[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41047-41049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18418]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2017-0044; FF06E11000-167-FXES11120600000]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Permits; Draft 
Supplement to Environmental Impact Statement, Amendment to Habitat 
Conservation Plan for Forest Management in Montana, and Application for 
Amended Incidental Take Permit

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation 
(DNRC) is amending its Forested Trust Lands Habitat Conservation Plan 
(2010 HCP) to incorporate the terms of a settlement agreement and add 
lands that it acquired since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service) issued an incidental take permit (permit) to DNRC in December 
2011. The Service is proposing to amend the associated permit under the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) to authorize additional take of all but 
one of the species covered in the 2010 HCP resulting from addition of 
the acquired lands. We announce the availability of the following 
documents for review and comment by the public and Federal, Tribal, 
State, and local governments: Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (Draft SEIS) for amending the 2010 HCP and permit; Proposed 
Amended HCP Commitments for Additional Lands and Terms of the 
Settlement Agreement (Attachment A of the Draft SEIS); and Draft DNRC 
Assessment of Incidental Take for the Proposed Amended HCP (Attachment 
C of the Draft SEIS).

DATES: Submitting Comments: Written comments must be submitted by 
October 13, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Document Availability: The Draft SEIS, Proposed Amended HCP 
Commitments for Additional Lands and Terms of the Settlement Agreement 
(Attachment A of the Draft SEIS), and Draft DNRC Assessment of 
Incidental Take for the Proposed Amended HCP (Attachment C of the Draft 
SEIS) are available at:
     Internet: The Federal eRulemaking Portal 
(www.regulations.gov) in Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2017-0044. Information 
regarding the Draft SEIS and accompanying documents is available in 
alternative formats upon request (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
     In-Person Review or Pick-Up: Documents will also be 
available for public inspection by appointment during normal business 
hours at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 780 Creston Hatchery Road, 
Kalispell, MT 59901 (telephone, 406-758-6882); U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, 585 Shepard Way, Suite 1, Helena, MT 59601 (telephone, 406-
449-5225); Montana DNRC Forest Management Bureau, 2705 Spurgin Rd, 
Missoula, MT 59804 (telephone, 406-542-4328).
    Submitting Comments: To request further information or send written 
comments, please use one of the following methods, and note that your 
information requests or comments are in reference to the proposed 
amended DNRC HCP. Please specify which documents your comment 
addresses: Draft SEIS, proposed amended HCP commitments, or proposed 
amendments to authorized take.
     Internet: Submit comments at http://www.regulations.gov in 
Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2017-0044, or via the Montana DNRC Web site at 
http://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/trust/forest-management/hcp/hcp-announcements.
     U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R6-ES-2017-0044; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
BPHC; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Conard, Assistant Field 
Supervisor, Kalispell Field Office, via email at [email protected] or 
via telephone at 406-758-6882; or Gary Frank, Deputy Chief, Forest 
Management Bureau, Montana DNRC, via email at [email protected], or via 
telephone at 406-542-4328. Information on this proposed action is also 
available at the DNRC's Web site at http://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/trust/forest-management/hcp. If you use a telecommunications device for the 
deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech disabled, please call the Federal 
Relay Service at 800-877-8337.

[[Page 41048]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We received an application from Montana DNRC 
for an amended incidental take permit to authorize additional 
incidental take of the grizzly bear, Canada lynx, bull trout, and 
westslope cutthroat trout. No changes in authorized take of the 
Columbia redband trout, covered by the original permit, is necessary 
because it does not occur on the lands proposed to be added to the HCP. 
The additional take would result from implementing the DNRC forest 
management program on the 81,416 acres proposed to be added to the HCP. 
The DNRC is also proposing to amend the HCP to incorporate the terms of 
a settlement agreement to add conservation measures and remove others. 
As part of its application, the DNRC prepared a draft amendment to the 
HCP detailing specific changes to the 2010 HCP commitments to 
incorporate the terms of the settlement agreement.
    In the Draft SEIS, we analyze potential effects to the covered 
species and other factors of the human environment from implementing 
the proposed amended HCP with issuance of an amended permit and from 
implementing the no-action alternative.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA prohibits take of fish and wildlife species 
listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538). Under section 3 of the ESA, the 
term ``take'' means to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, 
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in any such 
conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)). The term ``harm'' is defined in title 
50 of the Code of Federal Regulations as ``an act which actually kills 
or injures wildlife. Such acts may include significant habitat 
modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife 
by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including 
breeding, feeding, or sheltering'' (50 CFR 17.3). The term ``harass'' 
is defined in the regulations as ``an intentional or negligent act or 
omission which creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by annoying 
it 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).
    Under section 4(d) of the ESA, the Service may issue regulations 
pertaining to threatened species that are necessary for their 
conservation, and under section 10(a) of the ESA, the Service may issue 
permits to authorize incidental take of listed fish and wildlife 
species. ``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as take that is 
incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful 
activity. Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA contains provisions for 
issuing incidental take permits to non-Federal entities for the 
incidental take of endangered and threatened species, provided the 
following criteria are met:
     The taking will be incidental.
     The applicant will minimize and mitigate, to the maximum 
extent practicable, the impact of such taking.
     The applicant will develop an HCP and ensure that adequate 
funding for the plan will be provided.
     The taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of 
the survival and recovery of the species in the wild.
     The applicant will carry out any other measures that the 
Secretary of the Interior may require as being necessary or appropriate 
for the purposes of the HCP.
    Regulations governing activities involving endangered species are 
at 50 CFR part 17, subpart C, and regulations governing activities 
involving threatened species are at 50 CFR part 17, subpart D.
    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.) requires that Federal agencies conduct an environmental analysis 
of their proposed actions to determine whether the actions may 
significantly affect the human environment. Under NEPA and its 
implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq.), Federal agencies must 
also compare effects of a reasonable range of alternatives to the 
proposed action. In these analyses, the Federal agency will identify 
potentially significant direct, indirect, and cumulative effects, as 
well as possible mitigation for any significant effects, on biological 
resources, land use, air quality, water resources, socioeconomics, 
environmental justice, cultural resources, and other environmental 
resources that could occur with the implementation of the proposed 
action and alternatives.
    In April 2009, the DNRC applied for a permit for take of the 
grizzly bear, Canada lynx, bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, and 
Columbia redband trout incidental to forest management activities. The 
grizzly bear, lynx, and bull trout are federally listed as threatened, 
while the westslope and Columbia redband trout are not listed under the 
ESA. Before deciding whether to issue the permit, we analyzed the 
potential effects of implementing the HCP and alternatives in a draft 
environmental impact statement (EIS). In 2009, we provided comment 
periods totaling 105 days for the public to review DNRC's permit 
application package, which included the draft HCP and draft EIS (74 FR 
30617). After considering the public comments and determining that all 
requirements under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA were met, the Service 
issued the permit to DNRC on December 14, 2011.
    The original permit covers approximately 548,500 acres of forested 
State trust lands in western Montana. However, the HCP addressed the 
process and contingencies for DNRC to transfer, exchange, or add lands 
for their forest management activities in the future. Thus, the Service 
previously considered in the EIS the potential effects of amending the 
HCP and permit to cover such actions.
    In April, 2013, Friends of the Wild Swan, Montana Environmental 
Information Center, and Natural Resources Defense Council challenged 
the issuance of the permit in a Federal District Court in Montana. The 
Court ruled in the Service's favor on all but one count. DNRC and the 
plaintiffs subsequently entered a settlement agreement for the 
remaining count in September, 2015. The future addition of lands to the 
HCP and permit were not part of the complaint or the settlement 
agreement.

Proposed Action

    The Service proposes to issue an amended permit that authorizes 
additional incidental take of the covered species resulting from adding 
81,416 acres to the area covered in the HCP. DNRC is amending its HCP 
so that its relevant conservation commitments to avoid, minimize, and 
mitigate the impacts of incidental take will be implemented on the new 
lands. The DNRC is also amending the HCP to incorporate the terms of 
the settlement agreement, which would not result in any changes to the 
permit.
    The lands proposed to be added to the HCP are in the Swan, 
Chamberlain, Potomac, Lolo Land Exchange, Upper Blackfoot, and Southern 
Bitterroot acquisition areas. The draft amendment to the HCP adds (1) 
the Swan acquisition lands to the Swan Transportation Plan, (2) the 
Swan acquisition area to the Swan Lynx Management Area, and (3) 
portions of the Chamberlain and Potomac acquisition areas to the Garnet 
Lynx Management Area. It also revises the acres of lynx critical 
habitat addressed in the HCP.
    The terms of the settlement agreement focus primarily on adjusting 
management of DNRC's Class A lands under the Stillwater Block 
Transportation Plan in the HCP, which entailed a strategy of a cycle of 
4 years of active forest management, followed

[[Page 41049]]

by 8 years of rest. The settlement agreement identifies 7 distinct 
grizzly bear security zones almost entirely on the original 19,400 
acres of Class A lands in the Stillwater Block in the HCP, but also 
adds 2,300 acres in a new area in Coal Creek State Forest. The amended 
HCP would replace the 4-year active/8-year rest rotation with specific 
measures for restricting forest management activities to the denning 
season in these grizzly bear security zones. All motorized activities 
below 6,300 feet in elevation within the grizzly security zones would 
be allowed during the grizzly denning season and prohibited all year 
round above that elevation. The current HCP prohibits new permanent 
road construction on the original 19,400 acres of Class A lands. This 
measure would remain essentially the same under an amendment, but to 
incorporate the terms of the settlement agreement, it would be 
specifically applied to the seven grizzly security zones, including the 
additional 2,300 acres in the Coal Creek State Forest. Several other 
measures in the HCP for Class A lands would remain the same but be 
extended to the grizzly security zones. Other amendments specifically 
spell out measures that DNRC had committed to implement in the original 
HCP but were previously incorporated by reference from DNRC's Forest 
Management Administrative Rules of Montana.
    The original HCP requires the DNRC to complete corrective actions 
at sites identified with high risk of sediment delivery in bull trout 
watersheds in the HCP plan area by 2027. As directed by the settlement 
agreement, the HCP would be amended to prioritize and complete such 
corrective actions in federally designated bull trout critical habitat 
in the Stillwater Block by 2024.
    Lastly, over the past 5 years of HCP implementation, the Service 
and DNRC identified some commitment and procedural clarifications that 
would be incorporated into the HCP. These amendments would serve to 
help DNRC understand how to implement certain measures and would not 
entail any changes to the nature of the measures or how they affect the 
covered species.

Alternatives Analyzed in the Draft SEIS

    The Draft SEIS considers the direct, indirect, and cumulative 
effects of the proposed action, including the proposed amended HCP's 
measures intended to avoid, minimize, and mitigate such impacts, and 
no-action alternatives. The proposed action entails issuing DNRC an 
amended permit authorizing additional take based on amendments to the 
HCP to add covered lands and incorporate terms of the settlement 
agreement. The no-action alternative would include amending the HCP to 
incorporate the terms of the settlement agreement, which is legally 
required, but would not include adding lands or issuing an amended 
permit authorizing additional take.
    The Service invites comments and suggestions from interested 
parties on the content of the Draft SEIS. In particular, information 
and comments regarding the following topics are requested:
    1. The direct, indirect, or cumulative effects that implementation 
of either action alternative could have on the natural and human 
environment.
    2. Whether or not the impact on various aspects of the natural and 
human environment have been adequately analyzed.
    3. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the 
proposed action on the natural and human environment.

Role of the Environmental Protection Agency in the EIS Process

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged under 
section 309 of the Clean Air Act to review all Federal agencies' 
environmental impact statements (EISs) and to comment on the adequacy 
and acceptability of the environmental impacts of proposed actions in 
the EISs.
    EPA also administers the database for EISs prepared by Federal 
agencies and provides notice of their availability in the Federal 
Register. The EIS database provides information about EISs prepared by 
Federal agencies, as well as EPA's comments concerning the EISs. All 
EISs are filed with EPA, which publishes a notice of availability each 
Friday in the Federal Register.
    For more information, see http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/eisdata.html. You may search for EPA comments on EISs, along with EISs 
themselves, at https://cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-enepa-public/action/eis/search.

Public Comments

    Written comments received become part of the public record 
associated with this action. 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 request in your comment that we withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so. We will not consider anonymous 
comments. All submissions from organizations or businesses and from 
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of 
organizations or businesses will be made available for public 
disclosure in their entirety.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations for incidental take 
permits (50 CFR 17.22) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its 
implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).

Michael G. Thabault,
Assistant Regional Director-Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie 
Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2017-18418 Filed 8-28-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P