30918 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 94 / Monday, May 15, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

Issued on: May 2, 2000.

Stephen R. Kratzke,

Associate Administrator for Performance

Safety Standards.

[FR Doc. 00–11493 Filed 5–12–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 21

Migratory Bird Permits; Notice of

Amendment of Falconry, Raptor

Propagation, and Certain Scientific

Collecting Permits

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of permit amendment.

SUMMARY: Just prior to removing the

American peregrine falcon from the U.S.

List of Endangered and Threatened

Wildlife, we amended all Migratory Bird

Treaty Act (MBTA) permits that

authorized the take of wild raptors for

falconry and raptor propagation

purposes and scientific collecting

permits that were not species-specific.

The permit amendment continued the

prohibition on removing peregrines

from the wild until we can issue

biological criteria to manage such take.

We were unable to locate several permit

holders. Therefore, this document

serves as official notice to those holders

of Federal falconry or raptor

propagation permits, or scientific

collecting permits that are not speciesspecific, who did not receive our

amendment letter. This notice amends

your permit.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 15, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments or questions

concerning this notice may be addressed

to Jon Andrew, Chief, Migratory Bird

Management Office, 4401 North Fairfax

Drive, ARLSQ 634, Arlington, Virginia

22203 (703–358–1714). Questions or

information concerning individual

permits should be addressed to the

Regional Migratory Bird Permit Office

responsible for your State, as follows:

(1) Region 1 (CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA,

Pacific Island Territories) 911 N.E. 11th

Avenue, Portland, OR 97232–4181 (503/

872–2715); (2) Region 2 (AZ, NM, OK,

TX) P.O. Box 709, Albuquerque, NM

87103 (505/248–7882); (3) Region 3 (IL,

IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI) One

Federal Drive, Ft. Snelling, MN 55111–

0045 ((612) 713–5436); (4) Region 4 (AL,

AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN,

PR, VI) P.O. Box 49208, Atlanta, GA

30359 (404/679–7070); (5) Region 5 (CT,

DE, D.C., ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA,

RI, VT, VA, WV) P.O. Box 779, Hadley,

MA 01035–0779 (413/253–8641); (6)

Region 6 (CO, KS, MT, NE, ND, SD, UT,

WY) P.O. Box 25486, DFC(60130),

Denver, CO 80225–0486 (303/236–

8171); (7) Region 7 (AK) 1011 East

Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503

(907/786–3693).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Lawrence, National Migratory

Bird Permit Coordinator, Migratory Bird

Management Office, at the Arlington,

Virginia address above.

Background

On August 25, 1999, we published a

final rule in the Federal Register

removing the American peregrine falcon

(Falco peregrinus anatum) from the U.S.

Endangered Species List (64 FR 46542).

The rule also removed the ‘‘similarity of

appearance’’ provision for all free-flying

peregrine falcons (F. peregrinus) in the

conterminous States. The arctic

peregrine (F. p. tundrius) was removed

from the list in 1994. As a result of these

rules, native peregrine falcons no longer

receive the protection of the U.S.

Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Conservation of native peregrine falcons

now falls primarily to the MBTA and

State regulations.

The MBTA regulations in 50 CFR part

21 allow for the issuance of permits to

take migratory birds for certain

purposes. Prior to the delisting,

American peregrine falcons could not be

taken from the wild under migratory

bird permits because of their

endangered status under the ESA, and

no free-flying peregrines of any

subspecies in the 48 contiguous States

could be taken from the wild due to the

similarity of appearance provision

under the ESA. Other than the general

prohibition on taking ESA-listed

species, most MBTA falconry and raptor

propagation permits and some scientific

collecting permits were not speciesspecific.

In July and August of 1999, in

anticipation of the delisting, we sent a

letter to all falconry and raptor

propagation permit holders and all nonspecies-specific scientific collecting

permit holders amending their permits

to prohibit take of wild peregrines once

the ESA restrictions no longer apply.

Because take of Peales (Falco peregrinus

pealei) and arctic peregrine subspecies

by residents of Alaska was legal, and

because Alaska currently prohibits take

of wild birds by nonresidents, permits

for Alaska residents were amended to

prohibit take of only the American

peregrine falcon subspecies (F. p.

anatum) in Alaska and all peregrine

falcons (F. peregrinus) in the

conterminous United States. The

amendments do not affect activities

with captive-bred peregrines.

The general permit regulations in 50

CFR 13.23(b) authorize us to amend a

permit if we determine that it is

necessary to do so. The removal of ESA

protection for the species and the need

to complete biological criteria for take of

peregrines constitute our finding of

necessity for modification of these

permits. These amendments are

necessary to protect this newly

recovered species from potential

unregulated take while we reach

agreement with other government

entities on managing take, both of

nestlings born in the United States as

well as migrants, many of which

originate outside the United States.

We were unable to locate several

permit holders through the U.S. mail.

Therefore, this document serves as

notice to any holder of a Federal

falconry permit, Federal raptor

propagation permit, or Federal scientific

collecting permit that is not speciesspecific for raptors, who did not receive

our amendment letter. In accordance

with 50 CFR 13.23(b), this notice

amends your permit as follows:

For permittees residing in the

conterminous United States:

You may not take a peregrine falcon

(Falco peregrinus) from the wild in the

United States.

For Alaska residents:

You may not take an American peregrine

falcon (Falco peregrinus anatum) from the

wild anywhere in the United States. You may

not take any peregrine falcon (Falco

peregrinus) from the wild in the

conterminous United States.

Please attach this notice to your

current permit. We may amend your

permit again when management plans

for peregrines are complete.

We attempted to notify all permittees

individually of this amendment by letter

sent to the address listed in existing

permits. Permittees we were unable to

locate by the address listed in their

permits are identified below. However,

this amendment notice applies to any

holder of a Federal falconry permit,

Federal raptor propagation permit, or

Federal scientific collecting permit that

is not species-specific for raptors, who

did not receive our amendment letter.

Region 1

Timothy Jason Walker, Las Vegas, NV

(PRT# 005114)

Region 2

Ken Diehl, Boerne, TX (PRT# 003091)

John Manley Griffith, Tyler, TX (PRT#

834718)

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 94 / Monday, May 15, 2000 / Rules and Regulations 30919

Calvin E. Knock, Prescott, AZ (PRT#

679316)

Kimberly Lykins, Abilene, TX (PRT#

822616)

Kathryn McCallum, Richmond, TX

(PRT# 834725)

Pamala J. Nichols, Dallas, TX (PRT#

744189)

Amenda D. Riddle, Seguin, TX (PRT#

797580)

Frank Sickles, Las Cruces, NM (PRT#

712647)

Rockwell Trent Summers, Glenrose, TX

(PRT# 837019)

David R. Williamson, Ft. Worth, TX

(PRT# 679707)

John A. Yezeguielian, Pryor, OK (PRT#

704425)

Region 4

John Thomas Williams, Clinton, MS

(PRT# 784042)

Dennis Lee Hinojos, Alpharetta, GA

(PRT3# 752597)

Region 5

Santos Rodriguez, Columbia, MD (PRT#

001157)

Paul R. Getzel, Baltimore, MD (PRT#

801992)

Region 6

Jonathan Albrand, Salt Lake City, UT

(PRT# 001157)

Steven Buckner, Lake Point, UT (PRT#

708924)

Brent Grasmick, Torrington, WY (PRT#

005714)

Pat Hnilicka, Cheyenne, WY (PRT#

794982)

Forrest Moore, Casper, WY (PRT#

698983)

Kristine Newbold, Lake Point, UT (PRT#

813936)

Kent Reisdorph, Aberdeen, SD (PRT#

770103)

Rip Ripley, Salt Lake City, UT (PRT#

764383)

Ronald Rollins, Roy, UT (PRT# 792790;

802055)

Weston Winegar, Salt Lake City, UT

(PRT# 785325)

If you are among the permittees

named above, or if you are a falconry,

raptor propagation, or nonspecific

scientific collecting permit holder not

named above but you did not receive

our amendment letter, you should

contact your regional migratory bird

permit office (see ADDRESSES section)

within 10 days of the date of this notice

to clarify your address. Service

regulations require that permittees

notify the permit issuing office within

10 calendar days of an address change

(50 CFR 13.23(c)).

If you have concerns about the

amendment that you wish to address

through the formal administrative

process, please refer to the review

procedures in 50 CFR 13.29, a

subsection of the general permit

regulations, which you received with

your permit application.

Authority: The authority for this action is

the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703–

711).

Dated: May 1, 2000.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 00–12091 Filed 5–12–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–U