[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 65 (Thursday, April 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13308-13310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06501]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-ES-2019-N002; FXES11140800000-190-FF08E00000]


Draft City of Rancho Palos Verdes Natural Community Conservation 
Plan and Habitat Conservation Plan and Draft Environmental Assessment, 
City of Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles County, California

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
recirculation of the draft Natural Community Conservation Plan/Habitat 
Conservation Plan (NCCP/HCP) and draft environmental assessment (draft 
EA), which evaluates the impacts of, and alternatives to, the proposed 
City of Rancho Palos Verdes (City of RPV) NCCP/HCP. The recirculation 
is necessary to maximize public review because, while the document 
provided during the initial 60-day comment period was the document 
considered by the City of RPV Council at their March 29, 2018, Council 
Meeting, it did not include changes accepted by City of RPV Council via 
late correspondence at the Council Meeting, nor did it include 
technical and clarifying edits made after the Council Meeting. We 
request review and comment on the City of RPV NCCP/HCP and the draft EA 
from local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public.

DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by 
May 6, 2019.

[[Page 13309]]


ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the City of RPV NCCP/
HCP and the draft EA by the following methods. Please specify that your 
request pertains to the City of RPV NCCP/HCP.
     Email: [email protected].
     Internet: http://www.rpvca.gov/490/Palos-Verdes-Nature-Preserve-NCCP-PUMP-H.
     U.S. Mail: A limited number of CD-ROM and printed copies 
are available, by request, from the following locations:
    [cir] Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, 2177 Salk Avenue, Suite 
250, Carlsbad, CA 92008;
    [cir] Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall (see address under In-Person, 
below).
     In-Person: Copies are available for public inspection and 
review at the following locations, by appointment and written request 
only:
    [cir] Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, 30940 Hawthorne Blvd., Rancho 
Palos Verdes, CA 90275 (telephone: 310-554-5267; 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 
p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday); 
and
    [cir] Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, 916 Silver Spur 
Road, Suite 207, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274 (9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday).
    Submitting Comments: You may submit comments by one of the 
following methods:
     Email: [email protected]; please include ``City of 
RPV NCCP/HCP'' in the subject line.
     U.S. Mail: Karen Goebel, Attn: City of RPV NCCP/HCP (use 
the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office address under Obtaining 
Documents).
     Telephone: Karen Goebel, 760-431-9440.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Beth Woulfe, 760-431-9440.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), announce the recirculation of the draft Natural Community 
Conservation Plan/Habitat Conservation Plan (NCCP/HCP) and draft 
environmental assessment (draft EA), which evaluates the impacts of, 
and alternatives to, the proposed City of Rancho Palos Verdes (City of 
RPV) NCCP/HCP. We initially announced the availability of the City of 
RPV NCCP/HCP for review and comment on October 31, 2018, with a comment 
period that ended on December 31, 2018 (83 FR 54769). The recirculation 
is necessary to maximize public review because, while the document 
provided during the initial 60-day comment period was the document 
considered by the City of RPV Council at their March 29, 2018, Council 
Meeting, it did not include changes accepted by City of RPV Council via 
late correspondence at the Council Meeting, nor did it include 
technical and clarifying edits made after the Council Meeting. The City 
of RPV NCCP/HCP was submitted by the City of RPV in support of an 
application under section 10 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 
amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for a permit authorizing the 
incidental take of 10 covered species resulting from covered projects/
activities and a permit under the State of California's Natural 
Community Conservation Planning Act of 2002. We request review and 
comment on the City of RPV NCCP/HCP and the draft EA from local, State, 
and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public. The proposed City of RPV 
NCCP/HCP plan area is located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Los 
Angeles County, California.

Introduction

    Under section 10(c) of the ESA and under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), this notice advises 
the public of the receipt and availability for public review of the 
draft City of RPV NCCP/HCP and draft EA, which evaluates the impacts 
of, and alternatives to, the City of RPV NCCP/HCP, submitted with an 
application for a permit to authorize the incidental take of federally 
listed covered species resulting from covered projects/activities 
within the plan area. The Service is the Lead Agency pursuant to NEPA. 
The proposed Federal action is issuance of an incidental take permit 
(ITP) under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA to the City of Rancho Palos 
Verdes and their habitat manager, Palos Verdes Peninsula Land 
Conservancy.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of fish and wildlife 
species listed as endangered under section 4 (16 U.S.C. 1538, 1533, 
respectively). Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides for the issuance 
of a permit for the taking of listed fish and wildlife species that is 
incidental to, and not the purpose of, the carrying out of an otherwise 
lawful activity (``incidental take''). The ESA implementing regulations 
extend, under certain circumstances, the prohibition of take to 
threatened species (50 CFR 17.31). Regulations governing permits for 
endangered and threatened species are at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32. For 
more about the HCP program, go to http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/hcp.pdf.
    Under section 10(a) of the ESA, the Service may issue permits to 
authorize incidental take of listed fish and wildlife species. Section 
10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA contains criteria for issuing ITPs to non-
Federal entities for the take of endangered and threatened species, 
provided the following criteria are met:
     The taking will be incidental;
     The applicant will, to the maximum extent practicable, 
minimize and mitigate 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; and
     The applicant will carry out any other measures that the 
Secretary may require as being necessary or appropriate for the 
purposes of the HCP.
    Implementation of the City of RPV NCCP/HCP is intended to maximize 
conservation for covered species while providing cost-savings and 
reducing potential time-delays associated with processing individual 
ITPs for each covered project/activity within the plan area.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is the issuance of an ITP by the Service to 
City of Rancho Palos Verdes and their habitat manager, Palos Verdes 
Peninsula Land Conservancy, for the incidental take of covered species 
from identified covered projects/activities, including the avoidance, 
minimization, and mitigation of impacts to covered species within the 
8,616.6-acre plan area for 40 years. The proposed City of RPV NCCP/HCP 
is a conservation plan for the following 10 species:

Federally Listed as Endangered

Palos Verdes blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis)
    El Segundo blue butterfly (Euphilotes battoides allyni)

Federally Listed as Threatened

Coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica)

Unlisted

Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)
Aphanisma (Aphanisma blitoides)
South coast saltscale (Atriplex pacifica)
Catalina crossosoma (Crossosoma californicum)
Island green dudleya (Dudleya virens ssp. insularis)
Santa Catalina Island desert-thorn (Lycium brevipes var. hassei)

[[Page 13310]]

Woolly seablite (Suaeda taxifolia)

    There are 17 City of Rancho Palos Verdes projects/activities and 5 
private projects/activities proposed to be covered by the ITP. The City 
of Rancho Palos Verdes projects/activities include landslide abatement, 
drainage improvement, dewatering wells, road and canyon repairs, fuel 
modification, and maintenance; private projects/activities include 
development, remedial grading, and fuel modification. Public use is 
also identified as a conditionally allowable use. Potential impacts to 
covered species include disruption of normal behavior by covered 
projects/activities and injury or death due to construction activities. 
The City of RPV NCCP/HCP provides a comprehensive approach to the 
conservation and management of these species and their habitat within 
the plan area.
    The plan area includes the entire boundary of the City of Rancho 
Palos Verdes. The plan area is constant for all of the alternatives 
analyzed in the draft EA. The City of RPV NCCP/HCP quantifies the 
expected loss of habitat and the proposed mitigation, including 
management and monitoring of the preserve.

Alternatives

    We considered five alternatives in the draft EA: (1) No Action 
Alternative; (2) Alternative A, Peninsula NCCP Working Group 
Alternative; (3) Alternative B, Landowner Alternative; (4) Alternative 
C, The City of Rancho Palos Verdes' Alternative; and (5) Alternative D, 
The Proposed Action.
    Under the No Action Alternative, the City of RPV NCCP/HCP would not 
move forward for approval and an ITP would not be issued. All projects/
activities proposed in the City of RPV NCCP/HCP would continue to be 
reviewed in accordance with existing State land use and environmental 
regulations. Alternative A was developed by the working group, which 
consisted of stakeholders within the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, and 
included the largest preserve area, totaling about 1,559.1 acres. 
Alternative B was developed by the major landowners in 1999 and 
proposed the smallest preserve area of all of the alternatives. 
Alternative C was developed by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and was 
a compromise of Alternative A and B. The preserve size under 
Alternative C is slightly larger than that under the Proposed Action 
(Alternative D), but the total amount of coastal sage scrub habitat 
under Alternative C is slightly lower than that in the Proposed Action 
(Alternative D).
    The Proposed Action (Alternative D) is the same as Alternative C, 
with the following exceptions: (1) A 27.0-acre parcel in the Upper 
Filiorum property has been removed from the preserve and is now 
identified as a covered project, including the associated dedication of 
30 acres of functional and connected habitat; (2) 40.0 acres of a 
former archery range property have been removed from the preserve due 
to landslide and legal constraints; and (3) 61.5 acres of Malaga Canyon 
have been purchased by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and have been 
incorporated into the preserve. The preserve in Alternative D totals 
1,402.4 acres.

Request for Comments

    Consistent with section 10(c) of the ESA, we invite your submission 
of written comments, data, or arguments with respect to the City of 
Rancho Palos Verdes' permit application, the City of RPV NCCP/HCP, and 
proposed permitting decision.

Public Availability of Comments

    Written comments we receive 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. 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.

Next Steps

    Issuance of an incidental take permit is a Federal proposed 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 section 10(a) of the 
ESA. If we determine that those requirements are met, we will issue a 
permit to the applicant for the incidental take of the covered species. 
We will make our final permit decision no sooner than 30 days after the 
public comment period closes.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) 
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 
CFR 1506.6).

Scott Sobiech,
Acting Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, Carlsbad, 
California.
[FR Doc. 2019-06501 Filed 4-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P