[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 156 (Tuesday, August 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65920-65921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18028]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0112; FXES11140300000-245-FF03E00000]


Draft Environmental Assessment; Receipt of an Application for 
Incidental Take Permit and Habitat Conservation Plan for the Edenville 
Dam Restoration Project; Gladwin and Midland Counties, MI

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an 
application from the Four Lakes Task Force (applicant) for an 
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. If 
approved, the permit would be for a 30-year period and would authorize 
the incidental take of one endangered species, the snuffbox mussel. The 
applicant has prepared the Edenville Dam Restoration Project Habitat 
Conservation Plan (HCP) to cover activities associated with refilling 
and maintaining a court-ordered legal lake limit for Wixom Lake, 
directly upstream of the dam, located in Gladwin and Midland Counties, 
Michigan. We make available for public comment the applicant's HCP and 
announce the availability of a draft environmental assessment, which 
has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance 
with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. We 
invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to 
comment on these documents.

DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 
September 12, 2024.

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-R3-ES-2024-0112 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-R3-ES-2024-0112.
     U.S. mail: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public Comments 
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0112; U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA 
22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Hicks, Field Supervisor, 
Michigan Ecological Services Field Office, by email at 
[email protected], or by telephone at 517-351-2555; or Andrew Horton, 
Regional HCP Coordinator, by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at 612-713-5337. 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 have received an application from the 
Four Lakes Task Force (applicant) for a 30-year incidental take permit 
(ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The Four Lakes Task Force was established and 
became the delegated authority of Secord, Smallwood, Wixom, and Sanford 
Lakes and their dams (Secord, Smallwood, Edenville, and Sanford) for 
Midland and Gladwin Counties. The applicant petitioned the circuit 
courts in Midland and Gladwin Counties to order a lake level for Wixom 
Lake under part 307 of Michigan Public Act 451 of 1994. The lake level 
order was issued in June 2019, legally determining both summer (675.2-
foot (ft)) and winter (672.2-ft) normal lake levels on Wixom Lake, 
creating a special assessment district, and designating the applicant 
as the delegated authority under part 307 to repair, maintain, and 
operate Edenville Dam and other dams located within the Four Lakes 
system. The applicant is applying for an ITP for take of the federally 
endangered snuffbox mussel (Epioblasma triquetra) because of this 
action. The applicant has prepared a habitat conservation plan (HCP) 
that describes the actions and measures that the applicant would 
implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the 
snuffbox mussel. We also announce the availability of a draft 
environmental assessment, which has been prepared in response to the 
permit application in accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing regulations prohibit the 
take of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. ``Take'' is 
defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, 
kill, trap, capture, or collect [listed animal species,] or to attempt 
to engage in such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1538). However, under section 
10(a) of the ESA, we may issue permits to authorize incidental take of 
listed species. ``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as take that 
is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise 
lawful activity (16 U.S.C. 1539). Regulations governing incidental take 
permits for endangered and threatened species, respectively, are found 
in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 
17.32. Impacts to plants do not fall under the definition of ``take''; 
therefore, the Service cannot authorize incidental take of plants. 
However, the Service cannot issue an ITP that would jeopardize the 
continued existence or adversely modify the designated critical habitat 
of any listed species.

Applicant's Proposed Project

    The applicant requests a 30-year ITP for take of the federally 
endangered snuffbox mussel. The applicant determined that take is 
reasonably certain to occur incidental to maintaining the legal lake 
limit of Wixom Lake. This action consists of refilling the 1,908-acre 
(ac) basin back to court ordered lake limits, which includes the 69.21-
ac area where snuffbox impacts are expected to occur. The proposed 
conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP is designed to 
avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of seasonal drawdowns that 
may degrade a portion of available snuffbox habitat. The biological 
goals and objectives are to maintain or improve water quality, maintain 
or improve bank stability and bed integrity, maintain or improve 
suitable aquatic habitat, and maintain hydrology sufficient for long-
term persistence of snuffbox. Based on estimated density of mussels 
discovered during survey, the estimated level of lethal take from the 
proposed permit term is 84 individuals. To offset the impacts of the 
taking, the applicant proposes to introduce measures that are 
anticipated to improve habitat conditions for snuffbox within the 
permit area. Biological goals and objectives will be adaptively managed 
and, if necessary, mitigation may be provided outside of the permit 
area for the covered species.

National Environmental Policy Act

    The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need 
for compliance with NEPA. We prepared a

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draft EA that analyzes the environmental impacts on the human 
environment resulting from three alternatives: a no-action alternative, 
a dam removal alternative, and the applicant's proposed action.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments 
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of 
section 10(a) of the ESA. We will also conduct an intra-Service 
consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects 
of the proposed take. After considering the above findings, we will 
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B) 
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue the requested 
ITP to the applicant.

Request for Public Comments

    The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested 
parties on the proposed HCP, draft EA, and supporting documents during 
a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In particular, information 
and comments regarding the following topics are requested:
    1. The effects that implementation of any alternative could have on 
the human environment;
    2. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects 
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed;
    3. Any threats to the snuffbox mussel that may influence their 
populations over the life of the ITP that are not addressed in the 
proposed HCP or EA;
    4. Whether the conservation measures outlined in the HCP are 
sufficient to offset impacts over a 30-year duration; and
    5. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the 
proposed action on the human environment.

Availability of Public Comments

    You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under 
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://www.regulations.gov all public 
comments and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All 
comments received, including names and addresses, will 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 NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR parts 
1500 through 1508; 43 CFR part 46).

Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-18028 Filed 8-12-24; 8:45 am]
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