Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2022 / Notices 5493 

Application Process 

Organizations may submit one 

application per application period in 

each of the three AFG Program activities 

(e.g., one application for Operations and 

Safety, one for Vehicle Acquisition, 

and/or a separate application to be a 

Joint/Regional project host). If an 

organization submits more than one 

application for any single AFG Program 

activity (e.g., two applications for 

Operations and Safety, two for Vehicles, 

etc.), either intentionally or 

unintentionally, both applications may 

be disqualified. 

Applicants may access the grant 

application electronically at https://

go.fema.gov. The application is also 

accessible from the U.S. Fire 

Administration’s website at http://

www.usfa.fema.gov and the Grants.gov 

website at http://www.grants.gov. New 

applicants must register and establish a 

username and password for secure 

access to the grant application. Previous 

AFG Program applicants must use their 

previously established username and 

password. 

Applicants are expected to answer 

questions about their grant request that 

reflect the AFG Program funding 

priorities. In addition, each applicant 

must complete four separate narratives 

for each project or grant activity 

requested. Grant applicants will also 

provide relevant information about their 

organization’s characteristics, call 

volume, and existing organizational 

capabilities. 

System for Award Management (SAM) 

Per 2 CFR 25.200, all Federal grant 

applicants and recipients must register 

at https://SAM.gov. SAM is the Federal 

Government’s System for Award 

Management, and registration is free of 

charge. Applicants must maintain 

current information in SAM that is 

consistent with the data provided in 

their AFG Program grant application 

and in the Dun & Bradstreet database, 

which currently provides the official 

unique entity identifier, the Data 

Universal Numbering System (DUNS) 

number. Per 2 CFR 25.205, FEMA may 

not make a federal award or make any 

financial modifications to an existing 

award unless the applicant or grant 

recipient has complied with all 

applicable DUNS and SAM 

requirements. The grant applicant’s 

banking information, EIN, organization/ 

entity name, address and DUNS number 

must match the same information 

provided in SAM. 

Criteria Development Panel 

Recommendations 

If there are any differences between 

the published AFG Program guidelines 

and the recommendations made by the 

CDP, FEMA must explain them and 

publish the information in the Federal 

Register prior to awarding any grant 

under the AFG Program. For FY 2021, 

FEMA accepted, and will implement, all 

but two of the CDP’s recommendations 

for the prioritization of eligible 

activities. 

Adopted Recommendations for FY 2021 

The FY 2021 AFG Program NOFO 

contains some changes to definitions, 

descriptions, and priority categories. 

Changes to the FY 2021 AFG Program 

NOFO include: 

• Under the PPE Activity: 

D Inclusion of pre-scoring emphasis 

for this Activity to ensure replacing out 

of service and non-compliant PPE is of 

high priority. Therefore, the following 

PPE priorities and definitions have been 

updated: 

Æ Increase supply for new hire/ 

existing firefighters that do not have one 

set of turnout gear (PPE) or allocated 

seated position Self Contained 

Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). This 

includes replacing out of service PPE 

and SCBA as High Priority. 

Æ Replace in-service/in-use/damaged/ 

unsafe/unrepairable PPE or SCBA to 

meet current standard as High Priority. 

Æ Replace in-service/in-use/expired/ 

noncompliant PPE or SCBA to current 

standard as High Priority. 

Æ Upgrade technology to current 

standard as Low Priority. 

D Additional considerations for PPE 

and SCBA: 

Æ The applicant’s call volume has a 

lesser impact on scoring and therefore 

the final funding decision. 

• Under the Equipment Activity: 

D The following equipment priorities 

and definitions have been updated: 

Æ Obtain equipment to achieve 

minimum operational and deployment 

standards for existing missions as High 

Priority. 

Æ Replace non-compliant equipment 

to current standard as High Priority. 

Æ Obtain equipment for new mission 

as Medium Priority. 

Æ Upgrade technology to current 

standard as Low Priority. 

• Under Supporting Definitions: 

Æ Paid on-call/stipend departments 

are added to the definition of 

Combination Fire Department. 

Æ Firefighting personnel definition is 

added. 

• Under Modifications to Facility 

Activity: 

Æ New first-time installation of 

exhaust, sprinkler, carbon monoxide 

and/or smoke/fire detection systems are 

now listed as High Priority, while 

replacement or update/upgrade to 

existing systems is considered Low 

Priority. 

• Under Equipment Activity List: 

Æ Respirator decontamination system 

is added as Medium Priority. 

• Under Additions to the 

Application: 

Æ Question about frequency of live 

fire training is added for statistical 

purposes only. 

Æ Question about self-inflicted 

fatalities within the department is 

added for statistical purposes only. 

Æ Question regarding quantity of 

equipped Advanced Life Support 

Response vehicles (transport and nontransport) is added. 

• Under Allocations and Restrictions 

of Available Grant Funds by 

Organization Type: 

Æ Outline the funding available for 

Micro Grants applications. 

• Under Application Tips: 

Æ Recommendation to consider nonPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances 

(PFAS) when recipients purchase new 

protective gear. 

• Under Micro Grants: 

Æ Funding allocation for Micro Grants 

was updated. Of the 25% allocated to 

each of the career, combination, and 

volunteer departments, FEMA will aim 

to fund no less than 25% of the 

allocation for Micro Grants. 

Recommendations Not Adopted for FY 

2021 

• Proposed changes to reduce the size 

of the Micro Grant applications were not 

adopted for the FY 2021 application 

cycle. 

• Proposed change that all items that 

are PFAS free receiving higher funding 

priority was not adopted for the FY 

2021 application cycle. 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2229. 

Deanne Criswell, 

Administrator, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02034 Filed 1–31–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–64–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[Docket No. FWS–HQ–MB–2020–0138; 

FF09M27000–212–FXMB123109EAGLE] 

Eagle Permits; Updated Bald Eagle 

Population Estimates and Take Limits 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 


tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with NOTICE 
5494 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2022 / Notices 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In December 2016, the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service (Service, or 

we) completed a Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) 

wherein we evaluated biological data to 

establish maximum take limits for 

permits to take bald eagles in each of six 

eagle management units in the United 

States. In the PEIS, we committed to 

reevaluate biological data and reassess 

the take limits no less than once every 

6 years. This notice is to inform the 

public that we have reviewed recent 

data and, using updated population and 

demographic models, are revising take 

limits for bald eagles effective 

immediately. 

DATES: The maximum allowable take 

limits set forth in this document are 

effective February 1, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Supplementary documents 

for this notice may be obtained from 

http://www.regulations.gov in Docket 

No. FWS–HQ–MB–2020–0138. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brian A. Millsap, National Raptor 

Coordinator, Division of Migratory Bird 

Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, at 505–559–3963. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Our authority to authorize take of 

eagles is derived from the Migratory 

Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703–712) and 

the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection 

Act (hereafter Eagle Act; 16 U.S.C. 668– 

668d). The Eagle Act further specifies 

that take of eagles may only be 

authorized after a finding that the take 

is compatible with the preservation of 

the bald eagle or the golden eagle. 

Through regulations in part 22 of title 

50 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR), the Service issues eagle take 

permits for several specific purposes, 

including scientific or Tribal religious 

purposes and preventing depredations 

on livestock and collisions with 

airplanes near airports. However, the 

majority of permits the Service issues to 

authorize take of eagles are for 

incidental take; that is, take that is 

associated with, but not the purpose of, 

a human activity (50 CFR 22.26). The 

definition of ‘‘take’’ under the Eagle Act 

includes ‘‘pursue, shoot, shoot at, 

poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, 

collect, destroy, molest, or disturb’’ (16 

U.S.C. 668c; 50 CFR 22.3). 

In 2016, we revised the permit 

regulations governing eagle incidental 

take (81 FR 91494, December 16, 2016). 

As part of that rulemaking action, we 

completed a biological status 

assessment for both bald and golden 

eagles and a Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement. These 

documents and other supporting 

information for the 2016 rule are 

available in Docket No. FWS–R9–MB– 

2011–0094 at http://

www.regulations.gov. The 2016 

rulemaking action and supplementary 

documents implemented the following 

actions: 

(1) Established six eagle management 

units (EMUs) for bald eagles—the 

Atlantic Flyway, Mississippi Flyway, 

Central Flyway, Pacific Flyway north of 

40° north latitude, Pacific Flyway south 

of 40° north latitude, and Alaska; 

(2) Established a bald eagle 

management objective of maintaining 

stable or increasing breeding 

populations in all EMUs, and the 

persistence of local populations 

throughout the geographic range; 

(3) Used the 20th quantiles of the bald 

eagle population size estimates for each 

EMU for permitting purposes and 

presented those values (use of the 20th 

quantile of the probability distributions 

for the population size estimates was a 

policy decision made by the Service in 

the 2016 PEIS to conservatively 

addresses the uncertainty in the 

population size estimates to ensure the 

take limits are compatible with the 

management objective for bald eagles); 

(4) Established a specific take rate for 

bald eagles in the Pacific Flyway South 

EMU and a general take rate across the 

other EMUs that was consistent with the 

management objective; 

(5) Set take limits in each EMU based 

on the appropriate take rate and the 

20th quantile of the EMU population 

size estimate; and 

(6) Established a schedule for 

conducting eagle surveys and 

committed to updating population size 

estimates and, if warranted, take rates 

and take limits no less than once every 

6 years. 

The 2016 status report and PEIS used 

bald eagle count data from 2009 to 

arrive at a U.S. population estimate of 

143,000 bald eagles (20th quantile = 

126,000). The schedule established in 

the PEIS called for the Service to update 

bald-eagle-population size and take 

limits in 2022. However, as part of the 

2019 settlement agreement for Energy 

and Wildlife Action Coalition v. 

Department of the Interior et al. (a case 

challenging aspects of our authority to 

issue eagle permits), the Service agreed 

to expedite the next update of the baldeagle-population size and appropriate 

take rate. We completed one new survey 

of occupied bald eagle nesting territories 

in the coterminous United States 

(excluding the Pacific Flyway South 

EMU, for reasons explained below) in 

2019 and have since completed the 

necessary scientific analyses for the 

expedited update. 

Updated Data and Take Limits 

Through this document, we are 

providing public notice of the updated 

bald eagle population size, take rate, 

and take limits used to guide issuance 

of bald eagle take permits for all but the 

Alaska and Pacific Flyway South bald 

eagle EMUs. We did not implement 

surveys in Alaska because we did not 

have the financial or logistical 

resources. In the Pacific Flyway South 

EMU bald eagles are relatively scarce 

and patchily distributed, making aerial 

surveys impractical. Take limits for 

these two EMUs will remain as reported 

in the 2016 PEIS until we are able to 

acquire and conduct separate analyses 

of new information from these 

populations. 

For this update, we implemented 

several improvements to the data and 

models we use to generate the relevant 

demographic, population size, and take 

rate estimates. These changes are 

discussed in detail in a technical report 

that can be obtained from http://

www.regulations.gov in Docket No. 

FWS–HQ–MB–2020–0138. In brief, we: 

(1) Collaborated with the Cornell 

University Laboratory of Ornithology to 

use eBird citizen-science information to 

improve our estimates of the number of 

occupied bald eagle nesting territories. 

The Service’s aerial bald eagle nesting 

territory survey covers areas of the 

coterminous United States that have 

high densities of nesting bald eagles, but 

these surveys are not efficient in, and 

thus are not conducted in, areas where 

nests are sparse. However, eBird bald 

eagle relative abundance estimates are 

available for nearly all areas in the 

coterminous United States. For the 2009 

bald eagle population size estimate, we 

used counts of known bald eagle nests 

provided by State fish and wildlife 

agencies as a conservative estimate of 

the number of occupied bald eagle 

nesting territories outside of the areas 

covered by the aerial survey. Many 

States no longer track bald eagle nests, 

however, so this process was not a 

viable option for this update. Instead, 

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and 

Service scientists used aerial survey and 

eBird relative abundance data from 

areas where both data types were 

available to develop a model that 

accurately predicted bald eagle nest 

density from eBird relative abundance 

values. We then used this model to 

estimate the number of occupied bald 

eagle nesting territories in 2019 in the 

Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and 

Pacific Flyway North EMUs. 


tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with NOTICE 
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2022 / Notices 5495 

(2) Developed an integrated 

population model (IPM) to improve the 

precision of our estimates of 

demographic rates. IPMs integrate count 

data (our estimates of the number of 

occupied nesting territories) and data on 

survival rates and reproductive rates to 

produce more precise estimates of 

population size, survival, and fecundity 

than would otherwise be possible. 

These rates are used to estimate the take 

rate consistent with our management 

objective and to translate the estimate of 

the number of occupied nesting 

territories into a total population size 

estimate. IPMs also allow for the 

estimation of demographic parameters 

for which no explicit data are available 

in some cases. For bald eagles, one such 

parameter is the proportion of adults 

that breed, and we were able to obtain 

credible estimates of this parameter 

from our IPM. This change is important 

because it allowed us to account for 

adult ‘‘floaters’’ (i.e., adults not settled 

on a nesting territory) and thus 

accurately estimate the total number of 

adult bald eagles in the population. The 

IPM provided information on the 

proportion of the bald eagle population 

that was in each age class, and so 

knowing the number of adults allowed 

us to estimate numbers for the other age 

classes and thus total population size. In 

our 2016 eagle status assessment we 

independently modeled each relevant 

demographic rate, and thus did not take 

advantage of the ability to leverage the 

information that comes with IPMs. 

(3) We updated the bald eagle banding 

data used to estimate survival rates in 

the IPM to include band recoveries 

through 2018. 

(4) We updated our model for 

determining take rates and limits for 

bald eagles based on the new estimates 

of relevant demographic parameters 

from the IPM. We also added flexibility 

to the model to accommodate the type 

of density dependence that likely 

regulates bald eagle population size. 

Our 2019 estimate of bald eagle 

population size in the four EMUs is 

316,708. However, consistent with the 

Service’s decision in the 2016 PEIS, we 

use the 20th quantile of the probability 

distribution as the relevant value for 

management purposes, which is 273,327 

bald eagles. Although some of the 

increase in the estimates of population 

size from 2009 to 2019 can be attributed 

to improvements in methods, the 

majority of the increase is likely due to 

population growth, estimated to be 

around 10 percent per year. In the 2016 

PEIS, we determined that a take rate of 

0.06 was consistent with our 

management objective for bald eagles. 

Based on updated demographic 

information and using a more 

appropriate form of the take-limit 

model, we have updated our estimate of 

the appropriate take rate to 0.09. The 

changes in population size and the take 

rate result in an annual maximum take 

limit in the four EMUs of 15,832 bald 

eagles (see table below). Actual 

permitted bald eagle take was 490 in 

2020, and the higher updated take limits 

will not in themselves lead to increased 

take. 

TABLE—FORMER AND NEW BALD EAGLE POPULATION SIZE AND TAKE LIMITS BY BALD EAGLE MANAGEMENT UNIT

Bald eagle management unit 2009 Population size 

(20th quantile) 2009 Take limit 2019 Population size (20th quantile) New take limits 

Atlantic Flyway ................................................. 20,387 1,223 72,990 4,223 

Mississippi Flyway ........................................... 27,334 1,640 137,917 7,986 

Central Flyway ................................................. 1,163 70 26,253 1,521 

Pacific Flyway North ........................................ 13,296 798 36,302 2,102 

Total .......................................................... 62,180 3,731 273,327 15,832 

Despite the improvements we made in 

our models and approach, we have not 

altered the analytical framework of the 

2016 PEIS. Additionally, our update 

does not alter any of the policy 

decisions made in the PEIS, and there 

are no regulatory changes necessary to 

implement these new take limits. In the 

2016 PEIS we specifically anticipated 

these kinds of periodic updates to the 

technical information underlying our 

analytical framework to account for 

changes in population size and 

demographic rates that might occur over 

time. Thus, these updates represent a 

recalibration of the take limits by 

applying the same concepts and policy 

decisions in the 2016 PEIS to updated 

information on the size and 

demographic rates of bald eagles in the 

relevant EMUs. Because this new 

information constitutes only a technical 

update of the scientific information in 

our 2016 PEIS, we have determined that 

the PEIS itself does not need to be 

updated or supplemented, nor are any 

regulatory changes required to 

implement the update. Consequently, 

these updated maximum allowable take 

limits are effective upon publication of 

this notice. 

Martha Williams, 

Principal Deputy Director, Exercising the 

Delegated Authority of the Director, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02040 Filed 1–31–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[L19900000.PO0000.LLWO320.20X; OMB 

Control No. 1004–0025] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Mineral Surveys, Mineral 

Patent Applications, Adverse Claims, 

Protests, and Contests 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), the Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) proposes to renew an information 

collection. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before March 3, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

recommendations for this information 

collection request (ICR) should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ 

PRAMain. Find this particular 

information collection by selecting 

‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request additional information about 

this ICR, contact Elaine Guenaga by 

email at eguenaga@blm.gov, or by 

telephone at 775–276–0287. Individuals 

who are hearing or speech impaired 

may call the Federal Relay Service at 1– 

800–877–8339 for TTY assistance. You 

may also view the ICR at http://

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 


tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with NOTICE