[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 184 (Monday, September 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44651-44652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20373]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R6-ES-2017-N113; FF06E11000-178-FXES111606CSAGE]


Enhancement of Survival Permit Application; Draft Candidate 
Conservation Agreement With Assurances for the Greater Sage-Grouse and 
Four Grassland Songbirds in Montana; 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, are making available 
for public comment an application from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for 
an enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered Species 
Act for take of five species associated with implementation of a 
candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA) in Montana. The 
intent of the CCAA is to provide private landowners in the coverage 
area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve covered species and 
their habitats while carrying out their operations in a manner that 
would contribute to precluding the need to list the covered species. 
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, we have prepared a 
draft environmental assessment (EA) that analyzes the potential impacts 
of issuance of the permit and implementation of the proposed CCAA, as 
well as two alternatives to the proposed action in the EA. The permit 
application, the draft CCAA, and draft EA are available for public 
review, and we seek public comment on these documents and potential 
issuance of the permit.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted by October 25, 2017.

ADDRESSES: To request further information or submit written comments, 
please use the following methods, and note that your information 
request or comments are in reference to the Montana CCAA.
    [cir] Internet: Documents may be viewed on the Internet at https://www.fws.gov/greatersagegrouse/news.php.
    [cir] U.S. Mail: Field Supervisor, Montana Ecological Services 
Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 585 Shephard Way, Suite 
1, Helena, MT 59601.
    [cir] Email: [email protected]. Include ``MT CCAA'' in the subject 
line of the message.
    [cir] Fax: 406-449-5339, Attn: MT CCAA.
    [cir] 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, Montana Ecological Services Field 
Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 585 Shephard Way, Suite 1, 
Helena, MT 59601.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Field Supervisor, Montana Ecological 
Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 406-449-5225. If you 
use a telecommunications device for the deaf, please call the Federal 
Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), received and make available for comment an application from 
The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The application is for an enhancement of 
survival permit (permit) under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; ESA), for 
potential take of five species associated with implementation of a 
candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA) in Montana 
(coverage area). The coverage area would be the range of the five 
species on privately owned lands in Montana.
    The CCAA would cover and include conservation measures for the 
greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), Baird's sparrow 
(Ammodramus bairdii), chestnut-collared longspur (Calcarius ornatus), 
McCown's longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), and Sprague's pipit (Anthus 
spragueii). The intent of the CCAA is to provide ranchers and 
agriculture producers in the coverage area with the opportunity to 
voluntarily conserve the covered species and their habitat, while 
carrying out their operations in a manner that would provide net 
conservation benefit to the species.
    Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 
et seq.; NEPA), we have prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) 
that analyzes the potential impacts of issuance of the permit and 
implementation of the proposed CCAA, as well as two alternatives to the 
proposed action. The permit application, draft CCAA, and EA are 
available for public review, and we seek public comment on these 
documents and potential issuance of the permit.

Background Information

    A CCAA 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 ESA, that are candidates for listing, or that may 
become candidates. The Service works with these partners to identify 
threats to candidate species, plan the measures needed to address the 
threats and conserve these species, identify willing landowners, 
develop agreements, and design and implement conservation measures and 
monitor their effectiveness.
    If we approve this CCAA, we will issue an associated enhancement of 
survival permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA that authorizes 
incidental take resulting from covered activities should any of the 
five covered species addressed in the CCAA become listed. Through the 
CCAA and permit, we also provide assurances to participating landowners 
that we will not impose additional land, water, or financial 
commitments, or restrictions on land, water, or resource use, as a 
result of their efforts to attract or increase the numbers or 
distribution of a species on their properties if that species becomes 
listed under the ESA in the future. Application requirements and 
issuance criteria for enhancement of survival permits through a CCAA 
are found in 50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d), as well as in 50 CFR part 
13.

Proposed Action

    Under the proposed programmatic CCAA, enrolled landowners in the 
CCAA (participants) would implement conservation measures that avoid, 
minimize, and mitigate impacts to the covered species and their 
habitats from ongoing grazing and range management activities on 
enrolled lands. The Service would issue the permit to TNC, which would 
administer the CCAA and enroll the participants. The CCAA would be in 
effect for 20 years. The covered area would encompass the non-Federal 
lands within the range of the covered species in Montana.
    With issuance of the enhancement of survival permit, the Service 
would provide TNC and the participants

[[Page 44652]]

assurances that, should any of the covered species be listed, no 
further commitments or restrictions than those they committed to under 
the CCAA would be imposed, as long as the CCAA is properly implemented. 
Furthermore, if any of the covered species are listed, the permit would 
provide TNC and individuals TNC enrolls in the CCAA with incidental 
take authorization. Participants would receive take authorization 
through their certificates of inclusion under the permit. The permit 
would become effective on the effective date of a listing of the 
covered species as endangered or threatened and would continue through 
the end of the CCAA term.
    The Secretary of the Interior has delegated to the Service the 
authority to approve or deny a section 10(a)(1)(A) permit in accordance 
with the ESA. To act on TNC's permit application, we must determine 
that the CCAA meets the issuance criteria specified in the ESA and at 
50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, as well as at 50 CFR part 13. These criteria 
include a finding that the proposed CCAA complies with the requirements 
of our CCAA Policy (81 FR 951646; December 27, 2016).

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    The issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A) permit is a Federal action 
subject to NEPA compliance, including the Council on Environmental 
Quality regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA 
(40 CFR 1500-1508). The draft CCAA and application for the enhancement 
of survival permit are not eligible for categorical exclusion under 
NEPA. We have prepared a draft EA to analyze the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative impacts of the CCAA on the quality of the human environment 
and other natural resources. In compliance with NEPA, we analyzed the 
impacts of implementing the CCAA, issuance of the permit, and a 
reasonable range of alternatives in the draft EA. Based on these 
analyses and any new information resulting from public comment on the 
proposed action, we will determine if issuance of the permit would 
cause any significant impacts to the human environment. After reviewing 
public comments, we will evaluate whether the proposed action and 
alternatives in the draft EA are adequate to support a finding of no 
significant impact under NEPA. We now make the draft EA available for 
public inspection online or in person at the Service offices listed in 
ADDRESSES.

Public Comments

    You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods 
listed in ADDRESSES. 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 
covered species; (2) current or planned activities in the subject area 
and their possible impacts on the covered species; (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 Montana Field Office 
(see ADDRESSES).

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 a 
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 a permit to TNC. 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, 40 CFR 1506.6, and 43 CFR Part 46, respectively).

    Dated: September 11, 2017.
Michael Thabault,
Assistant Regional Director--Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie 
Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2017-20373 Filed 9-22-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P