We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct scientific research to promote conservation or other activities intended to enhance the...
Notice of availability; receipt of permit applications and request for comments.
SUMMARY:
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct scientific research to promote conservation or other activities intended to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (Act). We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to provide written data, views, or arguments with respect to any application noticed within 30 days following the publication of this notice. Before issuing any of the requested permits, we will take into consideration all information that we receive during the public comment period.
DATES:
Comments will be accepted on or before June 29, 2026. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see
ADDRESSES
, below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing date.
To ensure your comment is received and considered, you must submit it using one of the methods identified in the
ADDRESSES
section of this document. Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be considered.
ADDRESSES:
Reviewing Documents:
Submit requests for copies of applications and supporting materials to
permitsr4es@fws.gov
(see
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
). All requests for application information and comments should specify the applicant's name and application number accordingly to facilitate the request.
Comment submission:
All submissions must include the docket number [FWS-R4-ES-2026-1024] for this document. You must submit comments using one of the following methods:
Electronic submission:
Federal eRulemaking Portal at:
https://www.regulations.gov.
In the Search box, enter FWS-R4-ES-2026-1024, which is the docket number for this action. Then
( printed page 32080)
click the Search button. On the resulting page, you may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment.” Please ensure that you have found the correct docket before submitting your comments.
U.S. mail:
Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-1024, Policy and Regulations Branch, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be considered. We will not accept comments via email, fax, or hand delivery. We are not required to consider comments that are submitted after the comment period ends or that are submitted via a method outside of these instructions.
We will post all comments at
https://www.regulations.gov.
You may request that we withhold personal identifying information from public review; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. See Public Availability of Comments for more information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kaye London via telephone at 404-679-7097 or via email at
permitsr4es@fws.gov.
Individuals in the U.S. 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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), invite review and comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies on applications we have received for permits to conduct certain activities with endangered and threatened species under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531et seq.), and our regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR part 17. Documents and other information submitted with the applications are available for review, subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), and the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).
Background
With some exceptions, the Act prohibits take of listed species unless a Federal permit is issued that authorizes such take. As defined in Section 3 of the Act, “the term `take' means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
A recovery permit issued under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act authorizes the permittee to take endangered or threatened species while engaging in activities that are conducted for scientific purposes that promote recovery of species or for enhancement of propagation or survival of species. These activities often include the capture and collection of species, which would result in prohibited take if a permit were not issued. The regulations implementing section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act for these permits are found at 50 CFR 17.22 for endangered wildlife species, 50 CFR 17.32 for threatened wildlife species, 50 CFR 17.62 for endangered plant species, and 50 CFR 17.72 for threatened plant species.
Permit Applications Available for Review and Comment
The Act requires that we invite public comments on permit applications before issuing respective permits. Accordingly, we also invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to submit written data, views, or arguments with respect to these applications. The comments and recommendations that will be most useful and likely to influence agency decisions are those with substantive content supported by quantitative information or published research results. Proposed activities in the following applications for permits are for scientific purposes or enhancement of propagation or survival of the species in the wild.
Permit application No.
Applicant
Species
Location(s)
Activity(ies)
Type of Take
Permit action
ES136808-4
Loggerhead Marinelife Center; Juno Beach, FL
Add Endangered species: loggerhead sea turtle (
Caretta caretta) and green sea turtle (
Chelonia mydas)
Florida
Collection of blood and tissues, and transport
Handling
Renewal & Amendment.
ES35594A-6
Alabama Power Company; Calera, AL
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens), Indiana bat (
Myotis sodalis), northern long-eared bat (
Myotis septentrionalis), and tricolored bat (
Perimyotis subflavus)
Alabama
Presence/absence surveys
Capture and handle
Amendment.
ES48582B-3
Kim Chase; Woodstock, GA
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens), Indiana bat (
Myotis sodalis), northern long-eared bat (
Myotis septentrionalis), and tricolored bat (
Perimyotis subflavus)
North Carolina
Presence/absence surveys
Capture and handle
Renewal & Amendment.
ES59340D
Ashley Long; Baton Rouge, LA
Northern long-eared bat (
Myotis septentrionalis)
Louisiana
Mist-netting
Capture and handle
Renewal.
ES66039A-2
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; Little Rock, AR
Add the following endangered mussels: Pink mucket (
Lampsilis abrupta), scaleshell mussel (
Leptodea leptodon), and spectaclecase (
Cumberlandia monodonta)
Arkansas
Captive propagation and release for population augmentation and reintroduction activities
Handling
Renewal & Amendment.
ES68453D-1
Andrew Edelman; Carrolton, GA
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens), Indiana bat (
Myotis sodalis), northern long-eared bat (
Myotis septentrionalis), and tricolored bat (
Perimyotis subflavus)
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee
Presence/absence surveys, mist-netting, banding, and tagging
Add Endangered species: James spinymussel (
Parvaspina collina), and purple cat's paw (
Epioblasma obliquata)
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia
Presence/absence surveys
Handling
Amendment.
PER0018443-2
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center; Vicksburg, MS
Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
Collection of leaves/pitchers
N/A
New.
( printed page 32082)
PER24808879-0
Crystal Birdsall; Lancaster, KY
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens), Indiana bat (
Myotis sodalis), northern long-eared bat (
Myotis septentrionalis), Virginia big-eared bat (
Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus), Ozark big-eared bat (
Corynorhinus townsendii ingens), and tricolored bat (
Perimyotis subflavus)
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Presence/absence surveys, mist-netting/harp trapping, radio transmitter application, and guano swabbing/collection
Capture and handling
New.
PER25382284-0
Mackenzie Milner; Winchester, TN
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens)
Tennessee
Population monitoring
Possible disturbance
New.
PER25652385-0
National Park Service, Gulf Islands National Seashore; Ocean Springs, MS
Aristida chaseae
(no common name), pelos del diablo (
Aristida portoricensis), Vahl's boxwood (
Buxus vahlii), capá rosa (
Callicarpa ampla),
Calyptranthes thomasiana
(no common name),
Catesbaea melanocarpa
(no common name),
Cordia bellonis
(no common name), palo de nigua (
Cornutia obovate),
Cranichis ricartii
(no common name)
,
higuero de Sierra (
Crescentia portoricensis), uvillo (
Eugenia haematocarpa), beautiful goetzea (
Goetzea elegans), Cook's holly (
Ilex cookie),
Ilex sintenisii
(no common name), West Indian walnut (
Juglans jamaicensis),
Lyonia truncata
var.
proctorii
(no common name) , marron bacora (
Solanum conocarpum), palo de jazmin (
Styrax portoricensis), palo colorado (
Ternstroemia luquillensis),
Ternstroemia subsessilis
(no common name),
Vernonia proctorii
(no common name), St. Thomas prickly-ash (
Zanthoxylum thomasianum), eugenia (
Eugenia woodburyana),
Gesneria pauciflora
(no common name),
Stahlia monospermaI
(cóbana negra), and
Varronia rupicola
(no common name)
Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Croix and St. John)
Collection of seed, leaf, pollen, root, and cuttings
Surveys to determine population trends, assemblage health, and community structure. Listed species are not the target of the study, however, may be encountered within the study area
Handling
New.
PER30017987
Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research; Gainesville, FL
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin
Presence/absence surveys
Handling
New.
PER30815306
Bat Education and Rehabilitation of Grainger County Inc.; Blain, TN
Gray bat (
Myotis grisescens)
Tennessee
Housing, care, and display of unreleasable injured bat for education
Handling
New.
Public Availability of Comments
Written comments we receive 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, be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask in your comment to 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.
Next Steps
After the comment period closes, we will make decisions regarding permit issuance. If we issue permits to any of the applicants listed above in this notice, we will publish a subsequent notice in the
Federal Register
. The notice announcing the permit issuance may be located by searching regulations.gov for the permit application number listed in the table above. Enter the search exactly as the permit application number appears above, with spaces and hyphens as necessary. For example, to find information about the potential issuance of Permit No. PER1234567-0, go to
https://www.regulations.gov
and enter “PER1234567-0” in the Search field.
An interested party opposed to a recovery permit's issuance may object by following the requirements in 50 CFR 17.22(d). The Service will notify the interested party of the Service's decision on the permit application under that section.
Authority
We publish this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531et seq.).