[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 22, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55625-55626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25267]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket Nos. FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074 and 170918907-7907-01; FF09E41000 178 
FXES111609C0000]


Candidate Conservation Agreements With Assurances Policy

AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Interior; National Marine 
Fisheries Service (NMFS), Commerce.

ACTION: Policy review; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine 
Fisheries Service (Services when referring to both, and Service when 
referring to an action taken by one agency), announce the intention to 
review and potentially revise the Candidate Conservation Agreements 
with Assurances policy under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 
amended. In a separate document published in today's Federal Register, 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the intention to review 
and potentially revise its regulations regarding Candidate Conservation 
Agreements with Assurances to make them consistent with any changes to 
the policy.

DATES: We will accept comments that we receive on or before January 22, 
2018. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal (see ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 
the closing date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In 
the Search box, enter docket number FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074. Then, click on 
the Search button. On the resulting page, you may enter a comment by 
clicking on ``Comment Now!'' Please ensure that you have found the 
correct document before submitting your comment.
     U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public Comments Processing, 
Attn: Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2017-0074; Division of Policy, Performance, 
and Management Programs; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg 
Pike; MS: BPHC; Falls Church, VA 22041.
    We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide 
us (see Request for Information, for additional information).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Newman, Chief, Division of 
Recovery and Restoration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: ES, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (telephone 703-358-2171); or 
Angela Somma, Chief, Endangered Species Conservation Division, Office 
of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-
West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (telephone 301-427-8403, 
facsimile 301-713-0376). Persons who use a telecommunications device 
for the deaf may call the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

[[Page 55626]]

Background

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine 
Fisheries Service (NMFS) are charged with implementing the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA or Act); 
among the purposes of the ESA are to provide a means to conserve the 
ecosystems upon which species listed as endangered or threatened depend 
and a program for listed species conservation. Through its Candidate 
Conservation program, one of the FWS's goals is to encourage the public 
to voluntarily develop and implement conservation agreements for 
declining species prior to them being listed under the ESA. The 
benefits of such conservation actions may contribute to not needing to 
list a species, to list a species as threatened instead of endangered, 
or to accelerate the species' recovery if it is listed. The Services 
put in place a voluntary conservation program to provide incentives for 
non-Federal property owners to develop and implement conservation 
agreements for unlisted species: Candidate Conservation Agreements with 
Assurances (CCAAs). The policy for this type of agreement was finalized 
on June 17, 1999 (64 FR 32726), along with implementing regulations for 
FWS in part 17 of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (64 
FR 32706). The Services finalized a revision of the CCAA policy on 
December 27, 2016 (81 FR 95164). The FWS revised the CCAA regulations 
in 2004 (69 FR 24084; May 3, 2004), to make them easier to understand 
and implement by, among other things, defining ``property owner'' and 
clarifying several points, including the transfer of permits, permit 
revocation, and advanced notification of take. On December 27, 2016 (81 
FR 95053), the FWS again revised the CCAA regulations to make the 
regulations consistent with the 2016 revisions to the policy.
    To participate in a CCAA, non-Federal property owners agree to 
implement on their land the CCAA's specific conservation measures that 
reduce or eliminate threats to the species that are covered under the 
agreement. An ESA section 10(a)(1)(A) enhancement-of-survival permit is 
issued to the agreement participant providing a specific level of 
incidental take coverage should the property owner's agreed-upon 
conservation measures and routine property-management actions (e.g., 
agricultural, ranching, or forestry activities) result in take of the 
covered species, if it is listed. Property owners receive assurances 
that they will not be required to undertake any other conservation 
measures than those agreed to, even if new information indicates that 
additional or revised conservation measures are needed for the species, 
and they will not be subject to additional resource use or land-use 
restrictions.
    Under the 1999 policy, to approve a CCAA we had to ``determine that 
the benefits of the conservation measures implemented by a property 
owner under a CCAA, when combined with those benefits that would be 
achieved if it is assumed that conservation measures were also to be 
implemented on other necessary properties, would preclude or remove any 
need to list the covered species.'' This language had led some property 
owners to believe that the Services expected each individual CCAA to 
provide enough conservation benefits to the species to remove any need 
to list the species. The confusion created by the hypothetical concept 
of conservation measures that need to be implemented on ``other 
necessary properties'' lead us to revise the CCAA standard to require a 
net conservation benefit to the covered species, specifically on the 
property to be enrolled, and eliminated references to ``other necessary 
properties.'' Although the policy states that this revision does not 
increase the conservation standard (but rather makes it easier to 
understand how we determine our standard), we are aware there has been 
some concern that this change is considered by some members of the 
public to be a higher standard while others considered it to be a lower 
standard than the previous standard. The Services are committed to 
strengthening the delivery of our voluntary conservation tools, such as 
CCAAs, by making it easier to work with us on conservation efforts, 
thus we are soliciting public review and comment on whether to revise 
the 2016 CCAA policy (and accompanying regulation).

Request for Information

    During the comment period (see DATES), we will accept written 
comments and information on our 2016 CCAA policy (81 FR 95164; December 
27, 2016). You may submit your comments and materials by one of the 
methods 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--will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. While you can 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. All comments and 
recommendations, including names and addresses, will become part of the 
record for this review.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: October 4, 2017.
Gregory J. Sheehan,
Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    Dated: October 4, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25267 Filed 11-21-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P