Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 66 / Friday, April 6, 2007 / Notices 17135 

order to implement any of the routine 

road maintenance activities. Chapters 3 

through 9 provide the Best Management 

Practices (BMPs) for routine road 

maintenance activities, and includes a 

description of the activity, any 

environmental concerns, permits that 

may be required, and useful references. 

The Manual also consists of specific 

road maintenance activities, staff 

training, implementation and 

effectiveness monitoring, adaptive 

management, emergency response 

measures, and reporting requirements. 

For each road maintenance activity, 

the Manual provides BMPs designed to 

achieve desired conservation outcomes. 

Only activities that fall under the 

definition of ‘‘maintenance’’ are include 

in the Manual. Repair and maintenance 

include activities that are conducted on 

currently serviceable structures, 

facilities, and equipment which involve 

no expansion of or change in use of 

such structures, facilities, and 

equipment beyond those which existed 

previously, and do not result in 

significant negative hydrological 

impact. 

The road maintenance project 

categories covered by the Manual 

include maintaining roads (e.g., grading, 

road surfacing, dust abatement, 

vegetation management, and winterizing 

the road system), maintaining culverts 

(e.g., culvert cleaning, improvement, 

repair, sizing, and replacement; ditch 

relief culverts, and temporary stream 

diversions), disposal of spoils, managing 

maintenance yards (e.g., facility 

housekeeping practices, building and 

grounds maintenance, vehicle and 

equipment maintenance, and material 

use and storage), maintaining bridges 

(e.g., bridge maintenance, repair, and 

drift removal), working with an 

emergency (e.g., emergency 

maintenance, slide and settlement 

repair, and accident clean-up), and 

dealing with snow and ice (snow and 

ice removal, de-icing/anti-icing and 

sanding). 

As specified in 50 CFR 

223.203(b)(10)(i), the prohibitions of 50 

CFR 223.203(a) relating to certain 

threatened species do not apply to 

routine road maintenance activities 

provided that NMFS finds that the 

program meets or exceeds the 

protections provided by the ODOT 

Guide. 

Authority 

Under section 4 of the ESA, the 

Secretary of Commerce is required to 

adopt such regulations as he deems 

necessary and advisable for the 

conservation of species listed as 

threatened. The ESA salmon and 

steelhead 4(d) rule (June 28, 2005; 70 FR 

37160) specifies categories of activities 

that contribute to the conservation of 

listed salmonids and sets out the criteria 

for such activities. The rule further 

provides that the prohibitions of 

paragraph (a) of the rule do not apply to 

activity associated with routine road 

maintenance, provided that any state or 

local program comports with the 

standard described above and has been 

approved by NMFS to be in accordance 

with the salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule 

(June 28, 2005; 70 FR 37160). 

Dated: March 30, 2007. 

Angela Somma, 

Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office 

of Protected Resources, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–6413 Filed 4–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 040207B] 

Endangered Species; File No. 1547–01 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of permit 

modification. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the New York State Department of 

Environmental Conservation (Kathryn 

Hattala, Principal Investigator), 21 

South Putt Corners Road; New Paltz, 

New York 12561, has been issued a 

modification to scientific research 

Permit Number 1547. 

ADDRESSES: The permit modification 

and related documents are available for 

review upon written request or by 

appointment in the following offices: 

Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301) 713–2289; fax (301) 427–2521; and 

Northeast Region, NMFS, One 

Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 

01930–2298; phone (978) 281–9328; fax 

(978) 281–9394. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Malcolm Mohead or Brandy Hutnak, 

(301) 713–2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

February 23, 2007, notice was published 

in the Federal Register that a 

modification of Permit Number 1547, 

issued October 27, 2006, (71 FR 65470), 

had been requested by the above named 

organization. The requested permit 

modification has been granted under the 

authority of the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 

1531 et seq.) and the regulations 

governing the taking, importing, and 

exporting of endangered and threatened 

species (50 CFR parts 222–226). 

In order to evaluate seasonal 

movement of shortnose sturgeon 

(Acipenser brevirostrum) in Haverstraw 

and Newburgh Bays of the Hudson 

River, the NYSDEC was previously 

authorized annually to capture a 

maximum of 500 adult and juvenile 

shortnose sturgeon with gill nets, and to 

measure, weigh, scan for tags, insert 

passive integrated transponder tags and 

Carlin tags (if untagged) and then 

release. The applicant now proposes to 

collect soft fin-ray tissue samples from 

all captured shortnose sturgeon. The 

goal of the additional research would be 

to document and map the genetic 

identity of shortnose sturgeon in the 

Hudson River. The modification would 

run concurrently with the original 

permit until October 31, 2011. 

Issuance of this modification, as 

required by the ESA, was based on a 

finding that such permit (1) was applied 

for in good faith, (2) will not operate to 

the disadvantage of the endangered 

species which is the subject of this 

permit, and (3) is consistent with the 

purposes and policies set forth in 

section 2 of the ESA. 

Dated: April 2, 2007. 

P. Michael Payne, 

Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–6484 Filed 4–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 040207A] 

Endangered Species; File No. 1580 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Issuance of permit. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

Dynegy Northeast Generations, Inc. 

(Dynegy), 992–994 River Road, 

Newburgh, New York 12550, has been 

issued a permit to take shortnose 

sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) for 

purposes of scientific research. 

ADDRESSES: The permit and related 

documents are available for review 


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