[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 11, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21705-21706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07532]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037; FXES11140400000-223-FF04EF4000]


Receipt of Enhancement of Survival Permit Applications in Support 
of Quail Country Programmatic Candidate Conservation Agreement With 
Assurances for North Florida and Southwest Georgia; Categorical 
Exclusion

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt 
of two separate applications, one each from the Florida Fish and 
Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Georgia Department of 
Natural Resources (GADNR), for enhancement of survival permits under 
the Endangered Species Act. The FWC and GADNR have each applied for a 
separate permit associated with the implementation of the Quail Country 
Programmatic Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) 
for 12 species in North Florida and Southwest Georgia. Successful 
implementation of the CCAA is expected to enhance the habitat of the 
species and protect their habitats from destruction and degradation. We 
request public comment on the applications, which include the CCAA, and 
on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting 
actions may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the 
Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA 
regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary 
determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and 
low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public 
review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and 
Federal agencies.

DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before May 11, 2023.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents online 
in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037 at https://www.regulations.gov.
    Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the 
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
     Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R4-ES-2023-0037; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: JAO/3W, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Elmore, by U.S. mail (see 
ADDRESSES), by telephone 706-544-6428, or via email at 
[email protected]. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, 
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. 
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services 
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 
announce receipt of an application from the Florida Fish and Wildlife 
Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Georgia Department of Natural 
Resources (GADNR) (collectively, applicants) for enhancement of 
survival permits associated with a candidate conservation agreement 
with assurances (CCAA) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 
amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
    The applications address the potential take of 12 species via 
implementation of the CCAA on eligible non-Federal lands in Gadsden, 
Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla Counties, 
Florida, as well as in Baker, Brooks, Calhoun, Colquitt, Crisp, 
Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Grady, Lee, Macon, Marion, Miller, 
Mitchell, Pulaski, Schley, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Terrell, Thomas, 
Tift, Turner, Seminole, Webster, Wilcox, and Worth Counties,

[[Page 21706]]

Georgia (collectively ``Quail Country''). Covered species include the 
eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), Florida pine 
snake (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus), frosted elfin (Callophrys 
irus), gopher frog (Lithobates (Rana) capito), gopher tortoise 
(Gopherus polyphemus), Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii), 
monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), southeastern American kestrel 
(Falco sparverius paulus), southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys pinetis), 
southern hognose snake (Heterodon simus), striped newt (Notophthalmus 
perstriatus), and a raptor, the swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides 
forficatus) (collectively, ``covered species'').
    The CCAA was developed to facilitate collaboration between private 
property owners and State and Federal agencies to benefit the covered 
species on enrolled lands in accordance with the Service's CCAA policy 
(81 FR 95164; December 27, 2016) and regulations (50 CFR 17.22(d) and 
50 CFR 17.32(d)). Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy 
will act as a cooperator under this CCAA. Successful implementation of 
the CCAA is expected to enhance and protect the habitat of the covered 
species from destruction and degradation, which are the most common 
threats to the species. This CCAA is unique in that some of the covered 
species are listed by the FWC as State endangered, threatened, species 
of special concern, or rare species. Typically, a CCAA and an 
enhancement of survival permit would provide an enrolled non-Federal 
property owner with Federal regulatory assurances any CCAA-covered 
species that become federally listed under the ESA in the future. In 
this case, an enrolled property owner would not only receive assurances 
from the Service in the event of Federal listing, but also regulatory 
assurances from the FWC for species that are already State listed in 
Florida [Rule 68A-27.007(2)(c), F.A.C.].
    The applicants have requested a term of 30 years for the permits, 
with the possibility of extension if requested by the applicants prior 
to permit expiration. We request public comment on the applications, 
which include the applicants' CCAA, and on the Service's preliminary 
determination that the proposed permitting actions may qualify for a 
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental 
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR 
1501.4), the Department of the Interior (DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR 
46), and the DOI Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make this 
preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action 
statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also 
available for public review.

Candidate Conservation Agreements With Assurances

    Under a CCAA, participating property owners voluntarily undertake 
management activities on their lands to remove or reduce threats and 
enhance, restore, or maintain habitat benefiting species that may 
warrant listing under the ESA. CCAAs encourage private and other non-
Federal property owners to implement conservation efforts for candidate 
and at-risk species on their lands by assuring they will not be 
subjected to increased property use restrictions should the species 
become listed as ``threatened'' or ``endangered'' under the ESA in the 
future. Application requirements and issuance criteria for CCAAs are 
found in 50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d).

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    The issuance of these permits is a Federal action that triggers the 
need for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary 
determination that the proposed permit issuance is eligible for 
categorical exclusion under NEPA, based on the following criteria: (1) 
Implementation of the CCAA would result in minor or negligible adverse 
effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species and their 
habitats; (2) implementation of the CCAA would result in minor or 
negligible adverse effects on other environmental values or resources; 
and (3) impacts of the CCAA, considered together with the impacts of 
other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable similarly situated 
projects, would not result over time in significant cumulative adverse 
effects to environmental values or resources. To make this 
determination, we used our low-effect screening form, which is also 
available for public review.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that 
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, 
may be made available to the public. While you may request that we 
withhold your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee 
that we will be able to do so.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the applications and the comments to 
determine whether to issue the requested permits. We will also conduct 
an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to 
evaluate the effects of the proposed take of the species. After 
considering the preceding and other matters, we will determine whether 
the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA have 
been met. If met, the Service will issue a permit to each of the 
applicants (Georgia PER0119056 and Florida PER0119117) for incidental 
take of the covered species in accordance with the CCAA.

Authority

    The Service provides 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 1500-1508 and 43 CFR 46).

Peter Maholland,
Field Supervisor, Georgia Ecological Services Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-07532 Filed 4-10-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P