Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Enhancement of Survival Permit Application; Draft Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for Eight Species in Northeastern Wyoming and Southeastern Montana, with Integrated Candidate Conservation Agreement and Conservation Agreement; Draft Environmental Assessment

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), received an application from the Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association (Thunder Basin Association) for an Enhancement of Survival permit (permit) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), associated with implementation of a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for eight species (Covered Species) in specified areas in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana (Coverage Area). The CCAA would implement a Conservation Strategy developed by the Thunder Basin Association for farm and ranch operations, certain recreational activities, oil and gas activities, and surface/in-situ mining activities on enrolled non-Federal lands in the Coverage Area. The Association also proposes that the Conservation Strategy be implemented on Federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the Coverage Area through two additional agreements, a Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA) and Conservation Agreement (CA), that would also be administered by the Association. The intent of the CCAA and associated CCA and CA is to provide non-Federal landowners and BLM and USFS pemittees/lessees in the Coverage Area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the Covered Species and their habitats on enrolled properties while carrying out their operations in a manner that would contribute to precluding the need to list any of these species. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we have prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) that analyzes the potential impacts of issuance of the permit and implementation of the proposed CCAA, as well as the potential impacts of other Federal entities entering into the companion CCA and CA. The draft EA also analyzes the potential impacts of two alternatives to the consolidated proposed action, including a no action alternative. The permit application, the draft CCAA and draft EA are available for public review, and we seek public comment on these documents and potential issuance of the permit associated with the CCAA. Because the draft CCA and CA are part of the proposed action addressed in the draft EA, we have also made these draft agreements available for public review.