[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 29 (Friday, February 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8029-8031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02932]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R1-ES-2022-0005; FXES11140100000-212-FF01E0000]


St. Martin's Habitat Conservation Plan and Categorical Exclusion 
for the Yelm Mazama Pocket Gopher, Thurston County, Washington

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, received an 
application from Saint Martin's Abbey (applicant) for an incidental 
take permit (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The ITP would 
authorize the applicant's take of the Yelm subspecies of the Mazama 
pocket gopher, incidental to otherwise lawful construction and 
maintenance activities at Saint Martin's University in Thurston County, 
Washington. The application includes a habitat conservation plan (HCP) 
with measures to minimize and mitigate the impacts of the taking on the 
covered species. We have also prepared a draft environmental action 
statement for our preliminary determination that the HCP and our permit 
decision may be eligible for categorical exclusion under the National 
Environmental Policy Act. We provide this notice to open a public 
comment period and invite comments from all interested parties 
regarding the documents.

DATES: Please submit written comments by March 14, 2022.

ADDRESSES: To request further information or submit written comments, 
please use one of the following methods:
     Internet: You may view or download copies of the HCP, 
draft environmental action statement, and additional information at 
http://www.fws.gov/wafwo/. You may submit

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comments via http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R1-ES-2022-0005.
     Email: [email protected]. Include ``St. Martin's Abbey 
HCP'' in the subject line of the message.
     U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R1-ES-2022-0005; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marty Acker, Section 10/NEPA 
Coordinator, Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 360-753-9440. 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 an application for an incidental take permit (ITP) 
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 
as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The ITP would authorize the 
applicant's ``take'' of the Yelm subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher 
(Thomomys mazama yelmensis), listed as threatened under the ESA, 
incidental to otherwise lawful construction and maintenance activities 
at Saint Martin's University in Thurston County, Washington. The 
application includes a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that describes 
actions the applicant will take to minimize and mitigate the impacts of 
the taking on the Yelm pocket gopher (the covered species). We have 
also prepared a draft environmental action statement (EAS) for our 
preliminary determination that the HCP and our permit decision may be 
eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We provide this notice to 
open a public comment period and invite comments from all interested 
parties regarding the documents.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of fish and wildlife 
species listed as endangered or threatened. Under the ESA, the term 
``take'' means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, 
capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct (16 
U.S.C. 1532(19)). The term ``harm,'' as defined in our regulations, 
includes significant habitat modification or degradation that results 
in death or injury to listed species by significantly impairing 
essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, or 
sheltering (50 CFR 17.3).
    Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA contains provisions that authorize 
the Service to issue permits to non-Federal entities for the take of 
endangered and threatened species caused by otherwise lawful 
activities, provided the following criteria are met: (1) The taking 
will be incidental; (2) the applicant will, to the maximum extent 
practicable, minimize and mitigate the impact of such taking; (3) the 
applicant will ensure that adequate funding for the plan will be 
provided; (4) the taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of 
the survival and recovery of the species in the wild; and (5) the 
applicant will carry out any other measures that the Service may 
require as being necessary or appropriate for the purposes of the plan. 
Regulations governing permits for endangered and threatened species are 
found at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively.

Proposed Action

    The applicant proposes to construct and maintain facilities on the 
existing Saint Martin's University campus in Thurston County, 
Washington. The HCP plan area is a 232-acre (ac) area. As described in 
the HCP, within the plan area, the 139-ac redevelopment area (permit 
area) contains 3.4 ac of occupied Yelm pocket gopher habitat, 1.4 ac of 
unoccupied Yelm pocket gopher habitat, 7.1 ac of landscaped trees and 
shrubs, 68.4 ac of developed buildings and infrastructure, and 0.7 ac 
of stormwater facilities, while the remaining 57.5 ac is forest, and 
not habitat. Proposed covered activities include construction within 
the 139-ac permit area during the 20-year permit term that may include 
construction and maintenance of up to six new buildings; replacement of 
existing buildings; construction and maintenance of associated parking 
lots, sidewalks, landscaping, storm water facilities, and utilities; 
and landscaping and management of athletic fields. The final number of 
buildings and activities are currently unknown, and building will be in 
response to University growth and student body needs, so the HCP 
describes the maximum amount of proposed construction and maintenance 
activity likely to occur during the permit term.
    The proposed action is anticipated to impact up to 12 ac of Yelm 
pocket gopher habitat in the permit area. Due to differences in Yelm 
pocket gopher occupancy, the applicant has proposed a functional-ac 
system to quantify the impacts to the Yelm pocket gopher at the project 
site, based on the extent and permanence of impacts to ac of habitat. 
In this system, acreages are weighted according to Yelm pocket gopher 
occupancy, existing habitat quality, and land development. The 
resulting value is 4 functional ac of impact, out of the original 12 ac 
of Yelm pocket gopher habitat in the redevelopment area. The plan area 
also includes 26 ac of Yelm pocket gopher habitat outside of the 
redevelopment area on fields that are maintained by mowing.
    The applicant proposes to mitigate for unavoidable impacts to Yelm 
pocket gopher by acquiring credits in the Service-approved Leitner 
Prairie conservation site, which is currently occupied by the Yelm 
pocket gopher. These credits will fully fund the permanent management, 
monitoring, and adaptive management on 4 ac of the Leitner Prairie 
conservation site. The conservation site will be managed for successful 
Yelm pocket gopher feeding, breeding, and sheltering.
    In addition to mitigation at the conservation site, 26 ac of 
grassland habitat occupied by Yelm pocket gophers will be maintained on 
the project site by mowing during the 20-year permit term to provide 
additional mitigation. This mitigation offsets the impact of the taking 
attributable to the project site being located outside of the service 
area where the conservation site is located. Service areas are 
geographic areas we have defined to recognize possible differences 
between subpopulations within the range of the Yelm pocket gopher.
    The Service proposes to issue the requested 20-year ITP based on 
the applicant's commitment to implement the HCP, if ESA section 
10(a)(2)(B) permit issuance criteria are met.

Public Comments

    You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods 
listed in ADDRESSES. We specifically request information, views, and 
suggestions from interested parties regarding our proposed Federal 
action, including, without limitation, adequacy of the HCP, whether the 
HCP meets requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 13 and 17, and 
adequacy of the EAS pursuant to the requirements of NEPA. We will post 
all comments on https://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that 
we will post online any personal information that you provide (see 
Public Availability of Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION). We 
request that you submit comments by only the methods described above.

Public Availability of Comments

    All comments and materials we receive become part of the public 
record

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associated with this action. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personally identifiable information in 
your comments, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personally identifiable information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personally identifiable 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 on https://www.regulations.gov.

Next Steps

    After public review, we will evaluate the permit application, 
associated documents, and any comments received to determine whether 
the permit application meets the requirements of section 10(a)(2)(B) of 
the ESA. We will also evaluate whether issuance of the requested 
section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would comply with section 7 of the ESA by 
conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation under section 
7(a)(2) of the ESA on the proposed ITP action. The final NEPA and 
permit determinations will not be completed until after the end of the 
30-day comment period; we will fully consider all comments received 
during the comment period. If we determine that all requirements are 
met, we will issue an ITP under section 10(A)(1)(B) of the ESA to the 
applicant for the take of the covered species, incidental to otherwise 
lawful covered activities.

Authority

    We provide this notice in accordance with the requirements of 
section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing 
regulations (50 CFR 17.32), and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its 
implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46.205).

Robyn Thorson,
Regional Director, Columbia-Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands 
Regions, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-02932 Filed 2-10-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P