SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) invites the public to comment on applications for permits under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and our regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR part 17. Any documents or other information submitted with the applications will be available for public 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 certain activities with listed species, including the take of listed wildlife, unless a Federal permit is issued that authorizes such activities. A recovery permit issued by the Service under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act authorizes otherwise prohibited take of listed species by the permittee while engaging in activities that are conducted for scientific purposes that promote recovery of the species, for enhancement of propagation, or survival of the species in the wild. The Service regulations implementing the Act's prohibitions and permitting requirements for listed species are set forth in 50 CFR part 17.

Permit Applications Available for Review and Comment

Section 10(c) of the Act requires the Service to publish notice of each application in the Federal Register and to invite interested parties to submit written data, views, or arguments before we take final action on the permit application. Accordingly, we invite comments on these applications. The comments and recommendations that will be most useful, and likely to influence agency decisions, are those supported by quantitative information or studies. An interested party opposed to a recovery permit's issuance may object during the comment period by following the requirements in 50 CFR 17.22(d) and request notification of the final action. The Service will follow the procedures in that section regarding notification of interested parties who file objections to issuance of permits.

The proposed activities in the following permit requests are for the recovery and enhancement of propagation or survival of the species in the wild. Applications are sorted by regional offices that have jurisdiction over specific geographic areas. Information regarding each of our regions can be found at: www.fws.gov/​about/​regions.

We invite comments on the following applications:

Public Availability of Comments

Any written comments that we receive become part of the decision record associated with the above actions. 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 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. You may view and comment on others' public comments at www.regulations.gov unless our allowing so would violate the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) or Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).

Next Steps

A notice is published in the Federal Register under section 10(d) of the Act for any permit issued to an applicant under section 10(a)(1)(A). Such notices may be batched to include multiple permits issued. You may locate the notice announcing the permit issuance by searching www.regulations.gov for the permit number listed above in this document. For example, to find information about the potential issuance of Permit No. 12345A, you would go to regulations.gov and search for “12345A”.

Authority

We publish this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

91 FR 56659