15516 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 64 / Monday, April 6, 2009 / Notices 

Dated: March 24, 2009. 

Brian D. Montgomery, 

Assistant Secretary for Housing—Federal 

Housing Commissioner. 

[FR Doc. E9–7651 Filed 4–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2009–N0020; 81430–1121– 

8GEN–F3] 

Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for 

the Deane Dana Friendship Community 

Regional Park in Los Angeles County, 

CA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The County of Los Angeles, 

Department of Parks and Recreation 

(Applicant) has applied to the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service (Service) for an 

Enhancement of Survival permit 

pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended. The Service is considering the 

issuance of a 30-year permit to the 

Applicant that would authorize take of 

the federally endangered Palos Verdes 

blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus 

palosverdesensis; ‘‘PVB’’) through a Safe 

Harbor Agreement (SHA). The purpose 

of this SHA is for the Applicant to 

restore a minimum of 8 acres of habitat 

for the PVB through the implementation 

of a habitat restoration plan at Deane 

Dana Friendship Community Regional 

Park (Friendship Park), a known historic 

location for this species. Friendship 

Park is owned by the County of Los 

Angeles. The Applicant seeks to provide 

for the long-term recovery of PVB in the 

wild through the restoration of suitable 

habitat that can accommodate passive or 

active reintroduction of the site from the 

U.S. Navy Defense Fuel Support Point, 

San Pedro (DFSP) or other extant 

locations that may be present within the 

historic range of the species. The 

Service has made a preliminary 

determination that the proposed SHA 

and permit application are eligible for 

categorical exclusion under the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA). The basis for this preliminary 

determination is contained in an 

Environmental Action Statement. 

We request comments from the public 

on the permit application and the 

Environmental Action Statement, both 

of which are available for review. The 

permit application includes the 

proposed SHA. The SHA describes the 

proposed project and the measures that 

the Applicant would undertake to avoid 

and minimize take of the covered 

species. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received on or before May 6, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Please address written 

comments to Samantha Marcum, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish 

and Wildlife Office, 6010 Hidden Valley 

Road, Suite 101, Carlsbad, California 

92011. Comments may also be sent by 

facsimile to 760–918–0638. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim 

Bartel, Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish 

and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES); 

telephone: (760) 431–9440. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Availability of Documents 

Individuals wishing copies of the 

permit application, copies of our 

Environmental Action Statement, and/ 

or copies of the full text of the SHA 

should immediately contact the Service 

by telephone at (760) 431–9440 or by 

letter to the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife 

Office. Copies of the documents also are 

available for public inspection during 

regular business hours at the Carlsbad 

Fish and Wildlife Office [see 

ADDRESSES]. 

Background 

Section 9 of the Endangered Species 

Act (Act) of 1973, as amended (16 

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

implementing Federal regulations 

prohibit the take of animal species listed 

as endangered or threatened. Take is 

defined under the Act as to harass, 

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

trap, capture or collect listed animal 

species, or attempt to engage in such 

conduct (16 U.S.C. 1538). However, 

under section 10(a) of the Act, the 

Service may issue permits to authorize 

incidental take of listed species. 

‘‘Incidental take’’ is defined by the Act 

as take that is incidental to, and not the 

purpose of, carrying out an otherwise 

lawful activity. Regulations governing 

incidental take permits for endangered 

and threatened species, respectively, are 

found in the Code of Federal 

Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 

17.32. 

The Applicant (Los Angeles County 

Department of Parks and Recreation) is 

seeking a permit for take of the Palos 

Verdes blue butterfly during the life of 

the permit. This species is referred to as 

the ‘‘PVB’’ in the proposed SHA. 

Under a SHA, participating 

landowners voluntarily undertake 

management activities on their property 

to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat 

benefiting species listed under the Act. 

SHAs, and the subsequent enhancement 

of survival permits that are issued 

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

Act, encourage private and other nonFederal property owners to implement 

conservation efforts for Federally listed 

species by assuring property owners 

that they will not be subjected to 

increased property use restrictions as a 

result of their efforts to attract Federally 

listed species to their property, or to 

increase the numbers or distribution of 

Federally listed species already on their 

property. Application requirements and 

issuance criteria for enhancement of 

survival permits through Safe Harbor 

Agreements are found in 50 CFR 

17.22(c). 

We have worked with the Applicant 

to develop the proposed SHA for the 

conservation of the PVB via habitat 

restoration within 8 acres of the 125- 

acre Friendship Park in Los Angeles 

County, California. Friendship Park is 

located within the cities of Los Angeles 

and Rancho Palos Verdes on the Palos 

Verdes Peninsula (Peninsula) in the 

southern part of Los Angeles County. 

The park occurs within the U.S. 

Geological Survey 7.5-minute series San 

Pedro topographic quadrangle 

(township 5 south, range 14 west, 

within the Los Verdes Land Grant 

Boundary) and comprises 

approximately 125 acres bordered 

roughly by Western Avenue on the west 

and Rue le Charlene and Ninth Street on 

the north. 

This SHA provides for the restoration, 

enhancement, and management of 

coastal sage scrub (CSS) habitat 

containing hostplants suitable for the 

PVB within Friendship Park. The 

proposed duration of the SHA is 30 

years, and the proposed term of the 

enhancement of survival permit is 30 

years, provided that the Service 

determines that the actions identified in 

the SHA were implemented prior to the 

SHA’s expiration. When fully 

implemented, the SHA and requested 

enhancement of survival permit will 

allow the Applicant to return habitat 

conditions to baseline after the end of 

the 30-year term of the SHA and permit, 

if so desired by the Applicant. The SHA 

and associated restoration plan fully 

describe the management activities to be 

undertaken by the Applicant, and the 

net conservation benefits expected to 

the PVB. Upon approval of this SHA, 

and consistent with the Service’s Safe 

Harbor Policy published in the Federal 

Register on June 17, 1999 (64 FR 32717), 

the Service would issue a permit to the 

Applicant authorizing take of the PVB 

incidental to the implementation of the 

management activities specified in the 

SHA, incidental to other lawful uses of 

the enrolled property including normal, 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 64 / Monday, April 6, 2009 / Notices 15517 

routine land management activities, and 

to return to pre-SHA conditions 

(baseline). Under the SHA, the 

Applicant would undertake 

management activities to benefit the 

PVB by: planting 934 ocean locoweed 

(Astragalus trichopodus var.lonchus) 

and 1,400 deerweed (Lotus scoparius) 

plants (PVB hostplants) in a matrix of 

native CSS plants that will benefit a 

variety of dependent wildlife species 

including the PVB; completing 

restoration of 8 acres of park land into 

CSS habitat with a diverse native plant 

community and high structural 

diversity; controlling invasive weeds; 

and increasing the connectivity of CSS 

habitats on the Peninsula within the 

Enrolled Property. 

In order to receive the above 

assurances regarding incidental take of 

the PVB, the Applicant must maintain 

baseline on the Enrolled Property. The 

Service and Applicant have determined 

that the measure of baseline for PVB 

will be the number of ocean locoweed 

plants that were present within 

Friendship Park prior to restoration 

actions. The Palos Verdes blue butterfly 

does not currently inhabit the Enrolled 

Property. Therefore, the baseline for the 

SHA is 194 ocean locoweed plants 

within 0.055 acres of habitat for the 

PVB. There were only a few scattered 

deerweed plants on the property prior to 

restoration actions, and these plants are 

not considered part of the baseline 

condition. 

If you wish to comment on the permit 

application, including the SHA, or the 

Environmental Action Statement, you 

may submit your comments to the 

address listed in the ADDRESSES section 

of this document. Comments and 

materials received, including names and 

addresses of respondents, will be 

available for public review, by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours at the address in the ADDRESSES

section above. If you provide personal 

identifying information, you may 

request at the beginning of your 

comment that we withhold this 

information from public review. 

However, we cannot guarantee that we 

will be able to do so. 

We will evaluate this permit 

application, associated documents, and 

comments submitted thereon to 

determine whether the permit 

application meets the requirements of 

section 10(a) of the Act and NEPA 

regulations. If we determine that the 

requirements are met, we will sign the 

proposed Agreement and issue an 

enhancement of survival permit under 

section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act to the 

Applicants for take of the PVB 

incidental to otherwise lawful activities 

in accordance with the terms of the 

SHA. We will not make our final 

decision until after the end of the 30- 

day comment period and will fully 

consider all comments received during 

the comment period. 

The Service provides this notice 

pursuant to section 10(c) of the Act and 

pursuant to implementing regulations 

for NEPA (40 CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: March 31, 2009. 

Jim A. Bartel, 

Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife 

Office, Carlsbad, California. 

[FR Doc. E9–7608 Filed 4–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

[LLUT070 L13200000 EL0000 24 1A00] 

Notice of Availability of the Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Leasing and Underground Mining 

of the Greens Hollow Coal Lease Tract, 

Sanpete and Sevier Counties, UT 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior and Forest Service, Agriculture. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 

prepared a Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement (DEIS) for the Leasing and 

Underground Mining of the Greens 

Hollow Coal Lease Tract, Sanpete and 

Sevier Counties, Utah and by this Notice 

is announcing the opening of the 

comment period. 

DATES: To ensure comments will be 

considered, the BLM must receive 

written comments on the Leasing and 

Underground Mining of the Greens 

Hollow Coal Lease Tract, Sanpete and 

Sevier Counties, Utah DEIS within 45 

days following the date the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

publishes the Notice of Availability in 

the Federal Register. The BLM will 

announce future meetings or hearings 

and any other public involvement 

activities at least 14 days in advance 

through public notices, media news 

releases, and/or mailings. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

E-mail: 

UT_PR_Comments2@BLM.gov. 

Fax: (435) 636–3657. 

Mail: Bureau of Land Management, 

Price Field Office, 125 South 600 West, 

Price, Utah 84501, Attn: Greens Hollow 

Coal Lease Tract DEIS. 

Copies of the Leasing and Underground 

Mining of the Greens Hollow Coal Lease 

Tract, Sanpete and Sevier Counties, 

Utah are available at the Price Field 

Office at the above address; the MantiLa Sal National Forest—Supervisor’s 

Office, 599 West Price River Drive, 

Price, Utah 84501, and the Fishlake 

National Forest, 115 East 900 North, 

Richfield, Utah 84701. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steve Rigby, Project Manager, Price 

BLM Field Office at (435) 636–3604. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DEIS 

evaluates a proposal by Ark Land 

Company, a subsidiary of Arch Coal, 

Inc., to lease and conduct underground 

mining of Federal coal within the 6,334 

acre project area. The development plan 

proposal also includes two ventilation 

shafts, one surface mine ventilation fan 

and associated operational 

infrastructure, a new surface 69 kV 

powerline, and access road upgrade. 

To address potential effects on the 

multiple resources which make up the 

affected environment, the BLM and the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest 

Service, in coordination with 

cooperating agencies, have developed 

three alternatives in the DEIS. The 

alternatives include a No Action 

Alternative, the Proposed Action, and a 

third Alternative, which modifies 

components of the Proposed Action. 

The alternatives incorporate best 

management practices for underground 

coal mining and other measures 

necessary to adequately address impacts 

to geology, water resources, cultural 

resources, recreational opportunities, 

wildlife, vegetation, Threatened and 

Endangered Species, socioeconomics, 

visual resources, air quality, and other 

relevant issues. 

Selma Sierra, 

Utah State Director, BLM. 

William LeVere, 

Acting Deputy Regional Forester. 

[FR Doc. E9–7827 Filed 4–2–09; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4310–DQ–P 


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