[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2635-2636]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00794]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R2-ES-2021-N189; FXES111602C0000-212-FF02ENEH00]


Enhancement of Survival Permit; Agricultural Candidate 
Conservation Agreement With Assurances (CCAA) for Lesser Prairie 
Chicken in Oklahoma

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability of an application to amend the Oklahoma Department of 
Wildlife Conservation's enhancement of survival permit and the 
associated Agricultural Candidate Conservation Agreement with 
Assurances (CCAA) for Lesser Prairie Chickens (LEPC) in Oklahoma. The 
application package includes the proposed amendment to the CCAA and a 
draft screening form pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (NEPA).

DATES: Submission of comments: We will accept comments received or 
postmarked on or before February 17, 2022.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining documents: You may obtain copies of the EOS application, 
proposed CCAA amendment, draft NEPA screening form, or other related 
documents on the internet at https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma.
    Submitting comments: You may submit written comments by email to 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d39c9896808c9d96839293b5a4a0fdb4bca5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="90dfdbd5c3cfded5c0d1d0f6e7e3bef7ffe6">[email protected]</span></a>. Please note that your comment is in reference to the 
above-referenced CCAA. For more information, see Public Availability of 
Comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John Hendrix, Acting Field 
Supervisor, Oklahoma Ecological Services Field Office, Tulsa, OK; 
telephone 918-581-7458. Individuals who are hearing or speech impaired 
may call the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8337 for TTY assistance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice advises the public that the 
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) has applied to the 
Service to amend their existing enhancement of survival (EOS) permit 
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 
as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the associated 
Agricultural Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) 
for Lesser Prairie Chickens in Oklahoma. The permit application 
includes the CCAA amendment and the draft screening form supporting a 
categorical exclusion in accordance with the requirements of the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We 
are making the permit application package available for public review 
and comment.

Background

    Under a CCAA, the participants voluntarily undertake management 
activities on their properties to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat 
benefiting species that are proposed for listing under the ESA, 
candidates for listing, or species that may become candidates or 
proposed for listing. Enhancement of survival permits are issued to the 
applicants in association with approved CCAAs to authorize incidental 
take of the covered species from conservation measures and ongoing 
activities on the enrolled lands that are identified in the CCAA. 
Through the CCAA and the associated EOS permit, the Service provides 
assurances to enrolled property owners that they will not be subjected 
to increased land use restrictions if the covered species become listed 
under the ESA in the future, provided certain conditions are met.
    Application requirements and issuance criteria for EOS permits for 
CCAAs are found in the Code of Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 
17.22(d)(2)(ii) and 17.32(d)(2)(ii), for species that may become listed 
as endangered and threatened under the ESA, respectively. See also the 
joint policy on CCAAs, which was published

[[Page 2636]]

in the Federal Register with the Department of Commerce's National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries 
Service (80 FR 95164; December 27, 2016).

Proposed Action

    The existing permitted CCAA is authorized for 25 years and covers 
agricultural activities in Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Cimarron, Custer, 
Dewey, Ellis, Harper, Major, Roger Mills, Texas, Washita, Woods, and 
Woodward Counties, in Oklahoma. This area constitutes the CCAA's 
planning area, with covered areas being non-Federal lands within the 
planning area that provide suitable habitat for LEPC, or have the 
potential to provide suitable LEPC habitat with the implementation of 
appropriate conservation management practices. The ODWC has applied for 
an amendment to the CCAA to increase the conservation benefit of the 
CCAA for LEPC in Oklahoma by increasing enrollment from the current 
maximum of 400,000 acres to 1,000,000 acres by 2037, throughout the 14 
Oklahoma counties described in the CCAA. This would more than double 
the conservation program currently being implemented on agricultural 
lands within the planning range of the LEPC under the current EOS 
permit held by ODWC. This CCAA contributes to a larger conservation 
effort for the LEPC across its range within Colorado, Kansas, New 
Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
    Pursuant to the CCAA, ODWC will enroll participating landowners 
through issuance of certificates of inclusion. Participating landowners 
who are fully implementing the CCAA provisions of the EOS permit will 
be provided assurances that, should the LEPC become listed, the Service 
will not require them to provide additional land, water, or financial 
resources, nor will there be any further restrictions to their land, 
water, or financial resources than those they committed to under the 
CCAA provisions. Furthermore, if the LEPC is listed, participating 
landowners would be provided incidental take authorization for LEPC 
under the EOS permit for the level of incidental take on the enrolled 
lands consistent with the activities under the CCAA provisions. This 
amendment would potentially increase the amount of the incidental take 
authorization proportionately with the increasing of the enrolled 
conservation acres.

Next Steps

    We will evaluate the permit application, proposed amendment, draft 
NEPA screening form, and comments we receive to determine whether the 
EOS application meets the requirements of ESA, NEPA, and implementing 
regulations. If we determine that all requirements are met, we will 
approve the amendment and issue the amended EOS under section 
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to the applicant in accordance with the terms of 
the amended CCAA and specific terms and conditions of the authorizing 
EOS. We will not make our final decision until after the 30-day comment 
period ends, and we have fully considered all comments received during 
the public comment period.

Public Availability of Comments

    All comments we receive become part of the public record associated 
with this action. Requests for copies of comments will be handled in 
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, NEPA, and Service and 
Department of the Interior policies and procedures. Before including 
your address, phone number, email address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, 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 to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be made available for public disclosure in their 
entirety.

Authority

    We provide this notice under the authority of section 10(c) of the 
ESA and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) and NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 
1506.6).

Amy Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00794 Filed 1-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P


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