6052 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 4, 2009 / Notices 

supplemental feeding program for 

condors. No lethal take of condors 

would be authorized under the permit. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Compliance 

The Service’s proposed issuance of an 

incidental take permit is a federal action 

and triggers the need for compliance 

with the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA). The Service has prepared a 

draft EIS that evaluates the impacts of 

proposed issuance of the permit and 

implementation of the MSHCP, and also 

evaluates the impacts of a reasonable 

range of alternatives. 

The draft EIS analyzes three 

alternatives in addition to the proposed 

MSHCP, summarized above. The 

Service has identified the proposed 

MSHCP as the Preferred Alternative. 

Additional alternatives are described 

below. 

No Action/No MSHCP Alternative: 

The No Action/No MSHCP Alternative 

allows for development in areas where 

the Service believes that no take of 

federally listed species is likely to occur 

and thus no ITP is required. The No 

Action/No MSHCP Alternative generally 

includes ongoing Ranch uses as well as 

development of the Covered Lands that 

could occur consistent with the Kern 

County General Plan—Land Use 

Designations on the approximately 

56,922 acres of the Covered Lands that 

are outside of the CSA and a two-mile 

buffer area around the CSA. This 

Alternative provides for development of 

up to 5,897 residential units and 

6,512,200 square feet of commercial 

space. 

Condor HCP Alternative: The Condor 

HCP Alternative would result in the 

issuance of an ITP covering only the 

California condor. No development 

would occur within the CSA for the 50- 

year term of the ITP, but permanent 

conservation easements would not be 

recorded within the CSA or elsewhere 

within the Covered Lands. This 

alternative would not include the 

comprehensive protective measures that 

would apply to all of the Covered 

Species in the Proposed MSHCP 

Alternative. The Condor HCP 

Alternative would include the same 

type and density of development within 

the Tejon Mountain Village Plan area 

and Lebec/Headquarters area as is 

included in the Proposed MSHCP 

Alternative, but would also include 

development consistent with the Kern 

County General Plan—Land Use 

Designations in all other portions of the 

Covered Lands except for the CSA. This 

Alternative provides for development of 

up to 7,100 residential units and 

4,940,710 square feet of commercial 

space development. 

MSHCP General Plan Buildout 

Alternative: The MSHCP General Plan 

Buildout Alternative would include 

issuance of an ITP for the five federally 

listed species identified above. 

Development in the locations, densities 

and intensities allowed under the 

current Kern County General Plan— 

Land Use Designations would be 

covered, except that no development 

would be allowed in the CSA during the 

term of the ITP. This Alternative 

provides for development of up to 8,752 

residential units and 6,762,690 square 

feet of commercial space development. 

Public Comments 

If you wish to comment on the permit 

application, draft MSHCP, draft IA, or 

draft EIS, you may submit your 

comments to the address listed in the 

ADDRESSES section of this document. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail 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 may 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. 

The Service will evaluate the 

application, associated documents, and 

comments submitted to them to prepare 

a final EIS. A permit decision will be 

made no sooner than 30 days after the 

publication of the final EIS and 

completion of the Record of Decision. 

This notice is provided pursuant to 

section 10(a) of the Act and pursuant to 

implementing regulations for NEPA (40 

CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: January 29, 2009. 

Ken McDermond, 

Deputy Regional Director, California and 

Nevada Region, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. E9–2303 Filed 2–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R9–EA–2009–N0009]; [97600–9792– 

0000–5d] 

Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership 

Council 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of teleconference. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), announce a public 

teleconference of the Sport Fishing and 

Boating Partnership Council (Council). 

DATES: We will hold the teleconference 

on Monday, February 23, 2009, 2–3 p.m. 

(Eastern time). If you wish to listen to 

the teleconference proceedings or 

submit written material for the Council 

to consider during the teleconference, 

notify Douglas Hobbs by Friday, 

February 13, 2009. If you wish to submit 

a written statement for Council 

consideration during the teleconference, 

we must receive it no later than 

February 16, 2009. See instructions 

under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Douglas Hobbs, Council Coordinator, 

4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Mailstop 3103– 

AEA, Arlington, VA 22203; (703) 358– 

2336 (phone); (703) 358–2548 (fax), or 

doug_hobbs@fws.gov (e-mail). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

In accordance with the requirements 

of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 

5 U.S.C. App., we give notice that the 

Council will hold a teleconference on 

Monday, February 23, 2009, from 2 to 3 

p.m. 

The Council was formed in January 

1993 to advise the Secretary of the 

Interior, through the Director of the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, on nationally 

significant recreational fishing, boating, 

and aquatic resource conservation 

issues. The Council represents the 

interests of the public and private 

sectors of the sport fishing, boating, and 

conservation communities and is 

organized to enhance partnerships 

among industry, constituency groups, 

and government. The 18-member 

Council, appointed by the Secretary of 

the Interior, includes the Service 

Director and the president of the 

Association of Fish and Wildlife 

Agencies, who both serve in ex officio 

capacities. Other Council members are 

directors from State agencies 

responsible for managing recreational 

fish and wildlife resources and 

individuals who represent the interests 

of saltwater and freshwater recreational 

fishing, recreational boating, the 

recreational fishing and boating 

industries, recreational fisheries 

resource conservation, Native American 

tribes, aquatic resource outreach and 

education, and tourism. Background 

information on the Council is available 

at http://www.fws.gov/sfbpc. 

The Council will convene to: (1) 

Approve recommendations to the 

Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service 

for funding Fiscal Year 2009 Boating 

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 4, 2009 / Notices 6053 

Infrastructure Grant proposals; and (2) 

to consider other Council business. We 

will post the final agenda on the 

Internet at http://www.fws.gov/sfbpc. 

Procedures for Public Input 

Format Requirements for Oral and 

Written Commenters 

Whether you wish to comment orally 

or in written form, you must provide us 

with written copies of your comments. 

All written statements must be supplied 

to the Council Coordinator in both of 

the following formats: 

• One hard copy with original 

signature, and 

• One electronic copy via e-mail 

(acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat 

PDF, WordPerfect, MS Word, MS 

PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM– 

PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format). 

Submitting Written Information for the 

Council To Consider 

Speakers who wish to expand upon 

their oral statements or those who had 

wished to speak but could not be 

accommodated on the agenda are 

invited to submit written statements to 

the Council. Interested members of the 

public may submit relevant written 

information for the Council to consider 

during the public teleconference. We 

must receive all written statements by 

Monday, February 16, 2009, so that we 

can make the information available to 

the Council for their consideration prior 

to the teleconference. 

Council Minutes 

The Council Coordinator will 

maintain the teleconference’s summary 

minutes, which will be available for 

public inspection at the location under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

during regular business hours within 30 

days after the teleconference. You may 

purchase personal copies for the cost of 

duplication. 

Dated: January 21, 2009. 

Rowan W. Gould, 

Acting Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–2312 Filed 2–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–R–2008–N0299; 40136–1265– 

0000–S3] 

Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, 

Franklin, Madison, and Tensas 

Parishes, LA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability: draft 

comprehensive conservation plan and 

environmental assessment; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), announce the 

availability of a draft comprehensive 

conservation plan and environmental 

assessment (Draft CCP/EA) for Tensas 

River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) 

for public review and comment. In this 

Draft CCP/EA, we describe the 

alternative we propose to use to manage 

this refuge for the 15 years following 

approval of the Final CCP. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, we 

must receive your written comments by 

March 6, 2009. A meeting will be held 

to present the Draft CCP/EA to the 

public. Mailings, newspaper articles, 

and posters will be the avenues to 

inform the public of the date and time 

for the meeting. 

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the 

Draft CCP/EA should be addressed to: 

Tina Chouinard, Refuge Planner, Fish 

and Wildlife Service, 6772 Highway 76 

South, Stanton, TN 38069. The Draft 

CCP/EA may be accessed and 

downloaded from the Service’s Internet 

site: http://southeast.fws.gov/planning. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tina 

Chouinard; Telephone: 731/780–8208; 

E-mail: tina_chouinard@fws.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction 

With this notice, we continue the CCP 

process for Tensas River NWR. We 

started the process through a notice in 

the Federal Register on September 08, 

2006 (71 FR 53131). 

Tensas River NWR consists of 74,622 

acres in fee title and 195 acres in 

easement. It is located in the Tensas 

Basin in northeast Louisiana, 

approximately 60 miles southeast of 

Monroe, Louisiana, and 25 miles 

southwest of Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

The refuge area encompasses portions of 

Madison, Tensas, and Franklin Parishes. 

The office/visitor center and 

maintenance facilities on the refuge are 

located approximately 12 miles 

southwest of Tallulah, Louisiana. 

In an effort to conserve the largest 

privately owned tract of bottomland 

hardwoods remaining in the Mississippi 

Delta, Congress authorized the Secretary 

of the Interior to establish the Tensas 

River NWR by Public Law 96–285 on 

June 28, 1980. Tensas River NWR was 

established for various purposes, 

including: 

• ‘‘For the preservation and development 

of the environmental resources * * * to 

conserve the diversity of fish and wildlife 

and their habitat * * * for the conservation 

and development of wildlife and natural 

resources, the development of outdoor 

recreation opportunities, and interpretative 

education,’’ and ‘‘to give special 

consideration to management of the timber 

on the refuge to ensure continued 

commercial production and harvest 

compatible with the purposes for which the 

refuge is established and the needs of fish 

and wildlife which depend upon the 

dynamic and diversified hardwood forest’’ 

(94 Stat. 595, dated June 28, 1980); 

• ‘‘For the development, advancement, 

management, conservation, and protection of 

fish and wildlife resources’’ [16 U.S.C. 

742f(a)(4)] ‘‘for the benefit of the United 

States Fish and Wildlife Service, in 

performing its activities and services. Such 

acceptance may be subject to the terms of any 

restrictive or affirmative covenant, or 

condition of servitude’’ [16 U.S.C. 742f(b)(1) 

(Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956)]; 

• ‘‘For conservation purposes’’ [7 U.S.C. 

2002 (Consolidated Farm and Rural 

Development Act)]; 

• ‘‘To conserve (A) fish or wildlife which 

are listed as endangered species or 

threatened species* * *or (B) plants’’ [16 

U.S.C. 1534 (Endangered Species Act of 

1973)]. 

Tensas River NWR currently provides 

a mix of various habitat types, including 

bottomland hardwood forests, 

hardwood reforestation areas, open field 

moist-soil areas, and open fieldcropland. There are approximately 

11,000 acres of forest less than 30 years 

old; 6,000 acres of 30- to 60-year old 

timber, and 53,000 acres of 60-plus year 

old timber. Eighty percent (56,000 acres) 

of the refuge is composed of sweetgum/ 

willow oak/Nuttall oak forest type; 20 

percent is sugarberry/American elm/ 

green ash (12,600 acres); and a small 

percentage is overcup oak/bitter pecan 

and cypress brake timber types. The 

majority of the refuge is in a closedcanopy condition. 

Because Tensas River NWR is part of 

the Lower Mississippi River Ecosystem, 

the refuge is a component of many 

regional and ecosystem conservation 

planning initiatives. The Mississippi 

Alluvial Valley (MAV) is a critical 

ecoregion for migratory birds in North 

America. Tensas River NWR provides 

important foraging and resting habitats 

within the MAV for waterfowl, as well 

as a variety of other migratory birds 

such as woodcock, marshbirds, 

neotropical migratory birds, colonial 

waterbirds, and wading birds. This area 

specifically contributes important 

regional resources to an international 

habitat management effort known as the 

North American Waterfowl Management 

Plan, which seeks to return waterfowl 

species populations to levels observed 

during the 1970s.