[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21585-21587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08345]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-ES-2016-N032; FXES11120800000-167-FF08ECAR00]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Application To 
Amend Incidental Take Permit; Revised Diversified Pacific Low-Effect 
Habitat Conservation Plan and Associated Documents, City of Redlands, 
San Bernardino County, California

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 Diversified Pacific (applicant), to amend 
a 5-year incidental take permit (permit). The application includes the 
applicant's revised habitat conservation plan (HCP), as required by the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). If approved, the 
amended permit would authorize incidental take of the endangered San 
Bernardino Merriam's kangaroo rat (SBKR) in the course of routine 
construction activities associated with the development of residential 
houses in the City of Redlands. We invite public comment on the 
application for a permit amendment and the revised HCP, and on our 
preliminary determination that the revised HCP continues to qualify as 
``low-effect'' for a categorical exclusion under the National 
Environmental Policy Act. To make this determination we used our low-
effect screening form.

DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by 
May 12, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may request a copy of the amended permit application, 
the low-effect screening form, and/or the revised HCP 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 ``Diversified Pacific Low-
Effect HCP'' in your request or comment.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``Diversified 
Pacific Low-Effect HCP'' in the subject line of your message.
     Telephone: Karin Cleary-Rose, Palm Springs Fish and 
Wildlife Office, 760-322-2070 extension 206.
     Fax: Karin Cleary-Rose, Palm Springs Fish and Wildlife 
Office, 760-322-4648, Attn.: Diversified Pacific Low-Effect HCP.
     U.S. Mail: Karin Cleary-Rose, Palm Springs Fish and 
Wildlife Office, Attn.: Diversified Pacific Low-Effect HCP, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, 777 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 208, Palm 
Springs, California 92262.
     In-Person Viewing or Pickup of Documents, or Delivery of 
Comments: Call 760-322-2070 to make an appointment during regular 
business hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karin Cleary-Rose, Inland Division 
Chief, Palm Springs Fish and Wildlife Office; telephone 760-332-2070 
extension 206. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD), please call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-
877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    The Service issued an incidental take permit under section 
10(a)(1)(B) of the Act to the applicant, Diversified Pacific, on August 
21, 2015. The permit authorizes the applicant to take SBKR as a result 
of permanent impacts to 7.7 acres of habitat that the species uses for 
breeding, feeding, and sheltering. Take of SBKR is incidental to the 
applicant's activities associated with the construction of residential 
houses in the City of Redlands, San Bernardino County, California. The 
site is located southwest and southeast of the intersection of Pioneer 
Avenue and Judson Street in the City of Redlands, San Bernardino 
County, California. The proposed project site is surrounded by 
residential development and a mix of active and abandoned citrus 
orchards. An active municipal airport is located approximately 0.25 
mile northeast of the project site.
    The original permit required the applicant to mitigate impacts to 
the

[[Page 21586]]

SBKR by translocating HCP individuals (up to approximately 38 
individuals) to a conserved property within the Santa Ana River 
watershed, monitoring those translocated individuals for 5 years, and 
funding the perpetual management of 20.9 acres of high-quality SBKR 
habitat at the conserved 100-acre Redlands Conservancy property in 
Redlands, California. The applicant captured 41 SBKR from 4.4 acres 
before commencement of ground disturbance on the project site and 
translocated them to an area of the Cajon Creek Conservation Bank in 
the City of Muscoy, San Bernardino County, California, where they 
augmented a low-density population of SBKR. These animals will be 
monitored for 5 years, including annual reporting.
    The applicant requests a permit amendment to expand the SBKR 
translocation program permitted in the HCP to allow for additional 
capture and translocation of SBKR from the project site to a Service-
approved receiver site as described in the revised HCP. Upon inspection 
of the remaining undeveloped areas within the permit area, the SBKR 
biologist determined that 9.7 acres may still be occupied, for a total 
of 14.1 acres of occupied SBKR habitat. To minimize impacts associated 
with the expanded translocation program, the applicant will provide 
funding for the perpetual management and monitoring of 7.3 acres of 
additional occupied high-quality SBKR habitat in the City of Redlands, 
owned and conserved by the Redlands Land Conservancy into perpetuity as 
part of the revised HCP. This increase in the SBKR population across a 
larger portion of the permit area was unexpected given the overall poor 
quality of the conditions onsite and the limited number of SBKR 
previously trapped. The abnormally wet 2015 summer season allowed for 
increased seed production of summer annual plants. In turn, the SBKR on 
the project site experienced high reproductive success, which led to an 
expansion of distribution of SBKR on the site. Because the project site 
is within an urban matrix and physically isolated from other areas that 
support SBKR, the project site still does not provide long-term 
conservation value for the species. Pursuant to the terms of the 
original permit, the applicant prepared a management plan for and 
provided financial assurances for long-term funding of the management 
of 20.9 acres of high-value SBKR conservation land at the Redlands 
Conservancy Conservation Area. Under the permit amendment, the 
applicant would fund an endowment account for management of an 
additional 7.3 acres of Conservancy lands, for a total of 28.2 acres of 
Conservancy lands with high-value SBKR land protected and managed in 
perpetuity.
    We published a final rule to list SBKR as endangered on September 
24, 1998 (63 FR 51005). The rule became effective September 24, 1998. 
Final designation of critical habitat was published on April 23, 2002 
(67 FR 19812). A 5-year review of the species was published on May 21, 
2010 (75 FR 28636).

Background

    Section 9 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544 et seq.) and Federal 
regulations (50 CFR 17) prohibit the taking of fish and wildlife 
species listed as endangered or threatened under section 4 of the Act. 
Take of federally listed fish or wildlife is defined under the Act as 
to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or 
collect listed species, or attempt to engage in such conduct. The term 
``harass'' is defined in the regulations as to carry out actions that 
create the likelihood of injury to listed species to such an extent as 
to significantly disrupt normal behavioral patterns, which include, but 
are not limited to, breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). The 
term ``harm'' is defined in the regulations as significant habitat 
modification or degradation that results in death or injury of listed 
species by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, 
including breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). However, 
under specified circumstances, the Service may issue permits that allow 
the take of federally listed species, provided that the take that 
occurs is incidental to, but not the purpose of, an otherwise lawful 
activity.
    Regulations governing incidental take permits for threatened and 
endangered species are at 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22, respectively. In 
addition to meeting other criteria, activities covered by an incidental 
take permit must not jeopardize the continued existence in the wild of 
federally listed wildlife or plants.

Applicant's Proposal

    The applicant requests an amendment to the 5-year permit under 
section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Act to allow for expanded translocation of 
SBKR from the project site to high-quality habitat receiver sites. Upon 
issuance of the current permit, and as a condition of construction 
within the project area, the SBKR biologist trapped 4.4 acres of the 
estimated 7.7 acres of occupied habitat and discontinued trapping as 
the maximum take of SBKR had occurred. Upon further inspection, the 
SBKR biologist determined that 9.7 acres of undeveloped portions of the 
project area remained occupied by SBKR, for a total of 14.1 acres of 
occupied SBKR habitat.
    We think that the abnormally wet 2015 summer season allowed for 
increased seed production of summer annual plants. In turn, the SBKR on 
the project site experienced high reproductive success and recruitment 
of juveniles, which increased the total numbers of individuals on the 
site and led to an expansion of distribution of SBKR on the site. 
Because the project site is within an urban matrix and physically 
isolated from other areas that support SBKR, we still believe that the 
project site does not provide long-term conservation value for the 
species.
    If we approve the permit, the applicant would translocate all 
remaining SBKR to other Service-approved receiver sites from the 
remaining undeveloped portion of property as identified in the revised 
HCP. Translocation of SBKR from the project site is a requirement under 
the current permit as mitigation for impacts to SBKR, and it is 
recognized that moving the species off of the project site, which 
provides no connectivity to other SBKR populations, to approved 
receiver sites is a conservation benefit to the species. To mitigate 
take of SBKR at the project site, the applicant proposes the following 
mitigation strategy:
    1. All SBKR captured prior to ground disturbance on the project 
site will be translocated to one or more Service-approved receiver 
sites in the Santa Ana River Watershed. These animals will be monitored 
for 5 years, including annual reporting.
    2. The applicant will provide funding for the perpetual management 
and monitoring of 7.3 acres of additional high-quality occupied SBKR 
habitat in the City of Redlands, owned and conserved by the Redlands 
Land Conservancy into perpetuity as part of the revised HCP. In total 
for both the original HCP and the revised HCP, the applicant will fund 
the perpetual management and monitoring of 28.2 acres of SBKR habitat.

Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan Alternatives

    In the revised HCP, the applicant considers alternatives to the 
taking of SBKR under the proposed action. Our proposed action is to 
issue an amended permit to the applicant, who would implement the 
revised HCP. If we approve the amended permit, additional take of SBKR 
would be authorized for

[[Page 21587]]

the applicant's construction activities associated with the development 
of residential houses in the City of Redlands. The applicant's revised 
HCP identifies a no-build alternative that would not result in 
additional incidental take of SBKR; however, it is infeasible for the 
applicant to accept this alternative, as it would result in no 
development of the land and associated infrastructure improvements 
necessary to the City of Redlands and surrounding community. The 
revised HCP also examined participation in a regional HCP as an 
alternative to an individual HCP. This alternative plan is infeasible 
because there is currently no completed regional plan, and the timing 
for completion of a regional plan is unknown.

Our Preliminary Determination

    We invite comments on our preliminary determination that our 
proposed action, based on the applicant's proposed activities to expand 
SBKR translocation minimization and mitigation measures, would have a 
minor or negligible effect on SBKR, and that the revised HCP qualifies 
as ``low effect'' as defined by our Habitat Conservation Planning 
Handbook (November 1996).
    We base our determination that this HCP qualifies as a low-effect 
plan on the following three criteria:
    1. Implementation of the HCP would result in minor or negligible 
effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species and their 
habitats;
    2. Implementation of the HCP would result in minor or negligible 
effects on other environmental values or resources; and
    3. Impacts of the HCP, considered together with the impacts of 
other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable similarly situated 
projects, would not result, over time, in cumulative effects to 
environmental values or resources that would be considered significant.
    As more fully explained in our associated low-effect screening 
form, the applicant's revised HCP qualifies as a low-effect HCP for the 
following reasons:
    1. The project is small in size and the loss of this habitat would 
not jeopardize the continued existence of the SBKR.
    2. The project site is not in designated critical habitat for the 
SBKR.
    3. The translocation of additional SBKR off of the project site to 
conserved receiver sites would increase the local genetic diversity of 
SBKR at multiple locations in the Santa Ana River watershed, 
contributing to species recovery.
    Therefore, our proposed issuance of the requested incidental take 
permit qualifies as a categorical exclusion under the National 
Environmental Policy Act, as provided by Department of the Interior 
implementing regulations in part 46 of title 43 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (43 CFR 46.205, 46.210, and 46.215). Based on our review of 
public comments we receive in response to this notice, we may revise 
this preliminary determination.

Public Review

    The Service invites the public to comment on the application to 
amend the permit, including the revised HCP, during the public comment 
period. Copies of the documents will be available during a 30-day 
public comment period (see DATES). If you wish to comment, you may 
submit your comments to the address 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

    We will evaluate the revised HCP and comments we receive to 
determine whether the application for a permit amendment meets the 
requirements and issuance criteria under section 10(a) of the Act (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). We will also evaluate whether issuance of an 
amended section 10(a)(1)(B) incidental take permit would comply with 
section 7 of the Act by reinitiating intra-Service consultation. We 
will use the results of the reinitiation, in combination with the above 
findings, in our final analysis to determine whether or not to issue a 
permit amendment. If the requirements and issuance criteria under 
section 10(a) are met, we will issue the permit amendment to the 
applicant for incidental take of SBKR associated with expanded 
translocation activities.

Scott A. Sobiech,
Acting Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, Carlsbad, 
California.
[FR Doc. 2016-08345 Filed 4-11-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P