Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Amendment to the 1997 Washington State Department of Natural Resources Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit for the Long-Term Conservation Strategy for the Marbled Murrelet

With the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have jointly developed a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) addressing an amendment to the 1997 WDNR Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to cover implementation of a long-term conservation strategy (LTCS) for the marbled murrelet. The DEIS also addresses an amendment to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) section 10 incidental take permit (ITP) for the WDNR HCP to cover implementation of the LTCS. The DEIS is intended to satisfy the requirements of both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). We request comments on these documents.