Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit for Karner Blue Butterfly, From the Slack Chemical Company, and Availability of Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of an application for an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) and a proposed Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) from the Slack Chemical Company for public review and comment. We received the permit application from the Slack Chemical Company for incidental take of the endangered Karner blue butterfly resulting from the construction of a gravel access road, as well as from proposed mitigation activities over the next 10 years. Our preliminary determination is that the proposed HCP qualifies as low-effect in accordance with our Handbook for Habitat Conservation Planning and Incidental Taking Permitting Process. To make this determination, we used our Low-Effect HCP Screening Form/ Environmental Action Statement (EAS), the preliminary version of which is also available for review. We provide this notice to (1) seek public comments on the proposed HCP and application; (2) seek public comments on our preliminary determination that the HCP qualifies as low-effect and is therefore eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); and (3) advise other Federal and State agencies, affected Tribes, and the public of our intent to issue an ITP.