[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47827-47829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24114]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Notice of Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit 
by Langboard, Inc. for Construction of a Fiberboard Manufacturing 
Facility Near Willacoochee, Atkinson County, GA

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Langboard, Inc. (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 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), as amended (Act). The Applicant proposes to construct a 
fiberboard manufacturing facility and associated infrastructure on 
sandhill habitat near Willacoochee, Atkinson County, Georgia. The 
threatened Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi) is known to 
occur on the property. The ITP would authorize incidental take of 
snakes throughout the life of the facility. To minimize impacts 
associated with the proposed project, Langboard proposes to implement 
conservation measures to restore degraded snake habitat on 59 acres 
adjacent to the proposed facility.
    The Service also announces the availability of the HCP for the 
incidental take application. Copies of the HCP may be obtained by 
making a request to the Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). Requests must 
be in writing to be processed. This notice also advises the public that 
the Service has made a preliminary determination that issuing the ITP 
is available through the Categorical Exemption process outlined in the 
Service's Departmental Manual governing implementation of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This notice is provided pursuant to 
Section 10 of the Act and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). The Service 
specifically requests comment on the appropriateness of the ``No 
Surprises'' assurances should the Service determine that an ITP will be

[[Page 47828]]

granted and based upon the submitted HCP. Although not explicitly 
stated in the HCP, the Service has, since August 1994, announced its 
intention to honor a ``No Surprises'' Policy for applicants seeking 
ITPs. Copies of the Service's ``No Surprises'' Policy may be obtained 
by making a written request to the Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). The 
Service is soliciting public comments and review of the applicability 
of the ``No Surprises'' Policy to this application and HCP.

DATES: Written comments on the permit application and HCP should be 
sent to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be 
received on or before October 14, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application 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, 
Brunswick, Georgia Field Office, 4270 Norwich Street, Brunswick, 
Georgia 31520. 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. Comments must be 
submitted in writing to be processed. Please reference permit number 
PRT-833793 in such comments, or in requests of the documents discussed 
herein.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick G. Gooch, Regional Permit 
Coordinator, (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/679-7110; or Ms. 
Robin Goodloe, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Brunswick, Georgia Field 
Office, (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 912/265-9336.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Eastern indigo snake (snake) is a large, 
docile, non-venomous snake reaching more than 7 feet in length. The 
snake once was a common southeastern Coastal Plain species found from 
South Carolina to Louisiana. Now it occurs in significant numbers only 
in Georgia and Florida and is believed to be declining throughout its 
range. Declines in snake populations are primarily due to habitat loss. 
Sandhill habitats within the range of the snake have been severely 
impacted by silviculture, farming, and urbanization. A reduction in 
numbers and extent of wildfires and prescribed burns has resulted in 
adverse modification of sandhill habitats. Snake collections for the 
pet trade and deaths related to rattlesnake hunting also reduced 
numbers. Additional mortality may result from bioaccumulation of 
pesticides and herbicides.
    In Georgia, the primary habitat of the snake is dry sandhills 
(longleaf pine-turkey oak-wiregrass association) interspersed with 
wetland habitats such as drainageways, river swamps, and cypress ponds. 
The majority of snake winter dens in Georgia are located in gopher 
tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows. Snakes are quiescent during 
winter, and the availability of deep dens that do not flood (e.g., 
gopher tortoise burrows on the sandhills) is essential for winter 
survival. Snakes move from winter habitat in the sandhills to stream 
bottoms and agricultural fields from May through November. Seasonal 
range from May through July is estimated at 17 acres and increases to 
39 acres from August to November.
    Snakes forage in a variety of forest types including wetlands and 
upland pine-hardwoods up to a mile from their winter dens. The snake 
feeds on other snakes, frogs, toads, small mammals, birds, turtles, 
fish, and other vertebrates. Mating activity (recorded in a captive 
colony at Auburn) begins in November, peaks in December, and continues 
into March. Nests tend to be located in abandoned gopher tortoise 
burrows and rotting pine stumps.
    The current status and future survival of the snake is likely 
linked directly to the status of sandhill habitat. Density of gopher 
tortoise populations, and therefore, snake habitat, is closely related 
to available biomass of herbaceous food plants; this in turn is 
dependent on a sparse tree canopy and relatively open (litter free) 
ground conditions. Frequent fires that remove some, but not all, scrub 
hardwood and most brush are essential in maintaining habitat quality.
    Langboard, Inc. proposes to construct a fiberboard manufacturing 
facility, with associated infrastructure, on a 723-acre site near 
Willacoochee, Atkinson County, Georgia. The majority of the property is 
flatwood wetlands, which will be avoided during construction. The 
northern 200 acres primarily is sandhill habitat planted in pine. Two 
federally threatened snakes, as well as 88 active and 713 inactive or 
abandoned gopher tortoise burrows, were located in upland habitats on 
the property during 1996 surveys. The fiberboard manufacturing facility 
will be constructed on 45.29 acres of sandhill habitat that currently 
supports four active and 94 inactive/abandoned gopher tortoise burrows.
    Construction and operation of the fiberboard manufacturing facility 
may directly injure or kill snakes that utilize the site or indirectly 
cause death or injury by destroying gopher tortoise burrows that 
provide snakes with winter dens, refugia, and egg-laying habitat. To 
minimize impacts associated with the proposed project, the Applicant 
proposes to implement conservation measures to restore 59 acres of 
sandhill habitat adjacent to the proposed facility. Conservation 
measures on different areas managed under the HCP will include 
prescribed warm season burns on a regular basis throughout the lifetime 
of the facility, replanting with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), 
maintenance of overstory at a 30-40 percent open canopy, thinning other 
areas to stimulate growth of herbaceous vegetation, and maintaining a 
buffer along a county road and the property's north boundary.
    The Service will evaluate whether the issuance of the 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 biological 
opinion, in combination with the above findings, will be used in the 
final analysis to determine whether or not to issue the ITP.
    On Thursday, January 16, 1997, the Service published a notice in 
the Federal Register announcing the Final Revised Procedures for 
implementation of NEPA (NEPA Revisions), (62 FR 2375-2382). The NEPA 
revisions update the Service's procedures, originally published in 
1984, based on changing trends, laws, and consideration of public 
comments. Most importantly, the NEPA revisions reflect new initiatives 
and Congressional mandates for the Service, particularly involving new 
authorities for land acquisition activities, expansion of grant 
programs and other private land activities, and increased Endangered 
Species Act permit and recovery activities. The revisions promote 
cooperating agency arrangements with other Federal agencies; early 
coordination techniques for streamlining the NEPA process with other 
Federal agencies, Tribes, the States, and the private sector; and 
integrating the NEPA process with other environmental laws and 
executive orders. Section 1.4 of the NEPA Revisions identify actions 
that may qualify for Categorical Exclusion. Categorical exclusions are 
classes of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a 
significant effect on the human environment. Categorical exclusions are 
not the equivalent of statutory exemptions. If exceptions to 
categorical exclusions apply, under 516

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DM 2, Appendix 2 of the Departmental Manual, the departmental 
categorical exclusions cannot be used. Among the types of actions 
available for a Categorical Exclusion is for a ``low effect'' HCP/
incidental take permit application. A ``low effect'' HCP is defined as 
an application that, individually or cumulatively, has a minor or 
negligible effect on the species covered in the HCP [Section 
1.4(C)(2)].
    The Service considers the Applicant's project and HCP such a 
Categorical Exclusion, since the impacts of issuing the ITP involve 
only a small area of the affected species' range and the anticipated 
level of incidental take is minimal. The Service is soliciting for 
public comments on this determination.

    Dated: September 4, 1997.
H. Dale Hall,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 97-24114 Filed 9-10-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P