70154 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

[FR Doc. 2014–27512 Filed 11–24–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–C 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056; 

FXES11130900000C2–134–FF09E32000] 

RIN 1018–AY46 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Proposed Revision to the 

Regulations for the Nonessential 

Experimental Population of the 

Mexican Wolf 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; availability of a 

final environmental impact statement 

and a draft record of decision. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), make 

available the final environmental impact 

statement (EIS) on the proposed 

revisions to the regulations for the 

nonessential experimental population 

designation of the Mexican wolf and our 

draft record of decision (ROD), under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969, as amended. Our intended 

action is to revise the regulations 

established in our 1998 Final Rule for 

the nonessential experimental 

population of the Mexican wolf. We also 

propose to extend the authority of the 

Mexican Wolf Recovery Program’s 

section 10(a)(1)(A) research and 

recovery permit to areas that are outside 

of the Mexican Wolf Experimental 

Population Area. In the EIS we analyzed 

the environmental consequences of a 

range of alternatives, including the 

Proposed Action and No Action 

alternative, for our proposed rule. The 

action would be implemented through a 

final rule, a revised section 10(a)(1)(A) 

research and recovery permit, and the 

provision of Federal funding. 

DATES: We will consider comments 

received on or before December 27, 

2014. Comments submitted 

electronically using the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES) 

must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern 

Time on the closing date. We will issue 

a final ROD no sooner than December 

27, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Document availability: The 

final EIS and draft ROD are available 

electronically on http://

www.regulations.gov in Docket No. 

FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056, on the 

Mexican Wolf Recovery Program’s Web 

site at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/ 

mexicanwolf/, or from the office listed 

in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Document submission: You may 

submit written comments on the final 

EIS and draft ROD by one of the 

following methods: 

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Search for FWS– 

R2–ES–2013–0056, which is the docket 

number for this rulemaking. You may 

submit a comment by clicking on 

‘‘Comment Now!’’. Please ensure that 

you have found the correct rulemaking 

before submitting your comment. 

(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail 

or hand delivery to: Public Comments 

Processing, Attn: FWS–R2–ES–2013– 

0056; Division of Policy and Directives 

Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service Headquarters, MS: BPHC, 5275 

Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041– 

3803. 

We request that you send comments 

on the final EIS and draft ROD only by 

the methods described above. We will 

post all comments on http://

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see the 

Public Comments section below for 

more information). To increase our 

efficiency in downloading comments, 

groups providing mass submissions 

should submit their comments in an 

Excel file. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sherry Barrett, Mexican Wolf Recovery 

Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna Road, 

NE., Albuquerque, NM 87113; by 

telephone 505–761–4704; or by 

facsimile 505–346–2542. If you use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD), call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 800–877–8339. 

Further contact information can be 

found on the Mexican Wolf Recovery 

Program’s Web site at http://

www.fws.gov/southwest/es/

mexicanwolf/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With this 

Federal Register document, we 

announce the availability of the final 

EIS and our draft ROD for the Proposed 

Revision to the Regulations for the 

Nonessential Experimental Population 

of the Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus 

baileyi). We developed the final EIS and 

our draft ROD in compliance with the 

agency decision making requirements of 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969, as amended. 

We have described all alternatives in 

detail, and we have evaluated them in 

our final EIS. Our draft decision is based 

on our review of the alternatives and 

their environmental consequences as 

described in our final EIS. 

Reviewing Documents 

You may obtain a copy of the final EIS 

and draft ROD by going to the Mexican 

Wolf Recovery Program Web site at 

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/

mexicanwolf/. Alternatively, you may 

obtain a compact disk with an electronic 

copy of the final EIS by writing to Ms. 

Sherry Barrett, Mexican Wolf Recovery 

Coordinator (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). The final EIS 

and draft ROD will also be available for 

public inspection, by appointment, 

during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m.) at the New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna Road 

NE., Albuquerque, NM 87113. In 

cooperation with the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Southwest 

Region, we have also established 

information repositories at the 

Supervisor Offices for the National 

Forests throughout Arizona and New 

Mexico. Links to the National Forests 

with the addresses of the supervisor 

offices are available at http://

www.fs.usda.gov/r3. 

Background 

On June 13, 2013 (78 FR 35719), we 

published a proposed rule to revise the 

existing nonessential experimental 

population designation of the Mexican 

wolf. That proposal had a 90-day 

comment period ending September 11, 

2013. On August 5, 2013 (78 FR 47268), 

we published a notice of intent to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement in conjunction with the 

proposed rule to revise the existing 

nonessential experimental population 

designation of the Mexican wolf. That 

notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement had a 

45-day comment period ending 

September 19, 2013. On September 5, 

2013 (78 FR 54613), we extended the 

public comment period on the proposed 

rule to revise the existing nonessential 

experimental population designation of 

the Mexican wolf to end on October 28, 

2013, and announced a public hearing. 

On October 28, 2013 (78 FR 64192), we 

once again extended the public 

comment period on the proposed rule to 

revise the existing nonessential 

experimental population designation of 

the Mexican wolf to end on December 

17, 2013, and announced public 

hearings on the proposed rule to revise 

the existing nonessential experimental 

population designation of the Mexican 

wolf. 

On July 25, 2014 (79 FR 43358), we 

published a revised proposed rule to the 


wreier-aviles on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 70155 

existing nonessential experimental 

population designation of the Mexican 

wolf and announced the availability of 

a draft environmental impact statement, 

the reopening of the public comment 

period, and the holding of public 

hearings. That proposal had a 60-day 

comment period ending September 23, 

2014. We developed our final EIS after 

assessing and considering all comments 

both individually and collectively. Our 

response to the substantive comments 

that we received are provided as an 

appendix to the final EIS. 

Public Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

materials concerning the final EIS and 

the draft ROD by one of the methods 

listed in ADDRESSES. If you submit a 

comment via http://

www.regulations.gov, your entire 

comment—including any personal 

identifying information—will be posted 

on the Web site. We will post all 

hardcopy comments on http://

www.regulations.gov as well. If you 

submit a hardcopy comment that 

includes personal identifying 

information, you may request at the top 

of your document that we withhold this 

information from public review. 

However, we cannot guarantee that we 

will be able to do so. 

Comments and materials we receive, 

as well as some of the supporting 

documentation we used, will be 

available for public inspection on 

http://www.regulations.gov at Docket 

No. FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056, or by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Authors 

The primary authors of this notice are 

the staff members of the New Mexico 

Ecological Services Field Office (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

Dated: October 31, 2014. 

Joy E. Nicholopoulos, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27872 Filed 11–24–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 


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