
Agreement With Assurances for Fishers in the Klamath, Cascade, and 
Sierra Nevada Mountains

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment; permit 
application, draft environmental assessment, and proposed candidate 
conservation plan with assurances.

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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt 
of an application from Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), a California 
forest management and lumber manufacturing company (applicant), for an 
enhancement of survival permit (permit) associated with a Candidate 
Conservation Agreement with

[[Page 10886]]

Assurances (CCAA) covering the fisher (Pekania pennanti). The Service 
has prepared a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) per the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the applicant's permit application 
and the proposed CCAA. If approved, the permit would authorize 
incidental take for the Federal candidate fisher within the West Coast 
Distinct Population Segment (DPS), during forestry operations including 
commercial timber harvesting on SPI's property in 16 counties in 
California, if the fisher is listed under the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended. We are requesting comment on the permit application, 
draft environmental assessment, and proposed candidate conservation 
plan with assurances.

DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments on or 
before April 1, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may request a copy of the proposed 
CCAA and draft EA by email, telephone, fax, or U.S. mail (see below). 
These documents are also available for public inspection by appointment 
during normal business hours at the office below. Please send your 
requests or comments by any one of the following methods, and specify 
``SPI CCAA for fishers'' in your request or comment.
    Submitting Comments: You may submit comments or requests for copies 
or more information by one of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``SPI CCAA for fishers'' in 
the subject line of the message.
     Telephone: Robert Carey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
(530) 841-3103.
     Fax: Robert Carey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (530) 
842-4517, Attn: SPI CCAA for fishers.
     U.S. mail: Robert Carey, Attn: SPI CCAA for fishers, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, 1829 S. Oregon Street, Yreka, CA 96097.
     In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call (530) 841-
3103 to make an appointment during regular business hours at the above 
address to view and comment on the documents.
     Online: Documents will be posted online at: http://www.fws.gov/yreka/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Carey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, (530) 841-3103 (telephone). If you use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf, please call the Federal Information Relay Service 
at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We announce receipt of an application from 
Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), a forest management and lumber 
manufacturing company (applicant), for an enhancement of survival 
permit (permit) associated with a Candidate Conservation Agreement with 
Assurances (CCAA) covering the fisher (Pekania pennanti) for a period 
of 10 years. The Service has prepared a draft Environmental Assessment 
(EA) per the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the 
applicant's permit application and the proposed CCAA. If approved, the 
permit would authorize incidental take for the Federal candidate fisher 
within the West Coast Distinct Population Segment (DPS) if the fisher 
is listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), during forestry 
operations, including commercial timber harvesting, on SPI's property 
in 16 California counties: Amador, Shasta, El Dorado, Tehama, Nevada, 
Plumas, Calaveras, Siskiyou, Modoc, Tuolumne, Butte, Sierra, Lassen, 
Trinity, Placer, and Yuba.

Introduction

    We announce the availability of our draft EA for the proposed SPI 
CCAA for fishers in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; NEPA), and NEPA 
implementing regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 40 
CFR 1506.6, as well as the availability of the applicant's section 
10(a)(1)(A) permit application in compliance with section 10(c) of the 
Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), which requires notice of applications for permits. The draft EA 
considers the environmental effects associated with issuing the 
applicant's requested enhancement of survival permit and implementation 
of the proposed CCAA, including impacts to the candidate fisher (Pekani 
pennanti) within the West Coast Distinct Population Segment (DPS). Take 
of fishers would be incidental to the applicant's forestry operations 
(29 CFR 780.215) and support activities in 16 counties in California.

Background

    A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances is an agreement 
with the Service in which private and other non-Federal landowners 
voluntarily agree to undertake management activities and conservation 
efforts on their properties to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat to 
benefit species that are proposed for listing under the Act, that are 
candidates for listing, or that may become candidates. These permits 
encourage non-Federal property owners to implement conservation 
measures for species that are, or are likely to become, candidates for 
Federal listing as endangered or threatened by assuring property owners 
they will not be subjected to increased property use restrictions if 
the covered species becomes listed in the future. Application 
requirements and issuance criteria for permits for enhancement of 
survival through CCAAs are in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 
50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d). See also our policy on CCAAs (64 FR 
32726; June 17, 1999).

Applicant's Proposal

    The applicant requests a 10-year enhancement of survival permit 
under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act, which is accompanied by their 
CCAA. If we approve the permit application, the applicant anticipates 
taking fishers as a result of forestry operations and support 
activities primarily involving harvesting and transporting timber 
periodically on 1,570,963 acres of land where fishers are either known 
to occur or could reasonably be expected to occur in the future. Some 
forests owned by SPI are used by fishers for breeding, feeding, and 
sheltering. The take would be incidental to the applicant's routine 
forestry operations and support activities. The property is located in 
portions of 16 counties in California, generally occurring in rural 
regions but with some residential development intermingled with other 
privately owned lands and publically owned forests. Fishers use large 
home ranges and are difficult to detect during surveys. Without using 
telemetry or other methods of marking and recording fisher locations, 
home ranges are impossible to delineate precisely. Where fishers are 
known to occur within proximity (3 miles) of SPI's property, the 
Service has determined that SPI's timber activities may incidentally 
take fishers. Other federally listed species that are known to occur on 
or near SPI lands include northern spotted owls, gray wolves, several 
amphibians, and three anadromous salmonid runs (Central Valley 
Steelhead, S. Oregon-Northern California coho, and spring-run Chinook 
salmon).
    To enhance the survival of fishers on the enrolled lands, the 
applicant proposes to implement conservation actions that limit the 
removal or degradation of currently suitable fisher habitat, maintain 
and recruit habitat elements important to fishers, limit the timing of 
operations to avoid activities during the critical denning period, 
remove or reduce threats associated with the illegal use of toxic 
substances by trespassers cultivating marijuana, and reduce the risk of 
fishers drowning

[[Page 10887]]

in water tanks. During the 10-year term of the CCAA and ESP, the 
applicant proposes to maintain on its property the functional 
characteristic of fisher habitat on roughly 80 percent of the 10,000 
acre polygons identified by the Service as having the highest 
likelihood of supporting a reproductive female fisher and her 
offspring. The implementation of the CCAA will be funded by SPI's 
general revenue.
    The applicant proposes to continue with their normal forestry 
operations, which have been ongoing for several decades and are guided 
by a long-term management plan approved by the California Department of 
Forestry and Fire Protection under the California Forest Practice Rules 
(FPRs) at 14 CCR 913.1(a), 933.1(a), 953.1(a) (Option A plan). This 
demonstration of Maximum Sustained Production (MSP) of high-quality 
timber products per the FPRs specifies the amount of timber harvest 
that will occur over a 100-year planning horizon after accounting for 
constraints associated with protecting non-timber resources such as 
watershed, wildlife, fisheries quality, and aesthetic values. One of 
the conservation measures proposed in the CCAA is to maintain the 
harvest rate specified in the Option A plan. Under that rate of harvest 
SPI will keep approximately 50 percent (at least 700,000 acres) of 
their enrolled property in a mixed age condition. Harvest scheduling 
will also be constrained where necessary such that 43 of the 54 
originally identified high quality fisher areas maintain the functional 
characteristics of fisher habitat at the landscape scale over the 10-
year CCAA. In each timber harvesting unit, habitat elements such as 
large old trees, defective trees, snags, and hardwoods will be 
specifically retained and recruited as detailed in the CCAA. The 
implementation of these conservation measures will be monitored, and 
over time the effectiveness of these measures for providing functional 
fisher habitat will be evaluated in adaptive manner allowing for 
changes, if necessary to achieve the conservation goals.

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Act and Service 
regulations for implementing NEPA. We have prepared a draft EA for the 
proposed action and have made it and the applicant's proposed CCAA 
available for public inspection (see ADDRESSES). NEPA requires that a 
range of reasonable alternatives, including the proposed action, be 
described. The draft EA analyzes three alternatives, described below.

Proposed Action (Preferred Alternative)

    We propose issuing an enhancement of survival permit to the 
applicant, who would implement the CCAA, described above. If we approve 
the permit, incidental take of fishers would be authorized during the 
applicant's forestry operations and support activities should the 
fisher become listed. With this alternative, incidental take would be 
reduced from the No Action and Stirling Management area alternative 
because under the CCAA SPI would be required to reduce the disturbance 
during the fisher breeding season, maintain large blocks of mixed age 
class forest, maintain functional landscapes for fishers, retain and 
recruit habitat elements that are important to fishers, and monitor the 
implementation and effectiveness of these measures for conserving 
fishers throughout their property, including the Stirling Management 
Area.

No Action Alternative

    The draft EA includes a No Action alternative; the Service and SPI 
would not enter into the CCAA and the conservation measures would not 
be implemented. Under the No Action alternative, impacts to fishers 
would likely continue at the current rate. Under this alternative, SPI 
would continue with their ongoing operations guided by the California 
Forest Practice Rules, other local, State and Federal regulatory 
frameworks including the ESA.

Excluding the SPI Stirling Management Area From the CCAA Alternative

    Under this alternative, SPI's 159,966-acre Stirling Management Area 
(SMA) would be excluded from the CCAA. In 2005, in response to concerns 
over the absence of fishers in portions of their historical occupied 
range, the Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife 
(CDFW) began considering translocation of fishers to reestablish 
fishers in historically occupied areas. The Service and SPI entered 
into a CCAA and the Service issued an ESP that would authorize SPI's 
take of fishers in the event the translocation was successful and if 
the fisher is listed. Between 2009 and 2011, 40 fishers were 
translocated to the SMA. The Stirling CCAA requires fewer conservation 
measures than the proposed CCAA and will expire on April 14, 2028. 
Under Alternative 3 (excluding the SMA from the proposed CCAA), the 
environmental impacts from SPI's forestry operations and support 
activities would be identical to those under the Proposed Action; 
however, the SMA would be managed under the previous CCAA rather than 
the proposed CCAA.

Public Review

    The Service invites the public to comment on the permit 
application, including the proposed CCAA and draft EA, during the 
public comment period (see DATES). If you wish to comment, you may 
submit your comments via one of the means listed in ADDRESSES. 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.

Next Steps

    Issuance of an enhancement of survival permit is a Federal action 
subject to compliance with NEPA. We will evaluate the application, 
associated documents, and any public comments we receive to determine 
whether the application meets the requirements of NEPA regulations and 
section 10(a) of the Act. If we determine that those requirements are 
met, we will issue a permit to the applicant for the incidental take of 
fishers that becomes effective if fishers are listed. We will not make 
our final decision until after the 30-day public comment period ends.

Alexandra Pitts,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region, Sacramento, 
California.
[FR Doc. 2016-04550 Filed 3-1-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P