[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51366-51367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19916]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2021-0056; FF06E21000 212 FXES11140600000]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Enhancement of 
Survival Permit Application; Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement and 
Candidate Conservation Agreement With Assurances for 14 Aquatic Species 
and Associated Categorical Exclusion; State of Kansas

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 (Service), are 
announcing the availability of documents related to an application for 
an enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered Species 
Act. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has applied for a 
permit associated with the implementation of a programmatic safe harbor 
agreement (SHA) and candidate conservation agreement with assurances 
(CCAA) for 14 aquatic species in Kansas. The documents available for 
review and comment are the applicant's programmatic SHA/CCAA, which is 
part of the permit application, and our draft environmental action 
statement and low-effect screening form, which support a categorical 
exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. We invite 
comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local 
governments.

DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 
October 15, 2021. Comments submitted online at Regulations.gov (see 
ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 15, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as 
well as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be 
available for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2021-
0056 at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Submitting Comments: To submit written comments, please use one of 
the following methods, and note that your information requests or 
comments are in reference to the Kansas Aquatic SHA/CCAA.
     Online: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments to Docket Number FWS-R6-ES-2021-
0056.
     U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R6-ES-2021-0056; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
    We request that you send comments by only one of the methods 
described above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gibran Suleiman, by phone at 785-539-
3474, extension 114, by email at [email protected], or via the 
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), have received an application from Kansas Department of 
Wildlife and Parks (KDWP, applicant). The applicant has applied for a 
50-year enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The 
application addresses the potential take of five aquatic species 
associated with the implementation of a programmatic safe harbor 
agreement (SHA) and nine aquatic species associated with the 
implementation of a programmatic candidate conservation agreement with 
assurances (CCAA) on non-Federal lands in the State of Kansas. The 
documents available for review and comment are the applicant's 
programmatic SHA/CCAA, which is part of the permit application, and our 
draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, 
which support a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental 
Policy Act. We invite comments on all of the documents from the public 
and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.

Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements With 
Assurances

    A SHA is an agreement between the Service, partners, and 
landowners, for voluntary management of non-Federal lands to contribute 
towards recovery of an ESA-listed species in a manner that is 
consistent with the Service's policy on SHAs (64 FR 32717, June 17, 
1999) and applicable regulations. A CCAA is an agreement between the 
Service, partners, and landowners for voluntary management of non-
Federal lands to remove or reduce key threats to species that may 
become listed under the ESA, in a manner that is consistent with the 
Service's policy on CCAAs (81 FR 95164, December 27, 2016) and 
applicable regulations. In return for implementing conservation 
measures in a SHA/CCAA, the Service gives participants assurances that 
the Service will not impose land, water, or resource use restrictions 
or conservation requirements on ESA-listed species, or those that may 
become listed, beyond those agreed to in the SHA/CCAA.

Applicant's Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement/Candidate Conservation 
Agreement With Assurances

    The KDWP has submitted this programmatic SHA/CCAA to facilitate the 
reintroduction and implementation of conservation measures for the 
covered species on non-Federal lands in Kansas. The documents available 
for review and comment are the applicant's programmatic SHA/CCAA, which 
is part of the permit application, and our draft environmental action 
statement and low-effect screening form, which support a categorical 
exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act.
    To enroll in the programmatic SHA/CCAA, a non-Federal landowner 
would enter into a landowner agreement with KDWP to enroll all or a 
portion of their property under the SHA and/or CCAA. Upon signature by 
both parties, KDWP would issue a certificate of inclusion to the non-
Federal landowner, extending assurances and take authorization to the 
participating landowner for the appropriate covered species. The 
requested permit duration is for 50 years from permit issuance. 
Proposed conservation measures include the introduction, 
reintroduction, augmentation, or translocation of the covered species, 
and protection or enhancement of aquatic, wetland, riparian, or 
adjacent upland habitats for the covered species. Conservation measures 
would be site-specific and developed by the participating landowner and 
KDWP. Incidental take of covered species may occur as a result of the 
implementation of conservation measures or ongoing land management 
activities on the enrolled lands.

Covered Species

    The five ESA-listed species included as covered species in the SHA 
are the Federally threatened Neosho madtom (Noturus placidus), Arkansas 
River shiner (Notropis girardi), and rabbitsfoot (Quadrula cylindrica 
cylindrica) and the Federally endangered Topeka shiner (Notropis 
topeka) and Neosho mucket (Lampsilis rafinesqueana). The covered 
species included in the CCAA are the alligator snapping turtle 
(Macrochelys temminckii), peppered chub (Macrhybopsis tetranema), 
plains minnow (Hybognathus placitus), silver chub (Macrhybopsis 
storeriana), hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus), butterfly mussel 
(Ellipsaria lineolata), fluted shell (Lasmigona costata), cylindrical 
papershell (Anodontoides ferussacianus), and flat floater (Anodonta 
suborbiculata).

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Public Availability of Comments

    Written comments we receive become part of the administrative 
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 17.32) 
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 
CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46).

Stephen Small,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie 
Region.
[FR Doc. 2021-19916 Filed 9-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P