Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 104 / Tuesday, May 30, 2000 / Notices 34491

Wildlife Refuge System are to be

managed in accordance with an

approved CCP. The CCP guides

management decisions and identifies

refuge goals, long-range objectives, and

strategies for achieving refuge purposes.

The planning process will consider

many elements, including habitat and

wildlife management, habitat protection

and acquisition, public use, and cultural

resources. Public input into this

planning process is essential. The CCP

will provide other agencies and the

public with a clear understanding of the

desired conditions for the Refuges and

how the Service will implement

management strategies.

The Service will solicit information

from the public via open houses,

meetings, and written comments.

Special mailings, newspaper articles,

and announcements will inform people

in the general area near each refuge of

the time and place of opportunities for

public input to the CCP.

The Long Island NWR Complex is a

diverse group of nine units totaling over

6,200 acres, and contain most of the

habitat types found on Long Island

which are important to hundreds of

migratory bird species and other

wildlife .

Review of this project will be

conducted in accordance with the

requirements of the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), NEPA

Regulations (40 CFR 1500–1508), other

appropriate Federal laws and

regulations, and Service policies and

procedures for compliance with those

regulations.

We estimate that the draft

environmental documents will be

available in summer 2001.

Dated: May 11, 2000.

Mamie A. Parker,

Deputy Regional Director, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, Hadley, Massachusetts.

[FR Doc. 00–13395 Filed 5–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Receipt of Application for an Incidental

Take Permit by Culebra Northshore,

S.E. for Development of a Residential

Project in Culebra, PR

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Culebra Northshore, S.E.

(Applicant), seeks an incidental take

permit (ITP) from the Fish and Wildlife

Service (Service), pursuant to section

10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species

Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. The ITP

would authorize incidental take of

hatchlings from two nests of the

leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys

coriacea) or the hawksbill sea turtle

(Eretmochelys imbricata), both

endangered species, on Tortola Beach

for a period of twelve (12) years. The

proposed taking is incidental to lighting

and other activities associated with the

development and occupation of a singlefamily residential project on a 66.80–

‘‘cuerda’’ (64.8-acre) lot adjacent to

Tortola Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico

(Project). Nest surveys on this beach

indicate that both sea turtle species use

the beach for nesting, although in very

low numbers. The Applicant’s Habitat

Conservation Plan (HCP) describes the

mitigation and minimization measures

proposed to address the effects of the

Project to the protected species. These

measures are outlined in the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section

below. The Service has determined that

the Applicant’s proposal, including the

proposed mitigation and minimization

measures, will individually and

cumulatively have a minor or negligible

effect on the species covered in the

HCP. Therefore, the ITP is a ‘‘low effect’’

project and would qualify as a

categorical exclusion under the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as

provided by the Department of Interior

Manual (516 DM2, Appendix 1 and 516

DM 6, Appendix 1).

The Service also announces the

availability of the HCP and our

determination of Categorical Exclusion

for the incidental take application.

Copies of the HCP and Service

supporting documents may be obtained

by making a request to the Regional

Office (see ADDRESSES). Requests must

be in writing to be processed. This

notice is provided pursuant to Section

10 of the Endangered Species Act and

NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

The Service specifically requests

information, views, and opinions from

the public via this notice on the Federal

action. Further, the Service specifically

solicits information regarding the

adequacy of the HCP as measured

against the Service’s Permit issuance

criteria found in 50 CFR parts 13 and

17.

If you wish to comment, you may

submit comments by any one of several

methods. You may mail comments to

the Service’s Regional Office (see

ADDRESSES). You may also comment via

the internet to ‘‘david_dell@fws.gov’’.

Please submit comments over the

internet as an ASCII file avoiding the

use of special characters and any form

of encryption. Please also include your

name and return address in your

internet message. If you do not receive

a confirmation from the Service that we

have received your internet message,

contact us directly at either telephone

number listed below (see FURTHER

INFORMATION). Finally, you may hand

deliver comments to either Service

office listed below (see ADDRESSES). Our

practice is to make comments, including

names and home addresses of

respondents, available for public review

during regular business hours.

Individual respondents may request that

we withhold their home address from

the administrative record. We will

honor such requests to the extent

allowable by law. There may also be

other circumstances in which we would

withhold from the administrative record

a respondent’s identity, as allowable by

law. If you wish us to withhold your

name and address, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your

comments. We will not; however,

consider anonymous comments. We

will make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

DATES: Written comments on the permit

application, supporting documentation,

and HCP should be sent to the Service’s

Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and

should be received on or before June 29,

2000.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review

the application, supporting

documentation, and HCP may obtain a

copy by writing the Service’s Southeast

Regional Office, Atlanta, Georgia.

Documents will also be available for

public inspection by appointment

during normal business hours at the

Regional Office, 1875 Century

Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia

30345 (Attn: Endangered Species

Permits), or Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 491,

Boquero ́n, Puerto Rico 00622. Written

data or comments concerning the

application, or HCP should be

submitted to the Regional Office.

Requests for the documentation must be

in writing to be processed. Please

reference permit number TE026114–0 in

such comments, or in requests of the

documents discussed herein.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

David Dell, Regional Permit

Coordinator, (see ADDRESSES above),

telephone: 404/679–7313; or Ms.

Marelisa Rivera, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, Boquero`n Field Office, (see

ADDRESSES above), telephone 787/851–

7297.

34492 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 104 / Tuesday, May 30, 2000 / Notices

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Nesting

grounds of the leatherback sea turtle are

distributed world-wide. In the

Caribbean, the species nests in French

Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Colombia,

Venezuela, Panama, and Costa Rica. In

the U.S. Caribbean, nesting has been

reported from St. Croix, St. Thomas, St.

John, and Puerto Rico. The U.S.

Caribbean may support nesting by 150

to 200 adult females per year,

representing the most significant nesting

activity of this species within the

United States. The largest concentration

of nesting leatherbacks in the U.S.

Caribbean has been documented at

Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge,

St. Croix, and Playa Brava and Playa

Resaca on Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.

Nesting females prefer high-energy

beaches with deep and unobstructed

access.

The hawksbill sea turtle is found

throughout the world’s tropical waters.

However, nesting within United States

territory occurs in Puerto Rico, the U.S.

Virgin Islands, and very infrequently in

Florida. Two important known nesting

areas in the U.S. Caribbean are Mona

Island in Puerto Rico and Buck Island

Reef National Monument in St. Croix,

U.S.Virgin Islands. The species nests on

beaches all around the coast of Puerto

Rico, but the area that receives the

highest number of nesting activities is

Mona Island, with approximately 500

nests per year.

Nesting hawksbill sea turtles prefer

low energy sandy beaches with woody

vegetation such as sea grape or saltshrub

located within a few meters of the water

line. Suitable nesting habitat can be

extremely variable, and ranges from

high energy ocean beaches to tiny

pocket beaches only a few meters in

width.

Major threats to all sea turtle species

include loss or degradation of nesting

habitat from coastal development and

beach armoring; disorientation or

misorientation of hatchlings and

females by artificial lighting; poaching;

disease; commercial trawling, longline

and gill net fisheries; and illegal trade,

particularly in hawksbill products.

Habitat degradation associated with

the project development (lighting,

boardwalk construction, increased

beach use by residents, use of

recreational beach gear at the beach,

beach cleaning operations, among

others) may result in death or injury of

sea turtle hatchlings from either sea

turtle species, incidental to the carrying

out of these otherwise lawful activities.

Section 9 of the Act, and implementing

regulations, prohibits taking nests of

leatherback sea turtle and hawksbill sea

turtle. Taking, in part, is defined as an

activity that kills, injures, harms, or

harasses a listed endangered or

threatened species. Section 10(a)(1)(B)

of the Act provides an exemption, under

certain circumstances, to the section 9

prohibition if the taking is incidental to,

and not the purpose of, otherwise lawful

activities.

Beach surveys at Tortola Beach

indicate that both sea turtle species use

this beach for nesting. In the last 15

years, a total of 24 sea turtle nesting

activities (3 for hawksbills and 21 for

leatherbacks) have been reported at the

Tortola Beach. Tortola Beach is a small

pocket beach that measures

approximately 90 meters long by 15

meters wide. This beach is located in

front of the proposed 45-lot

development. Three of the lots border

the beach area of Tortola.

The HCP describes measures the

Applicant will take to minimize and

mitigate such taking resulting from the

Project. To minimize impacts to listed

species from the proposed project, the

Applicant will conduct the following:

(1) Donate/transfer to the Puerto Rico

Department of Natural and

Environmental Resources (DNER) a 10

meter litoral zone (comprising 0.9391

cuerda or 0.91 acre) for additional

setback from the maritime zone

determined by this agency, along the

beach front of the property; (2) a setback

of 120 feet from the maritime zone will

be left on lots 26, 27, and 29, the only

three lots with beachfront property; (3)

establish a ‘‘central valley’’ conservation

easement on 5.71 cuerdas (5.54 acres) to

protect natural forests; (4) no

construction activities such as beach

armoring or beach nourishment, no

mechanical beach clearing, no vehicle

traffic or animals will be allowed on the

beach and no beach vegetation will be

removed or trimmed on the beach; (5)

pedestrian traffic to the beach from the

property and from the beach to the

property will be directed to only one

boardwalk across the litoral zone and

sand dune area; (6) a low fence will be

erected at the end of the maritime zone

(where sand turns into hard soil) to

control pedestrian access and stray

animals; (7) no artificial lighting will be

installed on the beach and the beach

will be closed to residents from the

property during evening hours; (8) no

recreation equipment such as lounge

chairs, toys, kayaks will be allowed to

remain on the beach after sunset and no

boating activities, no camping or fires

will be allowed on the beach; (9) each

lot will have a site-specific residence

location and no additional land clearing

will be allowed on the lot; (10) all

houses will be designed and remain

single family units with a maximum

size residence permitted of 2,700 square

feet and have a maximum height of 18

feet; (11) a deed restriction will be

included in each lot to require a lighting

plan to address impacts to sea turtles on

Tortola Beach and periodic lighting

surveys will be conducted and

corrective measures will be required;

(12) no street lighting on the roadways

within the development will be

installed, roads will be closed to the

general public during evening hours to

minimize vehicular lighting, and

vehicular traffic is routed one way to

minimize headlight glare; and (13) a

deed restriction will require that each

owner develop and implement an

erosion control plan to reduce potential

impacts to nesting habitat by eroded

materials.

To mitigate for the nests to be taken,

the applicant will provide the following:

(1) Provide educational materials

regarding sea turtles to all owners and

construct an information display board

at the entrance of the boardwalk; (2) will

encourage beach cleaning activities

among the owners; (3) will provide trash

containers for trash disposal; (4) turtle

nesting activities will be reported,

marked off-limit and protected until

DNER personnel work the nest, and (5)

will recruit and facilitate volunteers for

sea turtle conservation projects.

As earlier stated, the Service has

determined that the HCP qualifies as a

Categorically-Excluded, ‘‘low-effect’’

HCP as defined by Service’s Habitat

Conservation Planning Handbook

(November 1996). Low-effect HCPs are

those involving: (1) Minor or negligible

effects on federally listed and candidate

species and their habitats, and (2) minor

or negligible effects on other

environmental values or resources. The

Applicant’s HCP qualifies for the

following reasons:

1. Approval of the HCP would result

in minor or negligible effects on the

leatherback sea turtle and hawksbill sea

turtle, and their nesting habitats. The

Service does not anticipate significant

direct or cumulative effects on these

species resulting from the construction

of the Project.

2. Approval of the HCP would not

have adverse effect on known

geographic, historic or cultural sites, or

involve unique or unknown

environmental risks.

3. Approval of the HCP would not

result in any significant adverse effects

on public health or safety.

4. The project does not require

compliance with Executive Order 11988

(Floodplain Management), Executive

Order 11990 (Protection of Wetlands), or

the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act,

nor does it threaten to violate a Federal,

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 104 / Tuesday, May 30, 2000 / Notices 34493

State, local or tribal law or requirement

imposed for the protection of the

environment.

5. Approval of the HCP would not

establish a precedent for future action or

represent a decision in principle about

future actions with potentially

significant environmental effects.

The Service has therefore determined

that approval of the HCP qualifies as a

categorical exclusion under NEPA, as

provided by the Department of the

Interior Manual (516 DM 2, Appendix 1

and 516 DM 6, Appendix 1). No further

NEPA determination will therefore be

prepared.

The Service will evaluate the HCP

and comments submitted thereon to

determine whether the application

meets the requirements of section 10(a)

of the Act. If it is determined that those

requirements are met, an ITP will be

issued for the incidental take of

hatchlings from two nests of the

leatherback sea turtle or hawksbill sea

turtle during a period of 12 years. The

Service will also evaluate whether the

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

complies with section 7 of the Act by

conducting an intra-Service section 7

consultation. The results of the

consultation, in combination with the

above findings, will be used in the final

analysis to determine whether or not to

issue the ITP.

Dated: May 22, 2000.

H. Dale Hall,

Acting Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 00–13388 Filed 5–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Notice of Intent To Conduct Public

Scoping and Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

National Environmental Policy Act of

1969 (NEPA), this notice advises other

agencies and the public that the Fish

and Wildlife Service (Service) intends to

prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS) related to the proposed

issuance of an Incidental Take Permit

(Permit) to the Foster Creek

Conservation District (District) in

Douglas County, Washington for take of

endangered and threatened species,

pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as

amended (Act). As required by the Act,

the District is preparing a Habitat

Conservation Plan (Plan). The Plan is

being developed to address agricultural

practices throughout Douglas County,

and may include management activities

on dryland crop farms, livestock

ranches, and irrigated orchards. With

issuance of the Permit, participating

landowners would receive regulatory

certainty with regard to the

requirements of the Act by

implementing the measures prescribed

in the Plan.

The Service is furnishing this notice

in order to advise other agencies and the

public of our intentions and to

announce the initiation of a minimum

30-day public scoping period. During

the scoping period, other agencies and

the public are invited to provide written

comments on the scope of issues to be

included in the EIS, which is expected

to be available for public review and

comment during the second quarter of

2001. Interested parties are encouraged

to attend the scoping workshops or to

provide written comments on the scope

of the issues and range of alternatives

for the draft EIS.

DATES: Written comments regarding the

scope of the issues and range of

alternatives for the draft EIS should be

received on or before July 14, 2000.

Scoping workshops will be held on June

29, 2000 (see ADDRESSES for times and

location).

ADDRESSES: Comments and requests for

additional information should be

submitted to Chris Warren, Fish and

Wildlife Service, 11103 East

Montgomery Drive, Spokane,

Washington, 99206, or call (509) 891–

6839.

Scoping workshops will be held at the

North-central Washington, Fairground,

601 North Monroe Street, Waterville,

Washington, 98858. The workshops will

be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 29, 2000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Conservation districts are legal

subdivisions of the Washington State

government, with powers and duties set

forth in accordance with the Revised

Code of Washington (RCW 89.08).

Among other things, conservation

districts are authorized to develop

comprehensive long-range programs for

the conservation of natural resources

within their boundaries, to enter into

agreements with other State and Federal

agencies and the districts’ landowners,

and to administer the programs of other

State and Federal agencies concerned

with the conservation of natural

resources. Based upon this authority,

the Service anticipates the development

of a programmatic Plan by the District.

Upon completion and approval of

detailed, site-specific farm plans that

implement the terms of the

programmatic Plan, individual

landowners will receive permit coverage

under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Act

through Certificates of Inclusion.

Douglas County is located in central

Washington and encompasses over one

million acres of land. It is anticipated

that the activities covered under the

Permit will include operation and

management of dryland crop farms,

liverstock ranches (each comprising

roughly 48 percent of the country’s total

agricultural land base), and fruit

orchards (comprising roughly 4

percent). Grazing activities that may be

addressed include, among others,

stocking types and rates, timing, use

levels, and management of livestock

facilities (fencing, holding areas,

transportation, etc.). Farming activities

that may be include are, among others,

planting types and techniques, crop

rotation, timing, weed and pest control,

management of facilities, and irrigation

activities. It is also anticipated that the

measures of proposed Plan and Permit

coverage will be coordinated with

existing Federal and State programs for

private landowners in Douglas County

(Conservation Reserve Program, other

Farm Bill programs, private lands

initiatives, etc.). The District tentatively

proposes that the Plan and Permit be in

effect for 50 years.

Agricultural activities on private

lands and the management activities of

the District, along with those of other

State and Federal agencies in Douglas

County, have the potential to impact

species subject to protection under the

Act, as well as other unlisted species of

concern to the Service. Section 10 of the

Act contains provisions for the issuance

of Permits to non-Federal landowners

for the take of endangered and

threatened species, provided the take is

incidental to otherwise lawful activities

and will not appreciably reduce the

likelihood of the survival and recovery

of the species in the wild. To received

section 10 coverage under the act,

applicants must prepare and submit to

the Service for approval a Plan

containing a strategy for minimizing and

mitigating to the maximum extent

practicable all take associated with the

proposed activities. Applicants must

also demonstrate that adequate funding

will be provided to ensure the Plan will

be implemented and monitored

throughout its proposed life span. The

mandatory elements of Plan and the

criteria for issuance of Permits are

contained in the Code of Federal

Regulations (50 CFR 17.22, 17.32, and

222.22).