[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67292-67294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26478]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-ES-2019-N111; FXES11140000-189-FF08E00000]


Proposed Upper Santa Ana River Habitat Conservation Plan and 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement; San Bernardino County, CA

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; receipt of permit applications and 
request for public comments; notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received 
applications from the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District 
(District) and the San Bernardino County Flood Control District 
(SBCFCD) for incidental take permits under the Endangered Species Act. 
We advise the public of the availability of an accompanying proposed 
habitat conservation plan (HCP), which covers two federally listed 
animal species and other covered species, and a draft environmental 
impact statement (EIS), for public review and comment. The HCP covers 
activities for water conservation, aggregate mining, recreation, flood 
control and other public services in San Bernardino County, California. 
The draft EIS is a joint Environmental Impact Statement/Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Report (EIS/SEIR). The draft SEIR portion of the 
joint document was prepared by the District in compliance with the 
California Environmental Quality Act.

DATES: 
    Public Comments: We will receive public comments on the HCP and 
DEIS/SEIR until January 23, 2020. Comments received or postmarked after 
this date will be considered to the extent practicable.
    Meetings: We will conduct two public meetings, both on January 9, 
2020. Both meetings are intended to cover the same material. The first 
meeting is 2-4 p.m., and the second is 6:30-9:30 p.m.
    Public Accommodations: We are committed to providing meeting access 
for all participants. Please direct all requests for sign language 
interpreting services, closed captioning, or other accommodation to 
Karin Cleary-Rose, TTY 800-877-8339 by close of business on January 6, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may obtain the documents by the 
following methods.
     Internet: https://www.fws.gov/carlsbad/HCPs/HCP_Docs.html 
or https://sbvwcd.org.
     Public Libraries: Copies are available for public viewing 
at the following libraries:
    [cir] A.K. Smiley Library at 125 West Vine St., Redlands, CA.
    [cir] Highland Branch Library, 7863 Central Ave., Highland, CA.
     San Bernardino Water Conservation District: Copies are 
available for public viewing at the San Bernardino Valley Water 
Conservation District, 1630 W Redlands Blvd., Ste. A, Redlands, CA. 
Digital copies of the documents will be provided on CD at the District 
office upon request.
    Submitting Comments: You may submit comments by one of the 
following methods. Please include your contact information.
     Email: [email protected].
     U.S. Mail or Hand-Delivery: Karin Cleary-Rose, Santa Ana 
River Wash Project, Palm Springs Fish and Wildlife Service Office, 777 
E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 208, Palm Springs, CA 92262.
    Meetings: Our scheduled public meetings will take place at the San 
Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District Office, 1630 West 
Redlands Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373. See DATES and FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact either of the two following 
individuals for more information:
     Karin Cleary-Rose, USFWS, by mail at Palm Springs Fish and 
Wildlife Office, 777 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 208, Palm Springs, 
CA 92262; or via email to [email protected]; or
     Daniel Cozad, San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation 
District, by mail at 1630 W Redlands Blvd., Ste. A,

[[Page 67293]]

Redlands, CA 92373; or via email to [email protected].
    TTY users can contact the above individuals by calling 800-877-
8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation 
District (District, applicant), and the San Bernardino County Flood 
Control District (SBCFCD, applicant) have each applied to the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit under 
section 10 (a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act, as amended (ESA; 16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). We, the Service, advise the public of the 
availability of the applicants' proposed habitat conservation plan 
(HCP), which covers two federally listed animal species and other 
covered species, and the Service-prepared draft environmental impact 
statement (EIS), for public review and comment. The HCP covers 
activities for water conservation, aggregate mining, recreation, flood 
control and other public services in San Bernardino County, California. 
The draft EIS is a joint Environmental Impact Statement/Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Report (EIS/SEIR). The draft SEIR portion of the 
joint document was prepared by the District in compliance with the 
California Environmental Quality Act. The draft EIS/SEIR evaluates the 
direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of several alternatives for 
the Service's issuance of ESA permits to applicants. The project area 
lies within San Bernardino County, primarily in the cities of Highland 
and Redlands, as well as within the unincorporated County area. The 
plan area encompasses approximately 4,892 acres. Pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), we 
advise the public of the availability of our draft environmental impact 
statement (EIS), which analyzes several alternatives related to the 
Service's decision whether to issue incidental take permits in response 
to the District's and the SBCFCD's applications.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulations pursuant to section 
4(d) of the ESA prohibit the ``take'' of fish and wildlife species 
federally listed as endangered or threatened without special exemption. 
Take of federally listed fish or wildlife is defined under the ESA as 
to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or 
collect listed species, or attempt to engage in such conduct (16 U.S.C. 
1538). ``Harm'' includes significant habitat modification or 
degradation that actually kills or injures listed wildlife by 
significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including 
breeding, feeding, and sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). Under limited 
circumstances, we may issue permits to authorize take that is 
incidental to and not the purpose of otherwise lawful activities.

Habitat Conservation Plan Covered Activities

    The Service is considering the issuance of incidental take permits 
consistent with the Upper Santa Ana River Wash HCP. The HCP covers two 
types of activities in the Upper Santa Ana River Wash Plan project 
area:
     Activities related to the operations and maintenance of 
existing facilities or land uses already in operation in the Wash, 
covering an area totaling 166.9 acres; and
     Expansion or enhancement of facilities planned for the 
Wash area, totaling 634.1 acres.

Habitat Conservation Plan Covered Species

    The proposed incidental take permits would cover five species. 
Incidental take authorization would be provided under the permits for 
the wildlife species; the plant species are included in recognition of 
the conservation measures provided under the HCP and to provide No 
Surprises assurances to the applicants for the covered plants under 50 
CFR 17.22(b)(5). The applicant's HCP includes the following species:

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                     Species                      Federal listing status
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Coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila        Threatened.
 californica californica).
San Bernardino kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami   Endangered.
 parvus).
Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)...  Not listed.
Santa Ana River woolly-star (Eriastrum            Endangered.
 densifolium ssp. sanctorum).
Slender-horned spineflower (Dodecahema            Endangered.
 leptoceras).
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    The HCP proposes conservation measures considered necessary to 
minimize and mitigate, to the maximum extent practicable, the impacts 
of the incidental taking of covered species in the HCP.

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    The draft EIS/SEIR addresses the Federal and local actions in 
approving and implementing the project, and the proposed issuance of 
incidental take permits consistent with the HCP. On March 3, 2015 (80 
FR 11463), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S Fish and 
Wildlife Serve (FWS) published a notice of intent to prepare an 
environmental impact statement, as Federal co-leads, and later hosted 
two scoping meetings to solicit public comments on the preparation of 
an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the proposed land 
exchanges with the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District 
(District) and issuance of incidental take permits by FWS. The land 
exchange would include up to 400 acres of BLM-managed public lands 
within the Upper Santa Ana River Wash Area.
    On March 12, 2019, the President signed the Natural Resources 
Management Act (S. 47), which included specific guidelines directing 
the land exchanges between the BLM and the Conservation District 
(section 1003). As a result, the BLM no longer has a discretionary 
action on the land exchange and is withdrawing as the co-lead in the 
preparation of the EIS. The BLM will now serve as a cooperating agency 
in the development of this EIS. The BLM is required to implement 
actions in the legislation to initiate/facilitate the land exchanges, 
but is no longer required to conduct an analysis under the National 
Environmental Policy Act.
    The FWS will continue to serve as the Federal lead agency in the 
development of the EIS/SEIR, in collaboration with the District, a 
political subdivision of the State of California. The District is the 
lead agency for the SEIR, under the California Environmental Quality 
Act.

Environmental Impact Statement

    The EIS evaluates three alternatives in detail:
    ``No action'' alternative: Current management activities would be 
assumed to continue. The Service would not issue Federal ESA permits to 
the applicants.

[[Page 67294]]

    Proposed action: Consistent with the proposed Upper Santa Ana River 
Wash Plan HCP, the Service issues 30-year ITPs to the applicants for 
the five covered species, under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA.
    ``Action'' alternative 1: The Service would issuance 30-year ITPs 
to the applicants for four covered species (excluding cactus wren) with 
reduced conservation, consistent with the 2008 Land Management Plan 
prepared by the District.

Public Review

    Any comments we receive will become part of the decision 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 can 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.

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 NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR 
1506.6).

Michael Fris,
Assistant Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 2019-26478 Filed 12-6-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P