[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 22 (Monday, February 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5032-5033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2579]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Notice of Receipt of an Application, and Availability of an 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for an 
Incidental Take Permit for the Red Hills Salamander by Wilmon 
Timberlands for Forest Management in Southcentral Alabama

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Wilmon Timberlands 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.) (Act), as amended. The ITP would authorize, for a period of 30 
years, the incidental take of a threatened species, the Red Hills 
salamander (Phaeognathus hubrichti). The proposed take is incidental to 
forest management activities on about 2,970 acres of Red Hills 
salamander habitat managed by the Applicant in Monroe County, Alabama. 
The Service also announces the availability of an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for this incidental 
take permit application. The HCP, which is required by Section 
10(a)(2)(A) of the Act, was prepared and submitted by the Applicant 
with the permit application. Copies of the EA and/or HCP may be 
obtained by making a request in writing to the Regional Office (see 
ADDRESSES). This notice also advises the public that the Service has 
made preliminary determinations that issuing an ITP to the Applicant is 
not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the 
human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended. The 
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is based on information 
contained in the EA and HCP. The final determination will be made no 
sooner than 30 days from the date of this notice. This notice is 
provided pursuant to Section 10 of the Act and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 
1506.6).

DATES: Written comments on the application, EA and HCP should be sent 
to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be received 
on or before March 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application, HCP, and EA 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 at the Jackson, Mississippi, 
Field Office, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi 
39213. Written data or comments concerning the application, EA, or HCP 
should be submitted to the Regional Office. Comments must be submitted 
in writing to be processed. Please reference permit under PRT-824543 in 
such comments, or in requests for the documents discussed herein. 
Requests for the documents must be in writing to be adequately 
processed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick G. Gooch, Regional Permit 
Coordinator, Atlanta, Georgia (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/
679-7110; or Mr. Will McDearman at the Jackson, Mississippi, Field 
Office (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 601/965-4900, extension 24.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Red Hills salamander (RHS), Phaeognathus 
hubrichti, is a plethodontid salamander known only from the Red Hills 
region of southcentral Alabama in portions of Butler, Conecuh, 
Covington, Crenshaw, and Monroe Counties. This physiographic 
subdivision of the Gulf Coastal Plain is distinguished by hilly, 
dissected terrain, frequently with steep side slopes extending 200 feet 
from the ridge to the base of the lower slope. Natural vegetation of 
these moist, steep, sheltered slopes and ravines consists of a beech-
magnolia forest community. Characteristic woody species in the forest 
overstory include American beech (Fagus grandifolia), bigleaf magnolia 
(Magnolia macrophylla), southern magnolia (M. grandiflora), white oak 
(Quercus alba), and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Portions of 
this and closely related forest types in the Red Hills region are 
underlain by clays, claystones, and siltstones of the Tallahatta and 
Hatchetigbee formations. RHS occupy subterranean burrows within the 
fissures and channels of these formations on relatively steep slopes 
beneath undisturbed and moderately disturbed hardwood and hardwood-pine 
dominated forests. RHS, which rarely leave their burrows, prey upon 
ground-dwelling arthropods located within burrows or outside burrows 
near the burrow entrance. Substrates of the Tallahatta and Hatchetigbee 
formation apparently are important for maintaining suitable moisture 
required for these amphibians. Other important factors preventing the 
desiccation of RHS micro-habitat include loamy soils, leaf litter from 
deciduous trees, and a well developed overstory canopy of hardwoods 
that intercepts direct sunlight. Timber management practices that 
reduce or eliminate the forest canopy, disturb or compact soils, and 
convert hardwood-dominated forests to pine-dominated forests can 
incidentally kill, injure, or harm RHS in violation of Section 9 of the 
Act. Such practices can involve timber harvest, the operation of 
vehicular logging equipment, timber regeneration, and site preparation 
in habitat occupied by RHS. Based on RHS surveys conducted by the 
Applicant, RHS may occur on about 2,970 acres managed by Wilmon 
Timberlands. This represents about five percent of the range wide total 
habitat estimated to remain in 1978.

[[Page 5033]]

    The EA considers the environmental consequences of two 
alternatives. The proposed action is the issuance of the ITP based upon 
the submittal of the HCP. This action is based on a preliminary 
determination by the Service that the HCP will satisfy the requirements 
of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act. By this alternative, the HCP 
conserves RHS by restricting timber management activities in optimal 
and moderately suitable habitat. Optimal habitat occupies about 1,340 
acres with steep (> 27 degree) slopes, underlain by the Tallahatta 
formation, with a forest dominated by deciduous trees. Timber harvests, 
if any, in optimal habitat will be limited to single tree selection 
while maintaining a forest canopy coverage over at least 90 percent of 
a site. To minimize disturbance to soils and destruction of RHS 
burrows, no vehicular logging equipment will operate within optimal 
habitat. Felled timber will be pulled from preferred habitat by cable 
from vehicular or other logging equipment located in adjacent habitat. 
Also, timber regeneration will occur naturally without site preparation 
or planting. Moderately suitable RHS habitat consists of slopes 18 to 
27 degrees on either the Tallahatta or Hatchetigbee formations, with 
naturally occurring mixed hardwood-pine and pine-hardwood forest types. 
Timber harvests by single tree selection will be conducted while 
maintaining a forest canopy cover over at least 65 percent of a site, 
followed by natural regeneration. In marginally suitable to unsuitable 
RHS habitat on slopes of less than 18 degrees within the Tallahatta or 
Hatchetigbee formations, the Applicant will use a full array of forest 
management practices, including uneven-aged management, even-aged 
management with clear cutting, site preparation, and artificial and 
natural regeneration.
    RHS populations in marginally suitable habitat will be 
significantly reduced or eliminated as a result of clear cutting, site 
preparation, and conversion to pine forests. Because RHS are more 
common and abundant in optimal habitat, the HCP will conserve core RHS 
populations where most RHS exist. The conservation of RHS in optimal 
habitat is consistent with the Service's recovery plan for the species. 
Populations in moderately suitable habitat may be extirpated or they 
may persist following timber harvests with vehicular logging equipment 
and a reduction in the forest canopy to 65 percent coverage of a site. 
The HCP also includes maintaining forest buffer zones adjacent to 
optimal habitat, staff training to implement the conservation plan, 
funding, and monitoring and reporting of management actions.
    The second alternative in the EA is the no action alternative in 
which the Service would not issue the ITP. The basis for this 
alternative would be the failure of the Applicant to satisfy 
requirements of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act for permit issuance. 
Without the authority to incidentally take RHS, the Applicant is 
expected to avoid timber harvesting and related forest management 
actions in habitat occupied by the RHS to reduce or eliminate the 
possibility of illegally taking the RHS.
    As stated above, the Service has made a preliminary determination 
that the issuance of this ITP is not a major Federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the 
meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of NEPA and will result in the FONSI. This 
preliminary determination is based on information in the EA and HCP. 
The determination may be revised due to public comment received in 
response to this notice. An excerpt from the FONSI reflecting the 
Service's finding on the application is provided below:
    Based on the analysis conducted by the Service, it has been 
determined that:
    1. Issuance of an ITP would not have significant effects on the 
human environment in the project area.
    2. The proposed take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity.
    3. The Applicant has ensured that adequate funding will be provided 
to implement the measures proposed in the submitted HCP.
    4. Other than impacts to endangered and threatened species as 
outlined in the documentation of this decision, the indirect impacts 
which may result from issuance of the ITPs are addressed by other 
regulations and statutes under the jurisdiction of other government 
entities. The validity of the Service's ITPs are contingent upon the 
Applicants' compliance with the terms of their permits and all other 
laws and regulations under the control of State, local, and other 
Federal governmental entities.
    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 Section 7 
biological opinion, in combination with the above findings, will be 
used in the final analysis to determine whether or not to issue the 
ITP.

    Dated: January 27, 1997.
Noreen K. Clough,
Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 97-2579 Filed 1-31-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P