Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 45 / Thursday, March 8, 2007 / Notices 10551 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Notice of Availability of an 

Environmental Assessment and 

Receipt of an Application for an 

Incidental Take Permit for the Copper 

Mountain College Habitat Conservation 

Plan, San Bernardino, CA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Copper Mountain 

Community College District (District) 

has applied to the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service or ‘‘we’’) for an 

incidental take permit pursuant to 

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

Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). 

We are considering issuing a 16-year 

permit to the District that would 

authorize take of the federally 

threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus 

agassizii) incidental to otherwise lawful 

activities associated with the expansion 

of their existing campus onto 71.57 

acres of their 156.53-acre property. 

We are requesting comments on the 

permit application, Habitat 

Conservation Plan (Plan), 

Environmental Assessment (EA), and 

Implementing Agreement (IA). The 

District’s Plan describes the mitigation 

and minimization measures they would 

implement, as required in Section 

10(a)(2)(B) of the Act, to address the 

effects of the project on the desert 

tortoise (see SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION). The EA describes the 

project’s impacts on the human 

environment and analyzes the 

significance of those impacts. The IA 

describes the roles and responsibilities 

of District, the Service, and Joshua Tree 

National Park (Park) in implementation 

of the Plan. The draft Plan, EA, and IA 

are available for public review. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received on or before May 7, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Please address written 

comments to Diane K. Noda, Field 

Supervisor, Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493 

Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, 

California 93003. You may also send 

comments by facsimile to 805–644–

3958. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brian Croft, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, 

(see ADDRESSES) telephone: 805–644–

1766, extension 302. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Availability of Documents 

You may obtain copies of these 

documents for review by contacting the 

office under ADDRESSES. Documents also 

will be available for public inspection, 

by appointment, during normal business 

hours at our Ventura office (see 

ADDRESSES) and at the Joshua Tree 

Public Library. The address for the 

Joshua Tree Public Library is 6465 Park 

Blvd., Joshua Tree, California 92252. 

These documents are also available on 

the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office 

internet site: http://www.fws.gov/ 

ventura. 

Background 

Section 9 of the Act and Federal 

regulations prohibit the ‘‘take’’ of fish or 

wildlife species listed as endangered or 

threatened, respectively. Take of listed 

fish or wildlife is defined under the Act 

to mean to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, 

shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or 

collect, or to attempt to engage in any 

such conduct. However, the Service, 

under limited circumstances, may issue 

permits to cover incidental take, (i.e., 

take that is incidental to, and not the 

purpose of, the carrying out of an 

otherwise lawful activity. Regulations 

governing incidental take permits for 

threatened and endangered species are 

found at 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22, 

respectively. Among other criteria, 

issuance of such permits must not 

jeopardize the existence of federally 

listed fish, wildlife, or plants. 

The proposed Copper Mountain 

College Expansion Project is 156.53 

acres in the unincorporated community 

of Joshua Tree, San Bernardino County, 

California. The District proposes to 

expand the Copper Mountain 

Community College campus from the 

existing 8.59 acres onto 71.57 acres that 

it owns in adjacent areas. It would begin 

the phased construction with a solar 

field immediately after permit issuance, 

followed by a multi-use sports complex, 

various roads, and a parking area in 

2007. During the next 12 years, the 

District would construct additional 

parking lots, new sports fields, 

additional classroom facilities, and 

other buildings on the remaining 

portions of the 71.57-acre site. 

The District proposes to implement 

measures to minimize adverse effects to 

the desert tortoise during construction 

and operation of these facilities, 

additional measures to mitigate adverse 

effects, and post-construction measures 

to minimize indirect effects from 

ongoing use of the new facilities. To 

minimize adverse effects to the desert 

tortoise and its habitat, the District 

would provide on-site biological 

monitoring during construction, 

perform pre-project clearance surveys, 

conduct a desert tortoise education 

program for project personnel, and use 

desert tortoise exclusion fencing to 

prevent desert tortoises from entering 

work areas. In addition, the District 

would meet a schedule of reporting 

requirements and appoint a field contact 

representative to oversee compliance. 

After permit issuance, the District 

would also establish an 84.96-acre 

desert tortoise translocation area 

(Translocation Area) on land that it 

owns immediately adjacent to the 71.57- 

acre project site. The District would 

manage this Translocation Area as a 

habitat preserve and fund the 

maintenance and monitoring of the 

desert tortoises that are translocated 

there during Project Site development. 

To mitigate adverse effects, the 

District would purchase an 80-acre 

private in-holding in the Thermal 

Canyon area of Joshua Tree National 

Park. The District would transfer this 

parcel to Joshua Tree National Park and 

provide funds to assure adequate 

management for desert tortoise 

conservation on the 80-acre site. The 

District would also implement one of 

the following mitigation measures 

within 12 months following permit 

issuance: (1) Provide funding to a 

designated management entity for the 

improved management of desert tortoise 

habitat on a 605-acre desert park near 

Coyote Hole Spring or (2) provide 

funding to the Desert Tortoise Preserve 

Committee for the acquisition and 

management of 30-acres of desert 

tortoise habitat at the Desert Tortoise 

Natural Area. The District is providing 

this additional mitigation because 

habitat on the 80-acre Thermal Canyon 

parcel is of lower quality than habitat 

the District would disturb on the project 

site. 

The EA considers the environmental 

consequences of two alternatives, 

including: (1) The No Action 

Alternative, which consists of no 

campus expansion, no mitigation, and 

no permit issuance and (2) the Project 

Development Alternative to the taking, 

which consists of the development of 

the project site and implementation of 

the minimization and mitigation 

measures described in the previous 

paragraphs. Under the Project 

Development Alternative, a third party 

would be selected to work as the 

District’s agent under their incidental 

take permit within 12 months of initial 

permit issuance. This would cover the 

third party for take during management 

of some mitigation lands described in 

the Plan. 

Public Review and Comment 

We are providing this notice pursuant 

to section 10(a) of the Act and the 

regulations of the National 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
10552 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 45 / Thursday, March 8, 2007 / Notices 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 

1969 (40 CFR 1506.6). All comments 

that we receive, including names and 

addresses, will become part of the 

official administrative record and may 

be made available to the public. We will 

evaluate the application, associated 

documents, and comments submitted 

thereon to determine whether the 

application meets the requirements of 

NEPA regulations and section 10(a) of 

the Act. If we determine that those 

requirements are met, we will issue a 

permit to the District for the incidental 

take of desert tortoises. We will make 

our final permit decision no sooner than 

60 days from the date of this notice. 

If you wish to comment on the permit 

application, draft EA, Plan, or IA you 

may submit your comments to the 

address listed in the ADDRESSES section 

of this document. Our practice is to 

make comments, including names, 

home addresses, etc., of respondents 

available for public review. Individual 

respondents may request that we 

withhold their names and/or home 

addresses, etc., but if you wish us to 

consider withholding this information, 

you must state this prominently at the 

beginning of your comments. In 

addition, you must provide a rationale 

demonstrating and documenting that 

disclosure would constitute a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of privacy. In the 

absence of exceptional, documented 

circumstances, we will release this 

information. All submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, are 

available for public inspection in their 

entirety. 

Dated: March 2, 2007. 

Polly Wheeler, 

Acting Deputy Manager, California/Nevada 

Operations Office, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. E7–4138 Filed 3–7–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Minerals Management Service 

Notice Terminating the Exclusion of 

Indian Allotted Leases in the Uintah 

and Ouray Reservation From Valuation 

Under 30 CFR 206.172 

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Minerals Management 

Service (MMS) with Bureau of Indian 

Affairs (BIA) concurrence is terminating 

the exclusion from valuation under the 

rules at 30 CFR 206.172 for gas 

produced from the Ute allotted leases in 

the Uintah and Ouray Reservation 

(Reservation), Utah. The final rule was 

published in the Federal Register on 

August 10, 1999 (64 FR 43506). 

DATES: Effective Date: May 1, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Barder, Manager, San Juan Basin 

Region, Indian Oil and Gas Compliance 

and Asset Management, Minerals 

Revenue Management, Minerals 

Management Service, P.O. Box 25165, 

MS 396B2, Denver, CO 80225–0165, 

telephone number (303) 231–3702, fax 

number (303) 231–3755, e-mail 

john.barder@mms.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MMS 

published in the Federal Register on 

August 10, 1999 (64 FR 43506), a final 

rule titled ‘‘Amendments to Gas 

Valuation Regulations for Indian 

Leases’’ with an effective date of January 

1, 2000. Indian leases in the Reservation 

were excluded from index-based 

valuation (§ 206.172). This exclusion 

was based on the results of a cost benefit 

analysis MMS performed in 1999. In the 

1999 cost benefit analysis, MMS 

estimated individual Indian mineral 

owners would receive more revenue 

under the non-index-based valuation 

methodology (§ 206.174) than under the 

index-based valuation methodology 

(§ 206.172). 

Effective January 2000, MMS has 

valued gas production from the 

Reservation under the non-index-based 

valuation methodology at § 206.174. 

However, MMS recently performed a 

cost benefit analysis for calendar years 

2004 through 2005 and estimated that 

revenues using the index-based 

valuation formula at § 206.172 exceed 

the estimated revenues using the nonindex-based valuation method at 

§ 206.174. Therefore, as required under 

§ 206.172(g), MMS received written 

concurrence from BIA to terminate the 

exclusion from index-based valuation of 

gas production from Indian allotted 

leases in the Reservation. 

As a result, gas production from Ute 

allotted leases in the Reservation must 

be valued under the index-based 

valuation method (§ 206.172), beginning 

with production on the first day of the 

second month following the date MMS 

publishes notice of its decision in the 

Federal Register. Lessees must value gas 

production from Ute allotted leases in 

the Reservation on the index-based 

valuation formula at § 206.172(d) using 

MMS-approved publications and 

indexes for the Central Rocky Mountain 

Index Zone to determine the index zone 

price; or lessees may obtain the indexbased values from the MRM Internet 

Web site at: http://www.mrm.mms.gov. 

Approved publications and index 

pricing points for the Central Rocky 

Mountain Index Zone are shown in the 

following table: 

APPROVED PUBLICATIONS AND INDEX PRICING POINTS FOR THE CENTRAL ROCKY MOUNTAIN INDEX ZONE

Index zone 

MMS-approved publications 

Index-pricing points Platts gas 

daily price 

guide 

NGI’s 

bidweek 

survey 

Central Rocky Mountains ................... X .................... Kern River Gas Trans. Co. for Wyoming. 

X .................... Northwest Pipeline Corp. for Rocky Mountains. 

X .................... Questar Pipeline Co. for Rocky Mountains. 

X .................... Colorado Interstate Gas Co. for Rocky Mountains. 

.................... X Rocky Mountains 

• CIG. 

• Questar. 

• Kern River. 

• Northwest Domestic. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES