Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 130 / Monday, July 9, 2007 / Notices 37373 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Draft Post-Delisting 

Monitoring Plan for the Bald Eagle 

(Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and 

Proposed Information Collection 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft 

post-delisting monitoring plan; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 

availability of the draft post-delisting 

monitoring plan (draft PDM Plan) for 

the bald eagle (Haliaeetus 

leucocephalus). The Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) requires that the 

Service implement a system, in 

cooperation with the States, to monitor 

effectively for at least 5 years, the status 

of all species that have been recovered 

and no longer need protection of the 

ESA. The bald eagle in the contiguous 

48 states will be removed from the 

Federal List of Threatened and 

Endangered Wildlife and Plants 

(delisted) due to recovery. We are 

publishing the final rule for the 

delisting simultaneously with this 

notice elsewhere in today’s Federal 

Register. We will also ask the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) to 

approve the information collection (IC) 

for the draft PDM Plan described below. 

DATES: Comments from all interested 

parties on the draft bald eagle postdelisting monitoring plan must be 

received on or before October 9, 2007. 

You must submit comments regarding 

the information collection aspects of the 

draft bald eagle post-delisting 

monitoring plan on or before October 9, 

2007. 

ADDRESSES: The draft PDM Plan may be 

downloaded from our Web site at http:// 

www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered. To 

request a copy of the draft PDM Plan, 

write to our Rock Island Field Office: 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1511 

47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265; or 

call 309–757–5800 to receive a copy. 

You may also send an e-mail request to 

baldeaglePDM@fws.gov. Specify 

whether you want to receive a hard 

copy by U.S. mail or an electronic copy 

by e-mail. 

Send your comments by any of the 

following methods. See ‘‘Viewing 

Documents’’ and ‘‘Public Comments 

Solicited’’ under SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for important information. 

• Mail: Bald Eagle Draft PDM Plan 

Comments, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Rock Island Field Office, 1511 

47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Same 

address as above. 

• E-mail: baldeaglePDM@fws.gov. 

Include ‘‘Bald Eagle Draft PDM Plan 

Comments’’ in the subject line of the 

message. 

• Fax: 309–757–5807. Include ‘‘Bald 

Eagle Draft PDM Plan Comments’’ in the 

subject line. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Send your comments on the 

information collection to Hope Grey, 

Information Collection Clearance 

Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 

222–ARLSQ, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, 

Arlington, VA 22203 (mail); 

hope_grey@fws.gov (e-mail); or (703) 

358–2269 (fax). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Direct all questions or requests for 

additional information about the draft 

PDM Plan to Jody Millar (see 

ADDRESSES). To request additional 

information about this information 

collection, contact Hope Grey (see 

ADDRESSES). Individuals who are 

hearing-impaired or speech-impaired 

may call the Federal Relay Service at 

1–800–877–8337 for TTY assistance, 24 

hours a day, 7 days a week. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

We are publishing the final rule to 

remove the bald eagle from the Federal 

List of Threatened and Endangered 

Wildlife and Plants simultaneously with 

this notice elsewhere in today’s Federal 

Register. Available data indicate that 

this species has recovered due to the 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

restrictions on organochlorine 

pesticides in the United States, and also 

due to implementation of successful 

management activities and protection of 

habitat under the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 

et seq.) (ESA). 

Section 4(g)(1) of the ESA requires 

that we implement a system, in 

cooperation with the States, to 

effectively monitor for not less than 5 

years, the status of all species that have 

been recovered and delisted. In order to 

meet the ESA’s monitoring requirement, 

and to facilitate the efficient collection 

of data, we have designed a sampling 

method to be implemented by various 

States, capable of detecting substantial 

changes in the bald eagle population in 

the lower 48 states. 

The draft bald eagle post-delisting 

monitoring plan was developed in 

cooperation with State resource 

agencies and interested scientists, and 

will be carried out by the Service’s 

Monitoring Team in collaboration with 

Federal, State, Tribal, and private 

cooperators. The monitoring plan 

proposes to start in the winter of 2008 

and spring of 2009. We will conduct 

surveys every 5 years over the next 20 

years. 

Monitoring will consist of the 

collection of information on numbers of 

nesting bald eagles in selected locations 

based on State participation and density 

of identified bald eagle nest sites. At the 

end of each 5-year monitoring event we 

will review all available information to 

determine the status of the bald eagle. 

Information Collection 

OMB Control Number: New. 

Title: Bald Eagle Post-Delisting 

Monitoring Plan. 

Service Form Number(s): 3–2343, 3– 

2344. 

Type of Request: New. 

Affected Public: State agencies, 

Federal, Tribal, private land managers, 

wildlife rehabilitators, and cooperators. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Frequency of Collection: Once every 5 

years for the Eagle and Nest Observation 

Checklist; on occasion for the Bald Eagle 

Mortality Report Form. 

Activity Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses 

Completion time 

per response 

(hours) 

Annual burden 

hours 

Eagle and Nest Observation Checklist (FWS form #3–2344) ............. 17 357 6.2 2,213 

Bald Eagle Mortality Report Form (FWS form #3–2343) .................... 48 384 0.25 96 

Total .............................................................................................. 65 741 .............................. 2,309 


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37374 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 130 / Monday, July 9, 2007 / Notices 

Viewing Documents 

The complete file for the monitoring 

plan is available for inspection, by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours at our Rock Island Field Office, 

1511 47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois; 

309–757–5800 (phone). The comments 

and materials we receive on the 

monitoring plan during the comment 

period will be available for public 

inspection by appointment during 

normal business hours at the Rock 

Island Field Office and at our Ecological 

Services Field Offices in Spokane, 

Washington (509–893–8002), Phoenix, 

Arizona (602–242–0210), Jacksonville 

(904–232–2580) or Vero Beach, Florida 

(772–562–3909), Manhattan, Kansas 

(785–539–3474), and Annapolis, 

Maryland (772–562–3909). Call those 

offices to make arrangements to view 

documents. 

Public Comments Solicited 

We request comments on the draft 

bald eagle post-delisting monitoring 

plan. All comments received by the date 

specified above will be considered 

during preparation of the final PDM 

plan. We prefer to receive comments via 

e-mail, but you may submit your 

comments by the alternate methods 

mentioned above. 

Please submit Internet comments to 

baldeaglePDM@fws.gov in ASCII file 

format and avoid the use of special 

characters or any form of encryption. 

Please also include ‘‘Bald Eagle Draft 

PDM Plan Comments’’ in the subject 

line of the message, and your full name 

and return address in the body of your 

message. Please note that the Internet 

address baldeaglePDM@fws.gov will be 

closed when the public comment period 

is closed. 

We will take into consideration the 

relevant comments, suggestions, or 

objections that we receive by the 

comment due date indicated above in 

DATES. These comments, suggestions, or 

objections, and any additional 

information received may lead us to 

adopt a final PDM Plan that differs from 

this draft PDM Plan. Comments merely 

stating support or opposition to the draft 

PDM Plan without providing supporting 

data are not as helpful. 

Public Availability of 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. 

We also invite comments concerning 

this IC on: 

(1) Whether the collection of 

information is necessary, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the 

burden for this collection of 

information; 

(3) Ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and 

(4) Ways to minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on 

respondents. 

Comments that you send about this IC 

are a matter of public record. We will 

include and/or summarize each 

comment in our request to OMB to 

approve this IC. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: June 26, 2007. 

H. Dale Hall, 

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 07–4303 Filed 7–6–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 


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