SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from the applicant for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; ( printed page 35702) 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally threatened coastal California gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica californica) incidental to the development of a mixed- density residential community (project) in the City of Moorpark, Ventura County, California. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that this proposed ITP qualifies as low effect, and may qualify for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR part 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM 1, Appendix 2 Section 8.5C(2)). To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a low-effect screening form, which is available for public review.

Background

On March 30, 1993 (58 FR 16742), the Service listed the coastal California gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica californica) as threatened. Section 9 of the ESA prohibits “take” of fish and wildlife species listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538), where take is defined to include the following activities: “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct” (16 U.S.C. 1532). The take prohibitions of section 9 are extended to species listed as threatened at the discretion of the DOI Secretary of and were extended to coastal California gnatcatcher, with exceptions. On December 20, 1993, the Service published a 4(d) rule, which includes exceptions to incidental take associated land-use activities addressed in an approved Natural Community Conservation Planning Act program undertaken by the State of California and local governments (58 FR 65088).

Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), we may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife species that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful activity. Regulations governing incidental take permits for endangered and threatened species are in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively. Issuance of an ITP also must not jeopardize the existence of federally listed fish, wildlife, or plant species. The permittee would receive assurances under our “No Surprises” regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5) and 17.32(b)(5)).

Applicant's Proposed Activities

The applicant has applied for a permit for incidental take of the coastal California gnatcatcher. The take would occur in association with activities necessary for the development of a largely vacant 68-acre (ac) site by constructing residences, associated infrastructure, flood-control facilities, a new road providing access to the site, as well as enhancement and permanent protection of disturbed coastal sage scrub vegetation on 28.76 ac of conserved land for the coastal California gnatcatcher.

The HCP includes avoidance and minimization measures for the coastal California gnatcatcher, and mitigation for unavoidable loss of occupied habitat. The applicant will commensurately offset impacts by placing conservation easements over approximately 13.22 ac of the project site, which will be restored and/or enhanced, and 15.54 ac on adjacent conserved open space areas owned by the City of Moorpark, which will be enhanced.

Public Availability of Comments

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 ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Our Preliminary Determination

The Service has made a preliminary determination that the applicant's proposed project would individually and cumulatively have a minor effect on the coastal California gnatcatcher and the human environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a “low-effect” ITP that individually or cumulatively would have a minor effect on the species and may qualify for application of a categorical exclusion pursuant to NEPA, DOI's NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. A “low-effect” ITP is one that would result in (1) minor or nonsignificant effects on species covered in the HCP; (2) nonsignificant effects on the human environment; and (3) impacts that, when added together with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonable foreseeable actions, would not result in significant cumulative effects to the human environment.

Next Steps

The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received to determine whether to issue the requested ITP. 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 preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue an ITP to the applicant.

Authority

We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Department's NEPA implementing regulations (43 CFR part 46).

91 FR 35701