Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 29 / Friday, February 11, 2022 / Notices 8029 

HUD 9918. HUD 9917 has therefore 

been reformatted to collect this new 

information and to be more userfriendly; HUD 9918 has been removed 

and retired from this collection. HUD– 

9917 will now be called the Quarterly 

Investments and Assistance Report; it 

will be collected quarterly and 

submitted cumulatively. These changes 

will reduce unnecessary copying and 

pasting, reformatting, and file 

management, and will ultimately reduce 

the burden on respondents. 

HUD designated fourteen 

communities as urban Promise Zones 

between 2014 and 2016. Under the 

Promise Zones initiative, the federal 

government invests in and partners with 

high-poverty urban, rural, and tribal 

communities to create jobs, increase 

economic activity, improve educational 

opportunities, leverage private 

investment, and reduce violent crime. 

Additional information about the 

Promise Zones initiative can be found at 

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/ 

field_policy_mgt/fieldpolicymgtpz, and 

questions can be addressed to 

promisezone@hud.gov. The federal 

administrative duties pertaining to these 

designations shall be managed and 

executed by HUD for ten years from the 

designation dates pursuant to sections 2 

and 3 of the HUD Act, 42 U.S.C. 3531– 

32, to assist the President in achieving 

maximum coordination of the various 

federal activities which have a major 

effect upon urban community, 

suburban, or metropolitan development; 

to develop and recommend the 

President policies for fostering orderly 

growth and development of the Nation’s 

urban areas; and to exercise leadership, 

at the direction of the President, in 

coordinating federal activities affecting 

housing and urban development. To 

facilitate communication between local 

and federal partners, HUD proposes that 

Promise Zone Lead Organizations 

submit minimal reports and documents 

to support collaboration and problem 

solving between local and federal 

partners. These reports will also assist 

in communications and stakeholder 

engagement, both locally and nationally. 

Information collection Number of 

respondents 

Frequency of 

response 

Responses 

per annum 

Burden hour 

per response 

Annual 

burden hours 

Hourly cost 

per response Annual cost 

Annual Report Narrative (9916) ............. 14 1 14 10 140 $36.13 $5,058.20 

Quarterly Investments 

and Assistance report 

(9917) ....................... 14 4 56 20 1,120 36.13 40,465.60 

Quarterly Progress of 

Annual Priorities report (9919) ................ 14 4 56 10 560 36.13 20,232.80 

Quarterly Spotlights 

(Public Communications materials) ......... 14 4 56 2 112 36.13 4,046.56 

Total ...................... ........................ ........................ 182 42 1,932 ........................ 69,803.16 

B. Solicitation of Public Comment 

This notice is soliciting comments 

from members of the public and affected 

parties concerning the collection of 

information described in Section A on 

the following: 

(1) Whether the proposed collection 

of information is necessary for the 

proper performance of the functions of 

the agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) If the information will be 

processed and used in a timely manner; 

(3) The accuracy of the agency’s 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

collection of information; 

(4) Ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and 

(5) Ways to minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on those 

who are to respond; including through 

the use of appropriate automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology, e.g., permitting 

electronic submission of responses. 

HUD encourages interested parties to 

submit comment in response to these 

questions. 

C. Authority 

Section 3507 of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35. 

Anna P. Guido, 

Department Reports Management Officer, 

Office of the Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02978 Filed 2–10–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R1–ES–2022–0005; 

FXES11140100000–212–FF01E0000] 

St. Martin’s Habitat Conservation Plan 

and Categorical Exclusion for the Yelm 

Mazama Pocket Gopher, Thurston 

County, Washington 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, received an 

application from Saint Martin’s Abbey 

(applicant) for an incidental take permit 

(ITP) pursuant to the Endangered 

Species Act. The ITP would authorize 

the applicant’s take of the Yelm 

subspecies of the Mazama pocket 

gopher, incidental to otherwise lawful 

construction and maintenance activities 

at Saint Martin’s University in Thurston 

County, Washington. The application 

includes a habitat conservation plan 

(HCP) with measures to minimize and 

mitigate the impacts of the taking on the 

covered species. We have also prepared 

a draft environmental action statement 

for our preliminary determination that 

the HCP and our permit decision may be 

eligible for categorical exclusion under 

the National Environmental Policy Act. 

We provide this notice to open a public 

comment period and invite comments 

from all interested parties regarding the 

documents. 

DATES: Please submit written comments 

by March 14, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: To request further 

information or submit written 

comments, please use one of the 

following methods: 

• Internet: You may view or 

download copies of the HCP, draft 

environmental action statement, and 

additional information at http://

www.fws.gov/wafwo/. You may submit 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
8030 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 29 / Friday, February 11, 2022 / Notices 

comments via http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

on Docket No. FWS–R1–ES–2022–0005. 

• Email: wfwocomments@fws.gov. 

Include ‘‘St. Martin’s Abbey HCP’’ in 

the subject line of the message. 

• U.S. Mail: Public Comments 

Processing; Attn: Docket No. FWS–R1– 

ES–2022–0005; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service Headquarters, MS: PRB/3W; 

5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 

22041–3803. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Marty Acker, Section 10/NEPA 

Coordinator, Washington Fish and 

Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 

360–753–9440. If you use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf, 

please call the Federal Relay Service at 

800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 

received an application for an incidental 

take permit (ITP) pursuant to section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The ITP would 

authorize the applicant’s ‘‘take’’ of the 

Yelm subspecies of the Mazama pocket 

gopher (Thomomys mazama yelmensis), 

listed as threatened under the ESA, 

incidental to otherwise lawful 

construction and maintenance activities 

at Saint Martin’s University in Thurston 

County, Washington. The application 

includes a habitat conservation plan 

(HCP) that describes actions the 

applicant will take to minimize and 

mitigate the impacts of the taking on the 

Yelm pocket gopher (the covered 

species). We have also prepared a draft 

environmental action statement (EAS) 

for our preliminary determination that 

the HCP and our permit decision may be 

eligible for a categorical exclusion under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We 

provide this notice to open a public 

comment period and invite comments 

from all interested parties regarding the 

documents. 

Background 

Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ‘‘take’’ 

of fish and wildlife species listed as 

endangered or threatened. Under the 

ESA, the term ‘‘take’’ means to harass, 

harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, 

trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to 

engage in any such conduct (16 U.S.C. 

1532(19)). The term ‘‘harm,’’ as defined 

in our regulations, includes significant 

habitat modification or degradation that 

results in death or injury to listed 

species by significantly impairing 

essential behavioral patterns, including 

breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 

17.3). 

Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA 

contains provisions that authorize the 

Service to issue permits to non-Federal 

entities for the take of endangered and 

threatened species caused by otherwise 

lawful activities, provided the following 

criteria are met: (1) The taking will be 

incidental; (2) the applicant will, to the 

maximum extent practicable, minimize 

and mitigate the impact of such taking; 

(3) the applicant will ensure that 

adequate funding for the plan will be 

provided; (4) the taking will not 

appreciably reduce the likelihood of the 

survival and recovery of the species in 

the wild; and (5) the applicant will carry 

out any other measures that the Service 

may require as being necessary or 

appropriate for the purposes of the plan. 

Regulations governing permits for 

endangered and threatened species are 

found at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, 

respectively. 

Proposed Action 

The applicant proposes to construct 

and maintain facilities on the existing 

Saint Martin’s University campus in 

Thurston County, Washington. The HCP 

plan area is a 232-acre (ac) area. As 

described in the HCP, within the plan 

area, the 139-ac redevelopment area 

(permit area) contains 3.4 ac of occupied 

Yelm pocket gopher habitat, 1.4 ac of 

unoccupied Yelm pocket gopher habitat, 

7.1 ac of landscaped trees and shrubs, 

68.4 ac of developed buildings and 

infrastructure, and 0.7 ac of stormwater 

facilities, while the remaining 57.5 ac is 

forest, and not habitat. Proposed 

covered activities include construction 

within the 139-ac permit area during the 

20-year permit term that may include 

construction and maintenance of up to 

six new buildings; replacement of 

existing buildings; construction and 

maintenance of associated parking lots, 

sidewalks, landscaping, storm water 

facilities, and utilities; and landscaping 

and management of athletic fields. The 

final number of buildings and activities 

are currently unknown, and building 

will be in response to University growth 

and student body needs, so the HCP 

describes the maximum amount of 

proposed construction and maintenance 

activity likely to occur during the 

permit term. 

The proposed action is anticipated to 

impact up to 12 ac of Yelm pocket 

gopher habitat in the permit area. Due 

to differences in Yelm pocket gopher 

occupancy, the applicant has proposed 

a functional-ac system to quantify the 

impacts to the Yelm pocket gopher at 

the project site, based on the extent and 

permanence of impacts to ac of habitat. 

In this system, acreages are weighted 

according to Yelm pocket gopher 

occupancy, existing habitat quality, and 

land development. The resulting value 

is 4 functional ac of impact, out of the 

original 12 ac of Yelm pocket gopher 

habitat in the redevelopment area. The 

plan area also includes 26 ac of Yelm 

pocket gopher habitat outside of the 

redevelopment area on fields that are 

maintained by mowing. 

The applicant proposes to mitigate for 

unavoidable impacts to Yelm pocket 

gopher by acquiring credits in the 

Service-approved Leitner Prairie 

conservation site, which is currently 

occupied by the Yelm pocket gopher. 

These credits will fully fund the 

permanent management, monitoring, 

and adaptive management on 4 ac of the 

Leitner Prairie conservation site. The 

conservation site will be managed for 

successful Yelm pocket gopher feeding, 

breeding, and sheltering. 

In addition to mitigation at the 

conservation site, 26 ac of grassland 

habitat occupied by Yelm pocket 

gophers will be maintained on the 

project site by mowing during the 20- 

year permit term to provide additional 

mitigation. This mitigation offsets the 

impact of the taking attributable to the 

project site being located outside of the 

service area where the conservation site 

is located. Service areas are geographic 

areas we have defined to recognize 

possible differences between 

subpopulations within the range of the 

Yelm pocket gopher. 

The Service proposes to issue the 

requested 20-year ITP based on the 

applicant’s commitment to implement 

the HCP, if ESA section 10(a)(2)(B) 

permit issuance criteria are met. 

Public Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

materials by one of the methods listed 

in ADDRESSES. We specifically request 

information, views, and suggestions 

from interested parties regarding our 

proposed Federal action, including, 

without limitation, adequacy of the 

HCP, whether the HCP meets 

requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 

13 and 17, and adequacy of the EAS 

pursuant to the requirements of NEPA. 

We will post all comments on https:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post online any 

personal information that you provide 

(see Public Availability of Comments 

under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION). We 

request that you submit comments by 

only the methods described above. 

Public Availability of Comments 

All comments and materials we 

receive become part of the public record 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 29 / Friday, February 11, 2022 / Notices 8031 

associated with this action. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personally 

identifiable information in your 

comments, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personally identifiable information— 

may be made publicly available at any 

time. While you can ask us in your 

comment to withhold your personally 

identifiable 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 on https://

www.regulations.gov. 

Next Steps 

After public review, we will evaluate 

the permit application, associated 

documents, and any comments received 

to determine whether the permit 

application meets the requirements of 

section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA. We will 

also evaluate whether issuance of the 

requested section 10(a)(1)(B) permit 

would comply with section 7 of the ESA 

by conducting an intra-Service section 7 

consultation under section 7(a)(2) of the 

ESA on the proposed ITP action. The 

final NEPA and permit determinations 

will not be completed until after the end 

of the 30-day comment period; we will 

fully consider all comments received 

during the comment period. If we 

determine that all requirements are met, 

we will issue an ITP under section 

10(A)(1)(B) of the ESA to the applicant 

for the take of the covered species, 

incidental to otherwise lawful covered 

activities. 

Authority 

We provide this notice in accordance 

with the requirements of section 10(c) of 

the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its 

implementing regulations (50 CFR 

17.32), and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.) and its implementing regulations 

(40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46.205). 

Robyn Thorson, 

Regional Director, Columbia-Pacific 

Northwest and Pacific Islands Regions, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02932 Filed 2–10–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R2–ES–2021–N195; 

FXES11140200000–223–FF02ENEH00] 

Application for an Incidental Take 

Permit; Oil and Gas Habitat 

Conservation Plan for the Lesser 

Prairie-Chicken; Colorado, Kansas, 

New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public 

that LPC Conservation LLC (applicant) 

has applied to the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service) for an 

incidental take permit (ITP) supported 

by the Oil and Gas Habitat Conservation 

Plan for the Lesser Prairie-chicken; 

Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, 

Oklahoma and Texas (HCP). The 

applicant has applied to the Service for 

the ITP pursuant to the Endangered 

Species Act. The requested ITP, if 

approved, would authorize incidental 

take of the lesser prairie-chicken 

(Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; LEPC) 

resulting from activities covered by the 

HCP (e.g., all activities associated with 

oil and gas upstream and midstream 

buildout, including ancillary (e.g., 

access road) ground disturbing activities 

associated with these project types) and 

would authorize incidental take 

resulting from conservation actions 

taken to avoid, minimize, and mitigate 

impacts of incidental take to LEPC that 

result from covered activities. If 

approved, the requested ITP would 

become effective should the LEPC 

become federally listed during the life of 

the ITP and HCP. With this notice we 

announce the availability of a draft 

environmental assessment (EA) that has 

been prepared to evaluate the ITP 

application in accordance with the 

requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act. We are 

making the ITP application package, 

including the HCP and draft EA, 

available for public review and 

comment. 

DATES: Submission of comments: We 

will accept comments received or 

postmarked on or before March 14, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: 

Obtaining documents: You may 

obtain copies of the ITP application, 

HCP, draft EA, or other related 

documents on the internet at https://

www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Arlington

Texas. 

Submitting comments: You may 

submit written comments by email to 

arles@fws.gov. Please note that your 

comment is in reference to the abovereferenced HCP. For more information, 

see Public Availability of Comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Debra Bills, Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, Arlington, Texas, 

Ecological Services Office; telephone 

817–277–1100. Hearing or speech 

impaired individuals may call the 

Federal Relay Service at 800–877–8339 

for TTY service. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 

make available the Oil and Gas Habitat 

Conservation Plan for the Lesser Prairiechicken; Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, 

Oklahoma and Texas (HCP). The LPC 

Conservation LLC (applicant) has 

applied for an incidental take permit 

(ITP). If approved, the requested ITP 

would become effective and authorize 

incidental take of the lesser prairiechicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; 

LEPC) should the LEPC become 

federally listed during the life of the ITP 

and HCP under the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

We are considering issuing a section 

10(a)(1)(B) ITP for the LEPC, a species 

that is not currently listed under the 

ESA, in response to the applicant’s 

application and supporting HCP. While 

our 2016 revised HCP handbook 

(Handbook) provides guidance that an 

ITP and supporting HCP include at least 

one ESA-listed animal species, the 

issuance of this ITP could provide for 

LEPC conservation in several ways. 

First, the proposed HCP may meet the 

Service’s conservation recommendation 

for the LEPC because it emphasizes 

avoidance and minimization and 

focuses mitigation in areas that can 

serve as conservation strongholds for 

this species. Depending on enrollment, 

this mitigation strategy could help to 

preclude the need to list the LEPC or 

could help to recover the LEPC, if the 

LEPC is listed in the future. Second, the 

proposed HCP would provide taxpayer 

and industry savings in the use of an 

overarching conservation planning 

strategy. In contrast, the processes of 

developing a candidate conservation 

agreement with assurances (CCAA) 

prior to a future listing and then 

developing an HCP or multiple HCPs 

after a potential future listing would be 

inefficient for both the Federal agency 

and industry participants. The proposed 

HCP would be more efficient because 

potential participants could enroll on a 

project-by-project basis either before or 

after a potential future listing. This 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1