5032 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 22 / Monday, February 3, 1997 / Notices

utahensis), and Banbury Springs Limpet

(Lanx n. sp.) in the Snake River, Idaho,

and its tributaries to (and including)

river mile 458 (Swan Falls) while

conducting presence or absence surveys

and various life history and ecological

studies for the purpose of enhancing

their survival.

DATES: Written comments on these

permit applications must be received on

or before March 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Written data or comments

should be submitted to the Chief,

Division of Consultation and

Conservation Planning, Ecological

Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

911 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon

97232–4181. Please refer to the

respective permit number for each

application when submitting comments.

All comments, including names and

addresses, received will become part of

the official administrative record and

may be made available to the public.

Documents and other information

submitted with these applications are

available for review, subject to the

requirements of the Privacy Act and

Freedom of Information Act, by any

party who submits a written request for

a copy of such documents within 30

days of the date of publication of this

notice, to the above office. Please refer

to the respective permit number for each

application when requesting copies of

documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jennifer Frie, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, at the above address;

telephone (503) 231–6125.

Dated: January 22, 1997.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland,

Oregon

[FR Doc. 97–2572 Filed 1–31–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

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.

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 hardwooddominated 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.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 22 / Monday, February 3, 1997 / Notices 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 intraService 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

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Indian Gaming

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of approved Tribal/State

Compact.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 2710,

of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of

1988 (Pub. L. 100–497), the Secretary of

the Interior shall publish, in the Federal

Register, notice of approved Tribal/State

Compacts for the purpose of engaging in

Class III (casino) gambling on Indian

reservations. The Assistant Secretary—

Indian Affairs, Department of the

Interior, through her delegated

authority, has approved the Tribal/State

Gaming Compact between the Citizen

Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe and the

State of Oklahoma, which was executed

on December 5, 1996.

DATES: February 3 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George T. Skibine, Director, Indian

Gaming Management Staff, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20240,

(202) 219–4068.

Dated: January 24, 1997.

Ada E. Deer,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 97–2551 Filed 1–31–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–P

Bureau of Land Management

[CA–067–7122–6606; CACA–35511]

Environmental Impact Statement/

Environmental Impact Report for the

Proposal Imperial Project, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Amendment.

SUMMARY: In the Federal Register of

November 1, 1996 (Vol. 61, p. 56567), a

notice was published pertaining to the

availability of the draft Environmental

Impact Statement/Environmental

Impact Report for the proposed Imperial

Project. This amends that notice.

Because of expressed interest, a

public hearing will be held at the

Barbara Worth Convention Center in

Holtville, California at 6:30 PST to 8:30

PST on Thursday February 6, 1997.

Furthermore, the comment period on