Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 77 / Friday, April 20, 2012 / Notices 23743 

Authorities 

The authorities of this action are the 

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 

2701 et seq.), the implementing Natural 

Resource Damage Assessment 

regulations found at 15 CFR Part 990, 

and the Framework Agreement. 

Dated: April 16, 2012. 

Cynthia K. Dohner, 

DOI Authorized Official. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9581 Filed 4–18–12; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R1–ES–2012–N081; 10120–1112– 

0000–F2] 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

and Proposed Amendment of the 

Washington Department of Natural 

Resources Habitat Conservation Plan 

for Forested State Trust Lands 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent; announcement 

of public scoping meetings; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), intend to 

conduct public scoping under the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) to gather information to prepare 

a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

(DEIS) in anticipation of receiving an 

application for an Incidental Take 

Permit (ITP) amendment under section 

10 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) 

from the Washington Department of 

Natural Resources (WDNR) for their 

1997 Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) 

for forested State trust lands. The HCP 

amendment involves the proposed 

replacement of an interim conservation 

strategy for the threatened marbled 

murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), 

which is currently being implemented 

under the HCP, with a long-term 

conservation strategy. The proposed 

amendment to the HCP and the ITP is 

exclusively limited to consideration of a 

long-term conservation strategy for the 

marbled murrelet on HCP-covered 

lands. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, please 

send your written comments by May 21, 

2012 (see ADDRESSES section). 

Four public scoping meetings will be 

held to discuss the DEIS, and we will 

accept written comments at these 

meetings. These meetings will be held 

on the following dates and at the 

following locations: 

1. April 30, 2012, 6–8 p.m., WDNR, 

Natural Resource Building, 1st Floor, 

1111 Washington Street SE., Olympia, 

WA 98504. 

2. May 3, 2012, 6–8 p.m., WDNR, 

Northwest Region Office, 919 N. 

Township Street, Sedro Woolley, WA 

98284. 

3. May 8, 2012, 6–8 p.m., Wahkikum 

County Courthouse, Pacific Cascade/ 

River Room, 25 River Street, Cathlamet, 

WA 98612. 

4. May 9, 2012, 6–8 p.m., WDNR, 

Olympic Region Headquarters, 411 

Tillicum Lane, Forks, WA 98331. 

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning 

the preparation of the DEIS, proposed 

HCP amendment, and the NEPA process 

may be submitted by one of the 

following methods to WDNR. WDNR 

will transmit all comments received to 

the Service for review and 

consideration: 

• Email: sepacenter@dnr.wa.gov. 

• U.S. Mail: SEPA Responsible 

Official, Annie Szvetecz, Washington 

Department of Natural Resources, SEPA 

Center, P.O. Box 47001, Olympia, WA 

98504–7001. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mark Ostwald of the Service at (360) 

753–9564 (phone); 

Mark_Ostwald@fws.gov (email); or by 

U.S. mail to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Washington Fish and Wildlife 

Office, 510 Desmond Dr. SE., Suite 102, 

Lacey, WA 98503; or, alternatively, 

contact Annie Szvetecz, SEPA 

Responsible Official, WDNR, at (360) 

902–112 (phone); 

sepacenter@dnr.wa.gov (email). In 

addition, information on this proposed 

action is also available at the WDNR’s 

Web site at http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ 

ResearchScience/Topics/ 

TrustLandsHCP/Pages/ 

lm_hcp_marbled_murrelet_main.aspx 

and the Service’s Web site at http:// 

www.fws.gov/wafwo/index.html. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Meeting Location Accommodation 

Persons needing reasonable 

accommodations in order to attend and 

participate in the public scoping 

meetings should contact Mark Ostwald 

with the Service or Annie Szvetecz with 

the WDNR (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT above). In order to 

allow sufficient time to process 

requests, please call no later than one 

week before the public meeting. 

Information regarding this proposed 

action is available in alternative formats 

upon request. 

Background 

In 1996, the WDNR released their 

draft HCP for forest management 

activities covering 1.6 million acres of 

forested State trust lands within the 

range of the northern spotted owl (Strix 

occidentalis caurina) in Washington. A 

DEIS (dated March 1996) jointly 

developed by the Service, National 

Marine Fisheries Service, and the 

WDNR was announced in the Federal 

Register on April 5, 1996 (61 FR 15297). 

The DEIS analyzed reasonable 

management alternatives, including the 

HCP. A notice of availability for the 

Final EIS (FEIS) was published in the 

Federal Register on November 1, 1996 

(61 FR 56563). On January 30, 1997, the 

Service issued an ITP (PRT No. 812521) 

for the WDNR HCP. The Service’s ITP 

decision and the availability of related 

decision documents were announced in 

the Federal Register on February 27, 

1997 (62 FR 8980). 

The WDNR HCP commits WDNR to 

developing a long-term conservation 

strategy for the marbled murrelet (HCP 

IV. 39). However, during development 

of the HCP, it was determined that there 

was not enough scientific information to 

credibly develop a long-term 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet on WDNR lands. For that 

reason, the WDNR developed an interim 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet (HCP IV. 39), which is 

currently being implemented. The 

principal intent of the interim 

conservation strategy was to locate 

occupied marbled murrelet sites and not 

foreclose future options for long-term 

conservation of the marbled murrelet on 

WDNR lands. Briefly, the interim 

marbled murrelet conservation strategy 

included the following: (1) Suitable 

habitat blocks are identified, with 

harvest on these blocks deferred; (2) 

habitat relationship studies are 

undertaken to determine the relative 

importance, based on occupancy, of 

identified habitat blocks; (3) following 

completion of the habitat relationship 

studies, the lowest quality habitat 

blocks are made available for timber 

harvest (these areas, in the poorest 

quality habitats, were expected to 

contain about 5 percent of the murreletoccupied sites on HCP-covered lands); 

(4) the higher quality habitat blocks 

identified from the habitat relationships 

study are surveyed for marbled murrelet 

occupancy, and occupied habitat are 

protected, along with some unoccupied 

habitat; and (5) development of a longterm conservation strategy for marbled 

murrelets is undertaken on WDNR 

lands. 

For southwest Washington and the 

Olympic Peninsula, the WDNR has 

completed steps 1 through 4 listed 

above. For step 5, the WDNR 

contemplated proposing an amendment 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
23744 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 77 / Friday, April 20, 2012 / Notices 

to the WDNR HCP once the long-term 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet was submitted to the Service. 

An amendment to the HCP (and the ITP) 

involves both Federal and State action 

subject to NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4341) and 

the State Environmental Policy Act (Ch. 

43.21C RCW; SEPA), respectively. On 

September 15, 2006, the Service 

published a notice in the Federal 

Register (71 FR 54515) announcing our 

intent to conduct public scoping for the 

HCP and ITP amendments in 

anticipation of receiving an application 

for an ITP amendment from the WDNR. 

However, a proposed HCP amendment 

was not submitted by the WDNR at that 

time. 

Proposed Action 

We are now reinitiating the NEPA 

scoping process with this Federal 

Register notice. The Service and WDNR 

have determined it is appropriate to 

prepare the DEIS as joint lead agencies 

pursuant to our respective authorities 

under NEPA (40 C.F.R. 1501.5) and 

SEPA (WAC 197–11–944) and to 

reinitiate and expand public scoping 

due to the passage of time since the 

original scoping notice was issued. 

Unlike the HCP amendment described 

in the September 15, 2006, Federal 

Register notice (71 FR 54515) that 

involved a proposed long-term 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet in southwest Washington and 

the Olympic Peninsula, the long-term 

conservation strategy discussed herein 

is for all WDNR lands within the range 

of the marbled murrelet. The WDNR and 

the Service both conclude that adequate 

information is currently available that 

can inform the proposal at the Statewide 

WDNR scale. 

The WDNR’s existing ITP authorizes 

specific levels and types of incidental 

take of the marbled murrelet. The 

current ITP was principally structured 

to meet the needs of the interim 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet, which the WDNR now desires 

to replace with a long-term strategy. It 

is possible that the long-term 

conservation strategy may warrant a 

revision of the ITP to address additional 

incidental take of the marbled murrelet 

not previously authorized. Accordingly, 

the level of take, general locations of 

potential incidental take, timing of 

incidental take, minimization and 

mitigation strategies, enhancement 

activities, and research and monitoring 

plans will be described in the long-term 

conservation strategy for the marbled 

murrelet and in the DEIS. 

In order for the Service to evaluate 

WDNR’s request for an ITP amendment, 

the WDNR must submit the proposed 

long-term conservation strategy for the 

marbled murrelet to the Service for 

analysis. The Service will ultimately 

determine whether the WDNR HCP, as 

amended by the long-term conservation 

strategy for the marbled murrelet, 

satisfies the ESA section 10 permit 

issuance criteria and other applicable 

laws and/or regulations. 

In 2008, the WDNR released a 

technical report entitled 

Recommendations and Supporting 

Analysis of Conservation Opportunities 

for the Marbled Murrelet Long-Term 

Conservation Strategy (http:// 

www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/ 

lm_mamu_sci_team_report.pdf) 

(Report). This Report was developed by 

an interagency scientific team of 

marbled murrelet experts and focused 

on marbled murrelet conservation in 

southwest Washington and the Olympic 

Peninsula. The Report: Characterized 

marbled murrelet ecology and life 

history, recommended landscape 

conservation approaches for WDNR 

lands, described marbled murrelet 

habitat assessment methods, reported 

marbled murrelet habitat assessment 

results, and described adaptive 

management concepts. The Report 

provided recommendations and analysis 

for the WDNR and the Service to 

consider while the WDNR develops a 

long-term conservation strategy for the 

marbled murrelet on the lands it 

manages. 

Statutory Requirements 

Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1538) 

and implementing regulations prohibit 

the taking of animal species listed as 

endangered or threatened. The term 

‘‘take’’ is defined under the ESA (16 

U.S.C. 1532(19)) to mean ‘‘harass, harm, 

pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, 

capture, or collect, or to attempt to 

engage in any such conduct.’’ ‘‘Harm’’ is 

defined by the Service to include 

significant habitat modification or 

degradation where it actually kills or 

injures listed species by significantly 

impairing essential behavioral patterns, 

including breeding, feeding, and 

sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). ‘‘Harass’’ is 

defined by the Service as actions that 

create the likelihood of injury to listed 

species to such an extent as to 

significantly disrupt normal behavior 

patterns which include, but are not 

limited to, breeding, feeding or 

sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). 

Section 10 of the ESA and 

implementing regulations specify 

requirements for the issuance of ITPs to 

non-Federal landowners for the 

incidental take of endangered and 

threatened species. Such take must be 

incidental to otherwise lawful activities, 

not appreciably reduce the likelihood of 

the survival and recovery of the species 

in the wild, and the impacts of the take 

on the listed species must be minimized 

and mitigated by the permittee to the 

maximum extent practicable. An 

applicant for an ITP must prepare a HCP 

describing the impacts that will likely 

result from such taking, the 

conservation program for minimizing 

and mitigating those take impacts, the 

funding available to implement the 

conservation program, the alternatives 

considered by the applicant to avoid 

such taking, and the reason(s) such 

alternatives are not being implemented. 

NEPA requires that Federal agencies 

conduct an environmental analysis of 

their proposed actions to determine if 

the actions may significantly affect the 

human environment. Under NEPA, a 

reasonable range of alternatives to a 

proposed action is developed and 

considered in the Federal agency’s 

environmental review. Alternatives 

considered for analysis in an EIS such 

as the one contemplated herein may 

include: Variations in the location, 

amount, and type of conservation; 

variations in the amount of active forest 

management; adaptive management and 

variations in adaptive management; 

variations in permit duration; or a 

combination of these elements and 

others, and no action. In addition, an 

EIS will identify any potentially 

significant direct, indirect, and 

cumulative impacts on biological 

resources, land use, air quality, water 

quality, water resources, 

socioeconomics, and other 

environmental issues that could occur 

with the implementation of the 

proposed action and alternatives. For 

potentially significant impacts, the EIS 

may identify avoidance, minimization, 

or mitigation measures to reduce these 

impacts, where feasible, to a level below 

significance. 

Scoping Meetings 

See DATES above for the dates, times 

and locations of the public scoping 

meetings for development of a DEIS for 

amending the WDNR HCP and ITP. The 

purpose of the scoping process is to seek 

the public’s views regarding the 

appropriate range of alternatives that 

should be analyzed in the DEIS, the 

need, purpose, and objectives of the 

proposal, the impacts that should be 

considered, and existing environmental 

information relevant to the analysis. The 

scoping meetings will allocate time for 

presentations by the Service and the 

WDNR, followed by informal questions 

and discussions. To ensure that a full 

range of issues related to the anticipated 

amendment are identified, we 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 77 / Friday, April 20, 2012 / Notices 23745 

encourage written comments from 

interested parties. 

Public Comments 

The primary purpose of the scoping 

process is for the public to assist the 

Service and WDNR in developing the 

DEIS by identifying important issues 

and alternatives related to WDNR’s 

proposed HCP amendment. To 

constructively guide the development of 

the DEIS, the WDNR and Service jointly 

identified the Need, Purpose, and 

Objectives of the proposed action to be 

consistent with those of the current 

WDNR HCP as follows: 

• Need: To obtain long-term certainty 

for timber harvest and other 

management activities on forested State 

trust lands and to contribute to longterm conservation for the marbled 

murrelet, consistent with commitments 

in the 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan. 

• Purpose: To develop a long-term 

habitat conservation strategy for 

marbled murrelets on forested State 

trust lands in the six west-side planning 

units, subject to DNR’s fiduciary 

responsibility to the trust beneficiaries 

as defined by law and the Service’s 

responsibilities under the ESA. 

• Objectives: 

1. Trust Mandate: Generate revenue 

and other benefits for each trust by 

meeting DNR’s trust responsibilities, 

including: Making trust property 

productive, preserving the corpus of the 

trust, exercising reasonable care and 

skill in managing the trust, acting 

prudently with respect to trust property, 

acting with undivided loyalty to trust 

beneficiaries, and acting impartially 

with respect to current and future trust 

beneficiaries. 

2. Marbled Murrelet Habitat: Provide 

forest conditions in strategic locations 

on forested trust lands that minimize 

and mitigate incidental take of marbled 

murrelet resulting from DNR’s forest 

management activities. In 

accomplishing this objective, we expect 

to make a significant contribution to 

maintaining and protecting marbled 

murrelet populations. 

3. Active Management: Promote 

active, innovative and sustainable 

management on the forested trust land 

base. 

4. Operational Flexibility: Provide 

flexibility to respond to new 

information and site-specific conditions. 

5. Implementation Certainty: Adopt 

feasible, practical, and cost-effective 

actions that are likely to be successful 

and can be sustained throughout the life 

of the HCP. 

The Service requests that comments 

be specific. In particular, we request 

information regarding: 

• Baseline environmental conditions 

in the plan area; 

• Need, Purpose, and Objectives 

identified above; 

• Other possible alternatives that 

meet the Need, Purpose, and Objectives; 

• Direct, indirect, and cumulative 

impacts that implementation of a 

proposed amendment or other 

alternatives that are based upon the 

Need, Purpose, and Objectives could 

have on marbled murrelets and other 

species, and their communities and 

habitats; 

• Marbled murrelet ecology; 

• Potential adaptive management 

and/or monitoring provisions; 

• Funding issues; 

• Other plans or projects that might 

be relevant to this proposed project; 

• Minimization and mitigation 

concepts; 

• Any other information pertinent to 

evaluating the effects of the proposed 

action on the human environment. 

Comments regarding these issues as 

they relate to management of WDNR 

lands for marbled murrelet conservation 

should be submitted by one of the 

methods listed in ADDRESSES. 

The WDNR and the Service intend to 

develop an initial set of conceptual 

alternatives to aid in the assessment of 

the appropriate range of alternatives to 

be analyzed in the DEIS. The conceptual 

alternatives are intended to broadly 

describe different approaches to the 

long-term conservation strategy for the 

marbled murrelet on WDNR HCPcovered lands for the purpose of public 

feedback prior to refinement of 

alternatives in the DEIS. We intend to 

provide the public the opportunity to 

comment on the initial set of conceptual 

alternatives before completing the 

selection of the range of alternatives that 

will be formally presented in the DEIS. 

We do not expect to publish a notice in 

the Federal Register for this 

opportunity. To enable the public to 

comment on conceptual alternatives 

before the DEIS is published, the 

Service and the WDNR will announce 

this opportunity on our respective web 

sites (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT) and in other forms of media, 

and we will also send notification to 

people who respond to this scoping 

notice, attend our public scoping 

meeting attendees, or requests to be 

notified. 

The DEIS is expected to be completed 

and available to the public in the winter 

of 2012. Once the DEIS is prepared, 

there will be an additional opportunity 

announced for public comment on all 

aspects and content of the DEIS through 

a Federal Register notice of availability. 

Public Availability of Comments 

All comments and materials we 

receive become part of the public record 

associated with this action. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comments, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. Comments and materials we 

receive will be available for public 

inspection by appointment, during 

normal business hours, at our office (see 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Authority 

The environmental review of this 

proposed action will be conducted in 

accordance with the requirements of 

NEPA, the Council on Environmental 

Quality Regulations (40 CFR 1500– 

1508), other applicable Federal laws and 

regulations, and policies and procedures 

of the Service. This notice is being 

furnished in accordance with 40 CFR 

1501.7 of NEPA to obtain suggestions 

and information from other agencies 

and the public on the scope of issues 

and alternatives to be addressed in the 

DEIS. 

Dated: April 2, 2012. 

Richard Hannan, 

Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9664 Filed 4–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2012–N050; FF08E00000– 

FXES11120800000F2–123–F2] 

Proposed Low-Effect Habitat 

Conservation Plan for the Bay 

Checkerspot Butterfly and Serpentine 

Grasslands, City of San Jose, Santa 

Clara County, CA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability: request 

for comment. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, have received an 

application from Hoa Cam Tieu 

(applicant) for a 3-year incidental take 

permit for three species under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). The application 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES