4036 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2001 / Notices

determination of jeopardy to the species

or a Finding of No Significant Impact

(FONSI) will not be made until at least

30 days from the date of publication of

this notice. This notice is provided

pursuant to section 10(c) of the Act and

National Environmental Policy Act

regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

DATES: Written comments on the

application should be received on or

before February 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review

the application may obtain a copy by

writing to the Regional Director, U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box

1306, Room 4102, Albuquerque, New

Mexico, 87103. Persons wishing to

review the EA/HCP may obtain a copy

by contacting Clayton Napier, U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, 10711 Burnet

Road, Suite 200, Austin, Texas, 78758

(512/490–0057). Documents will be

available for public inspection by

written request, by appointment only,

during normal business hours (8:00 to

4:30) at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Austin, Texas. Written data or

comments concerning the application

and EA/HCP should be submitted to the

Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Austin, Texas, at the above

address. Please refer to permit number

TE–037191–0 when submitting

comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Clayton Napier at the above U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, Austin Office.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 9

of the Act prohibits the ‘‘taking’’ of

endangered species such as the Houston

toad. However, the Service, under

limited circumstances, may issue

permits to take endangered wildlife

species incidental to, and not the

purpose of, otherwise lawful activities.

Regulations governing permits for

endangered species are at 50 CFR 17.22.

Applicants: James and Bernice

Wirries plan to construct a single-family

residence on approximately 0.5 acres of

the 15.245-acre property on McBride

Lane, Bastrop County, Texas. This

action will eliminate 0.5 acres or less of

Houston toad habitat and result in

indirect impacts within the property.

The Applicants propose to compensate

for this incidental take of the Houston

toad by providing $2,000.00 to the

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

for the specific purpose of land

acquisition and management within

Houston toad habitat, as identified by

the Service.

Bryan Arroyo,

Acting Regional Director, Region 2,

Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[FR Doc. 01–1302 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–55–U

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Availability of a Draft Environmental

Assessment and Preliminary Finding

of No Significant Impact, and Receipt

of an Application for an Incidental Take

Permit for Gopher Tortoises by the

Board of Water and Sewer

Commissioners of the City of Mobile,

Mobile County, Alabama

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

The Board of Water and Sewer

Commissioners of the City of Mobile

(‘‘Board’’ or ‘‘Applicant’’) has requested

an incidental take permit (ITP) pursuant

to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered

Species Act of 1973 (U.S.C. 1531 et

seq.), as amended (Act). The Applicant

anticipates taking the threatened gopher

tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) over

the next 99 years. The proposed taking

is incidental to the establishment of a

conservation bank to mitigate take of up

to 128 tortoises for residential,

commercial and other development by

private property owners throughout

Mobile County. Under the proposed

plan, the Board will sell mitigation

credits to private landowners seeking

incidental take of occupied gopher

tortoise habitat in Mobile County. The

private landowners will pay a mutually

agreeable mitigation fee to the Board

and allow for the relocation of the

affected tortoises to the conservation

bank. For each tortoise taken, private

landowners will be required to cover

costs associated with protecting,

managing, and monitoring 1.5 acres of

habitat at the conservation bank.

A more detailed description of the

mitigation and minimization measures

to address the effects of the Project to

the gopher tortoise is provided in the

Applicant’s habitat conservation plan

(HCP), the Service’s draft Environmental

Assessment (EA), and in the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section

below.

The Service announces the

availability of a draft EA and HCP for

the incidental take application. Copies

of the draft EA and/or HCP may be

obtained by making a request to the

Regional Office (see ADDRESSES).

Requests must be in writing to be

processed. This notice also advises the

public that the Service has made a

preliminary determination that issuing

the ITP is not a major Federal action

significantly affecting the quality of the

human environment within the meaning

of Section 102(2)(C) of the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as

amended (NEPA). The preliminary

Finding of No Significant Impact

(FONSI) is based on information

contained in the draft EA and HCP. The

final determination will be made no

sooner than 60 days from the date of

this notice. This notice is provided

pursuant to section 10 of the Act and

NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

The Service specifically requests

information, views, and opinions from

the public via this Notice on the federal

action, including the identification of

any other aspects of the human

environment not already identified in

the Service’s draft EA. Further, the

Service specifically solicits information

regarding the adequacy of the HCP as

measured against the Service’s ITP

issuance criteria found in 50 CFR Parts

13 and 17.

If you wish to comment, you may

submit comments by any one of several

methods. Please reference permit

number TE035340–0 in such comments.

You may mail comments to the

Service’s Regional Office (see

ADDRESSES). You may also comment via

the internet to ‘‘davidldell@fws.gov’’.

Please submit comments over the

internet as an ASCII file avoiding the

use of special characters and any form

of encryption. Please also include your

name and return address in your

internet message. If you do not receive

a confirmation from the Service that we

have received your internet message,

contact us directly at either telephone

number listed below (see FURTHER

INFORMATION). Finally, you may hand

deliver comments to either Service

office listed below (see ADDRESSES). Our

practice is to make comments, including

names and home addresses of

respondents, available for public review

during regular business hours.

Individual respondents may request that

we withhold their home address from

the administrative record. We will

honor such requests to the extent

allowable by law. There may also be

other circumstances in which we would

withhold from the administrative record

a respondent’s identity, as allowable by

law. If you wish us to withhold your

name and address, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your

comments. We will not; however,

consider anonymous comments. We

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2001 / Notices 4037

will make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

DATES: Written comments on the ITP

application, draft EA, and HCP should

be sent to the Service’s Regional Office

(see ADDRESSES) and should be received

on or before March 19, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review

the application, HCP, and EA may

obtain a copy by writing the Service’s

Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta,

Georgia. Documents will also be

available for public inspection by

appointment during normal business

hours at the Regional Office, 1875

Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta,

Georgia 30345 (Attn: Endangered

Species Permits), or Field Supervisor,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P. O.

Drawer 1190, Daphne, Alabama 36526.

Written data or comments concerning

the application, or HCP should be

submitted to the Regional Office. Please

reference permit number TE035340–0 in

requests of the documents discussed

herein.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

David Dell, Regional HCP Coordinator,

(see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/

679–7313, facsimile: 404/679–7081; or

Ms. Barbara Allen, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, Daphne Field Office, Alabama

(see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 334/

441–5181.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

gopher tortoise was listed in 1987 as a

threatened species in the western part of

its geographic range, west of the

Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers in

Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The gopher tortoise is a burrowing

animal that historically inhabited firemaintained longleaf pine communities

on moderately well drained to xeric

soils in the Coastal Plain. These longleaf

pine communities consisted of

relatively open fire-maintained forests,

without a closed overstory, with a well

developed herbaceous plant layer of

grasses and forbs. About 80% of the

original habitat for gopher tortoises was

lost by the time the species was listed

due to conversions to urban and

agricultural land use. On remaining

forests, management practices

converting longleaf pine to densely

planted pine stands for pulpwood

production, fire exclusion, and

infrequently prescribed fire further

reduced the open forest with grasses

and forbs that tortoises need for

burrowing, nesting, and feeding. Over

19,000 gopher tortoises have been

estimated to occur in the listed range.

The tortoise, however, is a long-lived

animal with low reproductive rates.

Remaining populations, though

relatively widespread, are individually

small, fragmented, and usually in poor

habitat without adequate reproduction

for a self-sustaining viable population.

In Mobile County, Alabama,

development and fragmentation of

tortoise habitat are a significant threat to

the remaining tortoise population of the

project area. The Applicant proposes to

establish a conservation bank on land

owned by the Board to benefit the

federally threatened gopher tortoise.

This HCP provides a mechanism to

address development threats to the

tortoise, to provide private landowners

in Mobile County with viable gopher

tortoise mitigation alternatives, and to

provide the Board with a financial

incentive to manage its lands for the

benefit of this species.

Under section 9 of the Act and its

implementing regulations, ‘‘taking’’ of

endangered and threatened wildlife is

prohibited. However, the Service, under

limited circumstances, may issue

permits to take such wildlife if the

taking is incidental to and not the

purpose of otherwise lawful activities.

The Applicant has prepared an HCP as

required for the incidental take permit

application.

Under this HCP, the Board is applying

for a 10(a)(1)(B) permit which would

then be extended to private landowners

who have tortoises on their property

through a Certificate of Inclusion. Those

landowners would purchase mitigation

credit(s) from the Board after review and

approval by the Service. After allowing

for the relocation of affected tortoises

onto Board property, they would have

authorization to develop their property.

The 222-acre conservation bank site

occurs on lands (over 7,000 acres in

total) owned by the Board that are

permanently protected from

development and that surround Big

Creek Land in western Mobile County.

A significant proportion of the site

contains mature longleaf pine forest on

well-drained, sandy soils. The site is in

need of management activities that

restore more open, longleaf-pine canopy

conditions, reduce hardwood

encroachment, reduce invasive exotic

species, and restore more natural fire

regimes. In addition, the resident

tortoise population is significantly

depleted, thus requiring translocation of

tortoises to the site in order to establish

a viable population. Should

conservation banking prove to be a

viable strategy for the Board and

conservation of the tortoise, the Board is

open to considering devoting more of

the remaining 7,000 acres to serve as a

gopher tortoise conservation bank.

The EA considers the environmental

consequences of 5 alternatives,

including the proposed action and noaction alternatives. The proposed action

alternative is the issuance of a permit

under section 10(a) of the Act that

would authorize incidental take of up to

128 gopher tortoises from private

landowners who would be required to

obtain a certificate of inclusion from the

Board. The proposed action would

require the Applicant to implement

their Habitat Conservation Plan which

requires that for each tortoise taken, 1.5

acres of longleaf pine habitat at the

conservation bank is restored, protected,

and managed for a period of 99 years.

Under the no-action alternative, the

Incidental Take Permit would not be

issued. There will be no concerted effort

to restore, enhance, or maintain longleaf

pine forest at the conservation bank

owned by the Board. There is no legal

obligation under the ESA for private

property owners to actively manage

their property for the benefit of the

gopher tortoise. In the absence of this

proposed ITP, much of the occupied

habitat in Mobile County will be lost to

benign neglect as the canopy becomes

too dense to support gopher tortoises.

The third alternative is to offer financial

incentives to protect existing gopher

tortoise habitat on private lands. This

would be a useful approach for those

landowners with sizeable tracts of firemaintained longleaf pine that contain

occupied habitat or habitat that is

readily restorable. For this reason, in

part, the Service maintaines the ability

to deny Certificates of Inclusion under

this HCP when the agency deems that

large tracts of occupied, suitable gopher

tortoise habitat in Mobile County can

and should be addressed through other

appropriate means. The fourth

alternative is to require on-site

mitigation by issuing individual HCPs

to landowners in Mobile county,

requiring each to mitigate such take on

the property where take occurs.

As stated above, the Service has made

a preliminary determination that the

issuance of the ITP is not a major

Federal action significantly affecting the

quality of the human environment

within the meaning of section 102(2)(C)

of NEPA. This preliminary information

may be revised due to public comment

received in response to this notice and

is based on information contained in the

draft EA and HCP.

The Service will also evaluate

whether the issuance of a section

10(a)(1)(B) ITP complies with section 7

of the Act by conducting an intraService section 7 consultation. The

4038 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2001 / Notices

results of the biological opinion, in

combination with the above findings,

will be used in the final analysis to

determine whether or not to issue the

ITP.

Dated: January 9, 2001.

Sam D. Hamilton,

Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 01–1303 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Indian Gaming

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Approved Tribal-State

Compact.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 11 of the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988

(IGRA), Pub. L. 100–497, 25 U.S.C.

2710, the Secretary of the Interior shall

publish, in the Federal Register, notice

of approved Tribal-State Compacts for

the purpose of engaging in Class III

gaming activities on Indian lands. The

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs,

Department of the Interior, through his

delegated authority, has approved the

Second Amendment between the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and

the State of North Carolina, which was

executed on November 14, 2000.

DATES: This action is effective January

17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George T. Skibine, Director, Office of

Indian Gaming Management, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Washington, DC 20240,

(202) 219–4066.

Dated: December 28, 2000.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 01–1260 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Indian Gaming

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Approved Tribal-State

Compact.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 11 of the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA),

Pub. L. 100–497, 25 U.S.C. 2710, the

Secretary of the Interior shall publish, in

the Federal Register, notice of approved

Tribal-State Compacts for the purpose of

engaging in Class III gaming activities

on Indian lands. The Assistant

Secretary—Indian Affairs, Department

of the Interior, through his delegated

authority, has approved the Tribal-State

Compact for Class III Gaming Between

the Hoh Indian Tribe and the State of

Washington, which was executed on

May 25, 2000.

DATES: This action is effective January

17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George T. Skibine, Director, Office of

Indian Gaming Management, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Washington, DC 20240,

(202) 219–4066.

Dated: December 22, 2000.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 01–1263 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Indian Gaming

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Approved Tribal-State

Compact.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 11 of the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988

(IGRA), Pub. L. 100–497, 25 U.S.C.

2710, the Secretary of the Interior shall

publish, in the Federal Register, notice

of approved Tribal-State Compacts for

the purpose of engaging in Class III

gaming activities on Indian lands. The

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs,

Department of the Interior, through his

delegated authority, has approved the

Gaming Compact between the Lower

Brule Sioux Tribe and the State of South

Dakota, which was executed on

November 6, 2000.

DATES: This action is effective January

17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George T. Skibine, Director, Office of

Indian Gaming Management, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Washington, DC 20240,

(202) 219–4066.

Dated: January 3, 2001.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 01–1261 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Indian Gaming

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Approved Tribal-State

Compact Extension.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 11 of the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988

(IGRA), Pub. L. 100–497, 25 U.S.C.

2710, the Secretary of the Interior shall

publish, in the Federal Register, notice

of approved Tribal-State Compacts for

the purpose of engaging in Class III

gaming activities on Indian lands. The

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs,

Department of the Interior, through his

delegated authority, has approved the

Tribal-State Compact Extension

Between the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of

Louisiana and the State of Louisiana,

which was executed on November 9,

2000.

DATES: This action is effective upon date

of publication.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George T. Skibine, Director, Office of

Indian Gaming Management, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Washington, DC 20240,

(202) 219–4066.

Dated: December 27, 2000.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 01–1262 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[AK–962–1410–HY–P]

Notice for Publication; F–14870–A;

Alaska Native Claims Selection

In accordance with Departmental

regulation 43 CFR 2650.7(d), notice is

hereby given that a decision to issue

conveyance under the provisions of

section 14(a) of the Alaska Native

Claims Settlement Act of December 18,

1971, 43 U.S.C. 1613(a), will be issued

to Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation for

60,000 square feet (1.3774 acres). The

lands, located within T. 9 N., R. 34 E.,

Umiat Meridian, Alaska, are more

particularly described as: Lot 6, Block 1,

U.S. Survey No. 4234, Townsite of

Kaktovik, Alaska.

Notice of the decision will be

published once a week, for four (4)

consecutive weeks, in the Arctic

Sounder. Copies of the decision may be

obtained by contacting the Alaska State

Office of the Bureau of Land