Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 85 / Monday, May 4, 1998 / Notices 24565

filing equipment and/or stored as

imaged documents on magnetic media.

RETRIEVABILITY:

Indexed by name, social security

number, and organizational code.

SAFEGUARDS:

Maintained with safeguards meeting

the requirements of 43 CFR 2.51.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:

The records contained in this system

of records have varying retention

periods as described in General Records

Schedule 2 issued by the Archivist of

the United States, and are disposed of

in accordance with the National

Archives and Records Administration

Regulations, 36 CFR part 1228 et seq.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:

The following system manager is

responsible for the payroll records

contained in the Department’s

integrated payroll and personnel

automated information system. These

records are pertinent to all Department

of the Interior bureaus and offices and

client agencies. Personnel records

contained in the system fall under the

jurisdiction of the Office of Personnel

Management as prescribed in 5 CFR part

293 and 5 CFR part 297.

Chief, Benefits and Program

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Reclamation, Administrative Service

Center, Payroll Operations Division,

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NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:

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official personnel records, previous

employers, and the Internal Revenue

Service.

[FR Doc. 98–11718 Filed 5–1–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–RK–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Notice of Intent To Amend an

Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of

Bull Trout on the Plum Creek Timber

Company Permit for Timber Harvest in

the State of Washington

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public

that the Fish and Wildlife Service

(Service) has received a request to add

bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) to the

species covered by permit PRT–808398

issued to Plum Creek Timber Company,

L.P., on June 27, 1996. This request is

pursuant to the Implementation

Agreement for the Habitat Conservation

Plan accompanying incidental take

permit PRT–808398. The Service is

proposing to add bull trout to Plum

Creek’s permit.

DATES: Written comments regarding the

addition of bull trout to the Plum Creek

permit should be received on or before

June 3, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to Mr. John Engbring,

Western Washington Fish and Wildlife

Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite

101, Lacey, Washington 98503.

Documents cited in this notice and

comments received will be available for

public inspection by appointment

during normal business hours (8 a.m. to

5 p.m., Monday through Friday).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

William Vogel, Wildlife Biologist,

Western Washington Fish and Wildlife

Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite

101, Lacey, Washington 98503;

telephone (360) 753–4367.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On June 27, 1996, the Fish and

Wildlife Service (Service) issued an

incidental take permit (PRT–808398) to

Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P.,

pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the

Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973,

as amended (16 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.).

This permit authorizes the incidental

take of the threatened northern spotted

owl (Strix occidentalis caurina),

marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus

marmoratus marmoratus), and grizzly

bear (Ursus arctos=U.a. horribilis), and

the endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus),

in the course of the otherwise legal

forest management and related land-use

activities in portions of King and

Kittitas Counties, Washington. Pursuant

to the Habitat Conservation Plan and the

Implementation Agreement, Plum Creek

received assurances from the Service

that then-unlisted vertebrate species

would be added to the permit upon

listing under the Act, if doing so were

consistent with the Implementation

Agreement.

On June 13, 1997 (62 FR 32268), the

Service proposed to list the Klamath

River population of bull trout as

endangered and the Columbia River

population of bull trout as threatened.

On September 11, 1997, Plum Creek

requested that bull trout be added to its

permit. While the Service has not yet

made a final decision on listing bull

trout as a threatened or endangered

species, the Service is proposing to

respond to Plum Creek’s request and

determine if addition of the Columbia

River distinct population segment of

bull trout to the permit is warranted.

The purpose of this notice is to seek

public comment on the Service’s

proposal to add bull trout to Plum

Creek’s permit.

Implementation Agreement Provisions

The Implementation Agreement is a

legal document describing the roles and

responsibilities of the Service and Plum

Creek during the permit period. Under

the Implementation Agreement, plan

species are those vertebrate species

dependent on the various habitat types

analyzed in the Habitat Conservation

Plan. In the Plum Creek Habitat

Conservation Plan, bull trout are a plan

species. The Implementation Agreement

specifies that should any of the plan

species that were unlisted at the time of

permit issuance subsequently become

listed under the Act, Plum Creek may

request a permit amendment to have

that species added to their permit.

Plum Creek received assurances that,

absent extraordinary circumstances,

plan species would be added to the

permit without requiring additional

mitigation from Plum Creek if the

Service determined that such action

would not appreciably reduce the

likelihood of the survival and recovery

of the affected species, or any other

species, in the wild and that adding the

species to the permit would be

consistent with the Service’s other

responsibilities. Absent extraordinary

circumstances, plan species would be

added to the permit without requiring

additional mitigation from Plum Creek.

Extraordinary circumstances are defined

in the Implementation Agreement as a

substantial and material adverse change

in the status of the species.

To determine whether adding bull

trout to Plum Creek’s permit would

appreciably reduce the likelihood of the

survival and recovery of bull trout or
24566 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 85 / Monday, May 4, 1998 / Notices

any other species, the Service will

reinitiate the Section 7 process under

the Act. The Service will also determine

whether the permit amendment meets

each of the issuance criteria described

in Section 10(a)(2)(B) and that a

substantial and material adverse change

in the status of bull trout has not

occurred since the permit issuance.

Bull Trout Requirements and New

Information Since Permit Issuance

The Service is currently reviewing

information about bull trout to

determine whether extraordinary

circumstances exist and/or whether

adding bull trout to Plum Creek’s permit

would appreciably reduce the ability of

bull trout to survive and recover in the

wild. The Service is also reviewing

public comments on the proposed rule

to list the Klamath River population of

bull trout as endangered and the

Columbia River population of bull trout

as threatened, and will make a final

listing determination soon. Information

collected as part of the listing

determination process is also being used

to make the permit amendment

decision. This information is available

for review at the address listed above.

The Service has identified five

distinct population segments of bull

trout: (1) Coastal/Puget Sound; (2)

Klamath River; (3) Columbia River; (4)

Jarbidge River; and (5) Saskatchewan

River (June 13, 1997, 62 FR 32268). The

Columbia River population segment

includes the entire Columbia River

Basin and all its tributaries, excluding

the isolated bull trout populations

found in the Jarbidge River of Nevada.

In the Plum Creek Habitat Conservation

Plan area, bull trout have been

documented in the Yakima River

subbasin, which is part of the proposed

Columbia River Basin distinct

population segment. Within the

planning area, bull trout are

documented to occur upstream of Cle

Elum Lake, within and upstream of

Kachess and Kechelus Lakes, and in the

Cle Elum River downstream of Kechelus

Lake.

The Yakima River subbasin

encompasses 6,155 square miles and

contains about 1,900 river miles of

perennial streams. Predominant land

use within the subbasin includes

irrigated agriculture (∼1,000 square

miles), urbanization (∼50 square miles),

timber harvesting (∼2,200 square miles),

and grazing (∼2,900 square miles) (DOI

1996). About 150 square miles of the

subbasin is managed for timber

production by Plum Creek and these

lands are located within 3

subpopulation areas of the 7

subpopulation areas within the Yakima

River subbasin.

Despite an extensive survey effort,

bull trout have not been found in the

Green River drainage upstream of the

Howard Hansen Dam. The Green River

drainage is part of the Coastal/Puget

Sound distinct population segment. The

Coastal/Puget Sound distinct population

segment has not been proposed for

listing under the Act ( June 13, 1997, 62

FR 32268) and is not being considered

for addition to the Plum Creek permit.

Bull trout rely on cold, clean water.

They are most closely associated with

complex habitats, including large

woody debris, undercut banks,

boulders, and pools. Cover provides

critical rearing, foraging, and resting

habitat, and protection from predators.

The fact that bull trout spawn in the fall

and that the young have a strong

association with substrates makes them

particularly vulnerable to altered stream

flow patterns and channel instability.

Bull trout prefer cold, low-gradient

streams with loose, clean gravels for

spawning and rearing. Bull trout appear

to have strict water temperature

tolerances and maintaining cold water

temperatures is important for bull trout.

Water temperature is controlled not

only by shade (as influenced by canopy

coverage of adjacent riparian stands),

but by groundwater sources,

sedimentation, influx of water from

upstream areas, presence of large woody

debris, elevation, and other factors.

Historic adverse impacts to bull trout

from forest management and related

land-use activities include removal of

large woody debris from streams and

riparian areas, inputs of sediment from

upslope logging and road construction,

elevated stream temperatures, and

transportation of logs within the

channel network. Current management

actions to minimize impacts from

timber harvest include managing

riparian buffers to provide large woody

debris, shade, root strength, detrital

inputs, and sediment filtration;

managing upslope areas to reduce peak

flows, mass-wasting, and other mancaused inputs of sediment; adequately

addressing construction, maintenance,

and abandonment of roads so as to

reduce the delivery of fine sediments to

streams; and avoiding any unnatural

blockages to fish passage or alterations

in channel morphology. There are

several recent treatments of the effects

of forest management, especially forest

roads, on bull trout (Baxter et al. In

press; Quigley and Arbelbide 1997;

Quigley et al. 1996; and Thurow et al.

1997). Thurow determined that

increasing road densities and their

related effects are associated with

declines in four non-anadromous

salmonid species (including bull trout).

Thurow found a correlation between

low road densities and healthy

populations of salmonids. Therefore,

addressing impacts from roads is

extremely important to protect critical

bull trout habitat requirements.

Minimization and Mitigation Measures

The Environmental Impact Statement

developed for the initial permit decision

analyzed the effects that implementing

the Habitat Conservation Plan would

have on bull trout. The Service believed

that the Habitat Conservation Plan

would have minimal adverse impacts on

bull trout and that it generally provided

improving conditions for bull trout.

Buffers on fishbearing and other

perennial streams were expected to

provide for the natural processes and

functions that bull trout rely on such as

large woody debris inputs, detrital and

litter input, root-strength and bank

stability. The Service expected to see

reductions in delivery of fine sediment

from roads and recovery of forest stand

structures to improve hydrologic

conditions, and reductions in peak

flows and mass-wasting risks.

The Plum Creek Habitat Conservation

Plan utilizes a combination of

conservation measures that are expected

to protect bull trout. All fishbearing

streams receive a conservatively

managed buffer 200 feet in width

(measured horizontally). The first 30

feet is a no-harvest zone. Perennial

streams without fish and spatially

intermittent streams containing

perennial subsurface flow both receive a

100-foot managed buffer if they are

located above bull trout streams. The

management of these buffers is dictated

by post-harvest criteria as well as by

stand-level amounts of various forest

stages. For instance, over the 50-year

duration Habitat Conservation Plan,

these areas are scheduled to improve

from 37 percent mature forest or better

to 60 percent mature forest or better.

Any riparian habitat area entered for

selective harvest must retain minimum

standards designed to maintain riparian

functions. Inner gorges and masswasting areas are protected. The entire

area is undergoing Watershed Analysis

on an accelerated 5-year schedule that

can only increase (not decrease) the

level of protection these streams and

sensitive areas receive. Even-aged

harvest units will contain an average of

6 snags or snag recruitment trees per

acre. Where harvest units contain

ephemeral streams with definable

channels, a portion of the leave trees are

often aggregated in these areas due to

logistical constraints. Additionally,
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 85 / Monday, May 4, 1998 / Notices 24567

because rotations are long (65–120 years

depending on species and site) and

selective harvest is used liberally (about

80 percent of east-side harvests are

uneven-aged management), fewer

ephemeral streams are exposed to the

temporary yet harsh conditions of a

standard clearcut at any given time than

would be observed under standard

commercial forestry.

Road management is another

important component of the Habitat

Conservation Plan and will also be

addressed through watershed analysis.

Watershed Analysis examines potential

risks to the resources, such as sediment

delivery from roads, and develops

prescriptions to reduce the vulnerability

of the resources. For instance, as a result

of the Quartz Mountain Watershed

Analysis within the Habitat

Conservation Plan area, a road-sediment

budget was established that included an

elaborate monitoring system. In that

watershed, sediment delivery must be

reduced to target levels prior to

construction of new roads.

In the Plum Creek Habitat

Conservation Plan area, the known bull

trout locations are within the Grizzly

Bear Recovery Zone. In that area, as part

of the Habitat Conservation Plan’s

grizzly bear conservation strategy, open

roads under Plum Creek’s control must

be reduced to below 1 mile per section

within the first 10 years of the plan.

The minimization and mitigation

measures described above represent the

minimum level of riparian conservation

that Plum Creek has committed to

implement. Several aspects of the

Habitat Conservation Plan, including

watershed analysis, are subject to

adaptive management as described

below. If additional actions are

necessary to protect bull trout,

adjustments would be made to

watershed analysis-derived

prescriptions and to the interim and

minimum buffer prescriptions.

Monitoring and Adaptive

Management: To ensure that the

mitigation and minimization strategies

are effective, the Habitat Conservation

Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic

monitoring components that will

provide feedback for adaptive

management. For habitat conditions,

Plum Creek will conduct bank-full and

low-flow cross-sectional and

longitudinal channel profiles, Wolman

pebble counts, large woody debris

counts, permanent photo points to

document changes in channel

morphology and substrate composition,

and measurement of the frequency and

residual volume of pools. To analyze the

effects on stream temperatures, Plum

Creek will initiate a study to measure

potential differences in stream

temperatures for four riparian

prescriptions, including 300-foot noharvest riparian buffers on fish-bearing

streams on National Forest lands.

Streams with verified populations of

bull trout, or those on the Clean Water

Act 303(d) list, will be monitored for

stream temperature at a minimum of

two locations per stream. Diurnal

fluctuations and maximum annual

temperature will be evaluated. Bull

trout streams will have additional

temperature measurements to monitor

conditions during the spawning season,

and to evaluate the effects of

groundwater input on stream

temperature. Ambient air temperature

will also be monitored.

In addition to habitat monitoring,

Plum Creek will assess salmonid

populations in a watershed with

recovering habitat conditions. To assess

the biological integrity of streams, Plum

Creek will continue long-term

monitoring of aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Plum Creek will also conduct

watershed analysis and re-evaluations of

watershed analyses to provide updated

information on hillslope conditions,

stream channel conditions, and the

effectiveness of resource protection

prescriptions. Examples of monitoring

and research done as a result of

watershed analysis include: (1) A road

sediment production study; (2) McNeil

sampling of streams to assess fine

sediment levels; (3) installation of

stream gages; (4) testing of digital

elevation hydrologic models; (5) stream

temperature monitoring; and (6) stream

surveys to evaluate channel changes and

large woody debris levels. If monitoring

results indicate that prescriptions are

ineffective or inadequate, the

prescriptions will be changed to make

them effective and adequate.

References

Baxter, C.V., Frissell, C.A. and F.R. Hauer. In

press. Geomorphology, logging roads and

the distribution of bull trout (Salvelinus

confluentus) spawning in a forested river

basin: implications for management and

conservation.

Quigley, T.M., R.W. Haynes and R.T.

Graham, technical editors. 1996.

Integrated scientific assessment for

ecosystem management in the interior

Columbia Basin and portions of the

Klamath and Great Basins. U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Pacific Northwest Research

Station. Portland, Oregon.

Quigley, T.M. and S.J. Arbelbide, technical

editors. 1997. An assessment of

ecosystem components in the interior

Columbia Basin and portions of the

Klamath and Great Basins: Volume III.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Pacific Northwest Research

Station. Portland, Oregon.

Thurow, R.F., D.C. Lee and B.E. Rieman.

1997. Distribution and status of seven

native salmonids in the Interior

Columbia River Basin and portions of the

Klamath River and Great Basins. North

American Journal of Fisheries

Management 17: 1094–1110.

U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department

of Commerce. 1996. Final Environmental

Impact Statement for the Proposed

Issuance of a Permit to Allow Incidental

Take of Threatened and Endangered

Species: Plum Creek Timber Company,

L.P., Lands in the I–90 Corridor, King

and Kittitas Counties, Washington. (U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, National

Marine Fisheries Service). Olympia,

Washington. March 1996.

Dated: April 29, 1998.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland,

Oregon.

[FR Doc. 98–11825 Filed 5–1–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey

Technology Transfer Act of 1986

AGENCY: United States Geological

Survey, Interior.

ACTION: Notice to accept contribution

from private source.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Geological Survey is

accepting a $10,000 contribution from

the National Stone Association to

expedite a digital map showing

potential sources of crushed stone in the

conterminous United States.

ADDRESSES: If any other parties are

interested in making contributions for

the same or similar purposes, please

contact Mr. William Langer, U.S.

Geological Survey, Mineral Resources

Program, Box 25046, Mail Stop 973,

Denver, CO 80225; telephone (303) 236–

1249; e-mail blanger@usgs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

notice is to meet the USGS requirement

stipulated in the Survey Manual.

Dated: April 14, 1998.

P. Patrick Leahy,

Chief, Geologic Division.

[FR Doc. 98–11787 Filed 5–1–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–Y7–M