48880 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 9, 2011 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R9–IA–2011–N159; 96300–1671– 

0000–P5] 

Endangered Species; Marine 

Mammals; Receipt of Applications for 

Permit 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of receipt of applications 

for permit. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, invite the public to 

comment on the following applications 

to conduct certain activities with 

endangered species, marine mammals, 

or both. With some exceptions, the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA) prohibit activities with listed 

species unless a Federal permit is issued 

that allows such activities. Both laws 

require that we invite public comment 

before issuing these permits. 

DATES: We must receive comments or 

requests for documents on or before 

September 8, 2011. We must receive 

requests for marine mammal permit 

public hearings, in writing, at the 

address shown in the ADDRESSES section 

by September 8, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Brenda Tapia, Division of 

Management Authority, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax 

Drive, Room 212, Arlington, VA 22203; 

fax (703) 358–2280; or e-mail 

DMAFR@fws.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brenda Tapia, (703) 358–2104 

(telephone); (703) 358–2280 (fax); 

DMAFR@fws.gov (e-mail). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Comment Procedures 

A. How do I request copies of 

applications or comment on submitted 

applications? 

Send your request for copies of 

applications or comments and materials 

concerning any of the applications to 

the contact listed under ADDRESSES. 

Please include the Federal Register 

notice publication date, the PRTnumber, and the name of the applicant 

in your request or submission. We will 

not consider requests or comments sent 

to an e-mail or address not listed under 

ADDRESSES. If you provide an email 

address in your request for copies of 

applications, we will attempt to respond 

to your request electronically. 

Please make your requests or 

comments as specific as possible. Please 

confine your comments to issues for 

which we seek comments in this notice, 

and explain the basis for your 

comments. Include sufficient 

information with your comments to 

allow us to authenticate any scientific or 

commercial data you include. 

The comments and recommendations 

that will be most useful and likely to 

influence agency decisions are: (1) 

Those supported by quantitative 

information or studies; and (2) Those 

that include citations to, and analyses 

of, the applicable laws and regulations. 

We will not consider or include in our 

administrative record comments we 

receive after the close of the comment 

period (see DATES) or comments 

delivered to an address other than those 

listed above (see ADDRESSES). 

B. May I review comments submitted by 

others? 

Comments, including names and 

street addresses of respondents, will be 

available for public review at the 

address listed under ADDRESSES. The 

public may review documents and other 

information applicants have sent in 

support of the application unless our 

allowing viewing would violate the 

Privacy Act or Freedom of Information 

Act. 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. 

II. Background 

To help us carry out our conservation 

responsibilities for affected species, 

section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and our regulations 

in the Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR) at 50 CFR 17, and the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), and 

our regulations in the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 18, require 

that we invite public comment before 

final action on these permit 

applications. Under the MMPA, you 

may request a hearing on any MMPA 

application received. If you request a 

hearing, give specific reasons why a 

hearing would be appropriate. The 

holding of such a hearing is at the 

discretion of the Service Director. 

III. Permit Applications 

A. Endangered Species 

Applicant: GTWT, LLC. dba Bang 57 

Ranch, Okeechobee, FL; PRT–48053A 

The applicant requests a permit to 

authorize interstate and foreign 

commerce, export, and cull of excess 

barashingh (Rucervus duvauceli) from 

the captive herd maintained at their 

facility for the purpose of enhancement 

of the survival of the species. This 

notification covers activities to be 

conducted by the applicant over a 5- 

year period. 

Applicant: University of Michigan, 

Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, MI; 

PRT–46480A 

The applicant requests a permit to 

import biological samples from howler 

monkeys (Alouatta palliata mexicana, 

Alouatta pigra, and Alouatta palliata x 

Alouatta pigra hybrids), collected in the 

wild in Mexico, for the purpose of 

scientific research. This notification 

covers activities to be conducted by the 

applicant over a 5-year period. 

Multiple Applicants 

The following applicants each request 

a permit to import the sport-hunted 

trophy of one male bontebok 

(Damaliscus pygargus pygargus) culled 

from a captive herd maintained under 

the management program of the 

Republic of South Africa, for the 

purpose of enhancement of the survival 

of the species. 

Applicant: Dennis Campbell, Dora, AL; 

PRT–48113A 

Applicant: Harry Sanders, Fairfield, PA; 

PRT–48527A 

Applicant: Stephen Pasquan, Belvedere, 

CA; PRT–45900A 

Applicant: James Kelly, Fort Smith, AR; 

PRT–47165A 

B. Endangered Marine Mammals and 

Marine Mammals 

Applicant: Sea to Shore Alliance, 

Sarasota, FL; PRT–37808A 

The applicant requests a permit to 

take, import, and export manatee 

specimens from West Indian manatees 

(Trichechus manatus) and West African 

manatees (Trichechus senegalensis) for 

the purpose of scientific research. Up to 

50 T. manatus would be tagged and 

sampled and up to 2,000 animals would 

be subjected to harassment each year; 

samples from up to 50 live T. 

senegalensis and an unlimited number 

of samples from dead animals would be 

imported each year. This notification 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 153 / Tuesday, August 9, 2011 / Notices 48881 

covers activities to be conducted by the 

applicant over a 5-year period. 

Applicant: Red Rock Films, Chevy 

Chase, MD; PRT–48293A 

The applicant requests a permit to 

photograph polar bears (Ursus 

maritimus) on North Slope, Alaska, for 

commercial and educational purposes. 

This notification covers activities to be 

conducted by the applicant over a 1- 

year period. 

Concurrent with publishing this 

notice in the Federal Register, we are 

forwarding copies of the above 

applications to the Marine Mammal 

Commission and the Committee of 

Scientific Advisors for their review. 

Brenda Tapia, 

Program Analyst/Data Administrator, Branch 

of Permits, Division of Management 

Authority. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20233 Filed 8–8–11; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–ES–2011–N130; 40120–1113– 

0000–C2] 

Recovery Plan for the Endangered 

Pyne’s Ground-plum (Astragalus 

bibullatus) 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of document availability. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, announce the availability of the 

final recovery plan for Pyne’s groundplum (Astragalus bibullatus), a species 

endemic to the Central Basin in 

Tennessee. The recovery plan includes 

specific recovery objectives and criteria 

to be met in order to reclassify this 

species to threatened status and delist it 

under the Endangered Species Act of 

1973, as amended (Act). 

ADDRESSES: You may obtain a copy of 

the recovery plan by contacting the 

Tennessee Field Office, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, 446 Neal Street, 

Cookeville, TN 38501 (telephone 931– 

528–6481), or by visiting our recovery 

plan Web site at http://www.fws.gov/ 

endangered/species/recoveryplans.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Geoff Call at the above address, or 

telephone: (931) 528–6481, ext. 213. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

We listed Pyne’s ground-plum as an 

endangered species under the Act (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), on September 26, 

1991 (56 FR 48748). This species is a 

rare perennial member of the pea family 

(Fabaceae) endemic to the limestone 

cedar glades in the Central Basin 

Section of the Interior Low Plateau 

(Tennessee). It is currently known from 

only eight extant occurrences (specific 

locations or sites) located within 90 

square miles in Rutherford County, 

Tennessee, within a short distance of 

the rapidly growing city of 

Murfreesboro. 

Factors contributing to its endangered 

status are an extremely limited range 

and loss of habitat. The primary threat 

is the loss of habitat from residential, 

commercial, or industrial development; 

livestock grazing; woody encroachment; 

and recreational uses such as all-terrain 

vehicles. 

The Act requires the development of 

recovery plans for listed species, unless 

such a plan would not promote the 

conservation of a particular species. 

Section 4(f) of the Act requires us to 

provide a public notice and an 

opportunity for public review and 

comment during recovery plan 

development. We made the draft 

recovery plan available for public 

comment from April 1 through June 1, 

2010 (75 FR 16499). We considered 

information we received during this 

public comment period and information 

from peer reviewers in our preparation 

of this final recovery plan. We will 

forward comments to other Federal 

agencies so each agency can consider 

these comments in implementing 

approved recovery plans. 

Restoring an endangered or 

threatened animal or plant to the point 

where it is again a secure, selfsustaining member of its ecosystem is a 

primary goal of the endangered species 

program. To help guide the recovery 

effort, we are preparing recovery plans 

for most listed species. Recovery plans 

describe actions considered necessary 

for conservation of the species, establish 

criteria for downlisting or delisting, and 

estimate time and cost for implementing 

recovery measures. 

The objective of this plan is to 

provide a framework for the recovery of 

this species so that protection under the 

Act is no longer necessary. Astragalus 

bibullatus will be considered for 

reclassification to threatened status 

when there are 11 viable protected 

occurrences distributed throughout the 

cedar glade ecosystem of the Stones 

River Basin which is located within 

Davidson, Rutherford, and Wilson 

Counties. Viability of each occurrence 

should be determined using a 

population viability analysis framework. 

Populations considered viable for 

recovery purposes should exhibit either 

stable or increasing population growth 

trends and have been shown through at 

least 10 consecutive monitoring events 

to possess suitable population structure 

for maintaining observed population 

growth into the foreseeable future. In 

order for an A. bibullatus occurrence to 

be considered protected, it should be 

located: 

• On lands owned and managed by a 

public agency, with a written plan 

committing to conserve A. bibullatus 

and the cedar glade ecosystem on that 

site; the plan must include necessary 

resources, management 

recommendations, etc. for the site; or 

• On private lands protected by a 

permanent conservation easement, State 

Natural Area registry, or other legally 

binding agreement, with a written plan 

committing to conserve A. bibullatus 

and the cedar glade ecosystem on that 

site; the plan must include necessary 

resources, management 

recommendations, etc. for the site. 

Astragalus bibullatus will be 

considered for delisting when there are 

16 viable protected occurrences that are 

distributed throughout the cedar glade 

ecosystem of the Stones River Basin 

within Davidson, Rutherford, and 

Wilson Counties. 

The reclassification and recovery 

criteria were made more protective in 

the final recovery plan than they were 

in the draft recovery plan for this plant 

based on: (1) Comments from peer 

reviewers that the plan should provide 

additional redundancy on the landscape 

to help protect this plant against threats 

like drought, (2) new scientific 

information showing that this plant 

exhibits density-dependent regulation of 

population growth, and (3) recognition 

that more information was needed about 

the role of this plant’s seed bank in 

maintaining population viability. 

As reclassification and recovery 

criteria are met, the status of the species 

will be reviewed and the species will be 

considered for reclassification or 

removal from the Federal List of 

Endangered and Threatened Plants. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act, 

16 U.S.C. 1533(f). 

Dated: June 15, 2011. 

Mark J. Musaus, 

Acting Regional Director. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20137 Filed 8–8–11; 8:45 am] 

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