Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 9, 2011 / Notices 48879 

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 identifying 

information from the public, we cannot 

guarantee that we will be able to do so. 

Dated: June 23, 2011. 

Robyn Thorson, 

Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon. 

[FR Doc. 2011–19837 Filed 8–8–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–ES–2011–N151; 40120–1112– 

0000–F2] 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

for Alabama Beach Mouse General 

Conservation Plan for Incidental Take 

on the Fort Morgan Peninsula, Baldwin 

County, AL 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), 

we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

announce the availability of a draft 

general conservation plan (GCP) and 

accompanying draft environmental 

impact statement (dEIS). If approved, 

the GCP would facilitate review of 

future incidental take applications. The 

take would affect the federally 

endangered Alabama beach mouse 

(Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) in 

Baldwin County, Alabama. The GCP 

analyzes the potential take incidental to 

construction, occupation, and 

maintenance of an estimated 500 singlefamily residences. We invite public 

comments on these documents. 

DATES: We must receive any written 

comments on the GCP and dEIS at our 

Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and on 

or before November 7, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Documents will be available 

for public inspection by appointment 

during normal business hours at the 

Regional Office, 1875 Century 

Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 

30345, or at the Fish and Wildlife 

Service Field Office, 1208–B Main 

Street, Daphne, AL 36526. For how to 

comment, see Public Comments under 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David Dell, Regional HCP Coordinator 

(see ADDRESSES), telephone: 404/679– 

4144, or Mr. Darren LeBlanc, Field 

Office Project Manager, at the Alabama 

Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 

251/441–5868. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

announce the availability of the 

proposed GCP and the dEIS. These 

documents analyze the take of the 

Alabama beach mouse incidental to 

construction of up to 500 single-family 

developments potentially affecting an 

estimated total of 75 acres of Alabama 

beach mouse habitat. Individual land 

owners who would need incidental take 

permits (ITP) for single-family 

developments, and whose development 

proposal fits within limits evaluated in 

the GCP, could apply for ITPs using the 

GCP provisions instead of producing 

their own habitat conservation plans. 

The GCP evaluates issuance of ITPs 

with up to 50-year terms under section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.). The GCP describes the mitigation 

and minimization measures proposed to 

address the effects on the species. 

We specifically request information, 

views, and opinions from the public via 

this notice on our proposed Federal 

action, including identification of any 

other aspects of the human environment 

not already identified in the dEIS 

pursuant to National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) regulations in the 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 40 

CFR 1506.6. Further, we specifically 

solicit information regarding the 

adequacy of the GCP per 50 CFR parts 

13 and 17. 

The dEIS analyzes the preferred 

alternative, as well as a range of 

reasonable alternatives and the 

associated impacts of each. Alternative 

3 (Preferred Alternative) is 

implementation of the GCP. Rejection of 

the GCP would not necessarily halt 

single-family lot development in the 

study area. One of the alternatives 

considered would be to continue 

individual permitting as is done 

currently. 

Public Comments 

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 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. 

If you wish to comment, you may 

submit comments by any one of several 

methods. Please reference ‘‘Alabama 

beach mouse GCP’’ in such comments. 

You may mail comments to our 

Regional Office or the Alabama Field 

Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also 

comment via the Internet to 

david_dell@fws.gov or 

darren_leblanc@fws.gov. Please include 

your name and return mailing address 

in your e-mail message. If you do not 

receive a confirmation from us that we 

have received your e-mail, contact us 

directly at either telephone number 

listed (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). Finally, you may handdeliver comments to either of our offices 

listed under ADDRESSES. 

Covered Area 

The GCP coverage area extends along 

the Gulf of Mexico for about 17 miles, 

encompassing approximately 2,400 

acres of open beach and associated 

nearshore coastal dune environments on 

the Fort Morgan Peninsula, Baldwin 

County, Alabama. The coverage area 

begins at Little Lagoon Pass, on State 

Highway 182 in Gulf Shores, and 

extends westward to the tip of the Fort 

Morgan State Historic site at the western 

terminus of the Fort Morgan Peninsula. 

The area is defined biologically as that 

area where an Alabama beach mouse 

population or subpopulation could be 

affected by residential single-family 

development. 

Next Steps 

We will evaluate the GCP and its 

potential use by ITP applicants, as well 

as any comments we receive, to 

determine whether the GCP, when used 

by ITP applicants, would meet the 

requirements of section 10(a)(1)(B) of 

the Act. We will also evaluate whether 

issuance of section 10(a)(1)(B) ITPs 

under the GCP would comply with 

section 7 of the Act by conducting an 

intra-Service section 7 consultation on 

anticipated ITP actions. We will 

consider the results of this consultation, 

in combination with the above findings, 

in our final analysis to determine 

whether or not to make the GCP 

available to ITP applicants and issue 

ITPs under the GCP. If we determine 

that the requirements are met, we will 

issue ITPs for the incidental take of the 

Alabama beach mouse to those 

applicants who meet the criteria 

established in the GCP. 

Authority We provide this notice under 

section 10 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 

and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: July 8, 2011. 

Mark J. Musaus, 

Acting Regional Director, Southeast Region. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20140 Filed 8–8–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 


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