68692 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 222 / Tuesday, November 18, 2014 / Notices 

climatic extremes. Furthermore, with 

respect to Indiana bats and northern 

long-eared bats, the additive mortality 

from wind facilities is expected to 

exacerbate population declines that 

have resulted from WNS. 

The Federal action that will be 

analyzed through NEPA will be the 

potential issuance of an ITP to allow 

incidental take of Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats from wind 

turbines that will be described in the 

HCP. The HCP will incorporate 

avoidance, minimization, mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting measures 

aimed at addressing the impact of the 

covered activities to Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. A description 

of the covered lands is currently under 

development for the HCP, but will likely 

include the 35 turbines, turbine pads, 

electric lines, and access roads. The 

covered activities in the HCP are 

anticipated to include turbine operation, 

maintenance activities, 

decommissioning, and mitigation 

actions that have the potential to result 

in incidental take of Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. Because 

curtailment of operating turbines is the 

only method presently known to 

effectively reduce bat fatalities due to 

wind turbine operation, this will likely 

be the primary minimization measure 

employed. The permit term is under 

development but is likely to be 

coextensive with the predicted 

operating life of the turbines, generally 

between 20–30 years. 

The NEPA analysis will assess the 

direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts 

of the proposed Federal action on the 

human environment, comprehensively 

interpreted to include the natural and 

physical environment and the 

relationship of people with that 

environment. It will also analyze several 

alternatives to the proposed Federal 

action, to include no action, and other 

reasonable courses of action. Relevant 

information provided in response to this 

notice will aid in developing the draft 

HCP and NEPA analysis. 

Next Steps 

In this phase of the project, we are 

seeking information to assist 

development of the NEPA analysis and 

the draft HCP. We will then develop a 

draft NEPA document based on the ITP 

application, Applicant’s draft HCP, any 

associated documents, and public 

comments received through this early 

scoping effort. We will then publish a 

notice of availability for the draft NEPA 

document and draft HCP and seek 

additional public comment before 

completing our final analysis to 

determine whether to issue an ITP. 

Public Comments 

The Service invites the public to 

provide comments that will assist our 

NEPA analysis during this 30-day 

public comment period (see DATES). You 

may submit comments by one of the 

methods shown under ADDRESSES. 

Public Availability of Comments 

We will post all public comments and 

information received electronically or 

via hardcopy at http://regulations.gov. 

All comments received, including 

names and addresses, will become part 

of the administrative record and will be 

available to the public. Before including 

your address, phone number, electronic 

mail address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—will 

be publicly available. 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. 

Authority 

This notice is provided pursuant to 

NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1501.7 and 

1508.22). 

Dated: October 27, 2014. 

Paul Phifer, 

Assistant Regional Director, Ecological 

Services, Northeast Region. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27255 Filed 11–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–ES–2014–N182; 40120–1112– 

0000–F2] 

Amendment of a Joint Programmatic 

Candidate Conservation Agreement 

With Assurances and Safe Harbor 

Agreement, Upper Little Red River 

Watershed, Arkansas 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Under the Endangered 

Species Act, we, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, announce the receipt 

and availability of a revised joint Safe 

Harbor Agreement and Candidate 

Conservation Agreement with 

Assurances (revised agreement) and 

accompanying documents for 

establishing a programmatic enrollment 

of willing landowners by the parties to 

the revised agreement: Arkansas Game 

and Fish Commission, Natural 

Resources Conservation Service, The 

Nature Conservancy, and the Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Arkansas Ecological 

Services Field Office (parties). The 

revised agreement analyzes effects of 

conservation measures and certain land 

uses on two endangered species—the 

yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma 

moorei), a fish, and rabbitsfoot 

(Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), a 

mussel—in the Upper Little Red River 

Watershed, northcentral Arkansas, so 

that these listed species, as well as 19 

candidate and other unlisted species, 

might be added to those already covered 

by the existing enhancement of survival 

permits. We invite public comments on 

these documents. 

DATES: We must receive any written 

comments at our Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES) on or before December 18, 

2014. 

ADDRESSES: Documents are available for 

public inspection by appointment 

during normal business hours at the 

Fish and Wildlife Service’s Regional 

Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 

200, Atlanta, GA 30345; or at the 

Arkansas Ecological Services Field 

Office, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1500 

Museum Road, Suite 105, Conway, AR 

72032. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Michael Harris, At-Risk Species 

Coordinator, at the Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES), telephone: 404–679–7066; 

or Mr. Chris Davidson, Endangered 

Species Coordinator, at the Arkansas 

Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 

501–513–4481. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

announce the availability of the revised 

Agreement, which incorporates the 

yellowcheek darter, rabbitsfoot, and 19 

State species of concern. The 

yellowcheek darter and rabbitsfoot 

became federally listed after the original 

enhancement of survival permits were 

issued in February 2007. The 

yellowcheek darter was originally 

covered by the Candidate Conservation 

Agreement with Assurances, but would 

now be transferred under the Safe 

Harbor Agreement. The Service 

previously advertised (71 FR 53129), 

and issued enhancement of survival 

permits, TE138910 (Safe Harbor) and 

TE138911 (Candidate Conservation) as 

30-year enhancement of survival 

permits covering the speckled 

pocketbook (Lampsilis streckeri) and 

yellowcheek darter, respectively. 

The parties request amendment of the 

enhancement of survival permits, for 

their remaining terms, under section 

10(a)(1)(A) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 222 / Tuesday, November 18, 2014 / Notices 68693 

seq.), as amended. The parties’ revised 

agreement describes conservation 

practices designed to protect and 

enhance streambed and bankside 

habitats for the benefit of the 

yellowcheek darter, rabbitsfoot, and the 

19 State species of concern on private or 

non-Federal public lands enrolled under 

the revised agreement. 

We specifically request information, 

views, and opinions from the public via 

this notice on our proposed Federal 

action, including our determination that 

the revised agreement, including its 

proposed conservation measures, would 

have minor or negligible effects on the 

species covered by the revised 

agreement. Therefore, we determined 

that the revised agreement is a ‘‘loweffect’’ project and qualifies for 

categorical exclusion under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as provided by the 

Department of the Interior Manual (516 

DM 2 Appendix 1 and 516 DM 6 

Appendix 1). A low-effect project 

involves (1) minor or negligible effects 

on federally listed or candidates or their 

habitats, and (2) minor or negligible 

effects on other environmental values or 

resources. Further, we specifically 

solicit information regarding the 

adequacy of the revised agreement per 

50 CFR parts 13 and 17. 

The revised agreement describes land 

use practices and monitoring to ensure 

the continued survival of the covered 

species. Enrolled landowners who 

implement these measures would 

receive assurances against take liability 

for federally listed species, or for those 

species that might become federally 

listed in the future. Conservation land 

use practices will vary according to the 

needs of a particular enrolled 

landowner. Typical measures include 

controlling livestock access to streams; 

protection, enhancement, or restoration 

of streamside or in-stream habitats; 

species reintroduction to unoccupied 

suitable habitat; and other conservation 

measures that may be developed in the 

future. 

Public Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

If you wish to comment, you may 

submit comments by any one of several 

methods. Please reference TE138910 or 

TE138911 in such comments. You may 

mail comments to the Fish and Wildlife 

Service’s Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES). You may also comment via 

the internet to david_dell@fws.gov. 

Please include your name and return 

address in your email message. If you do 

not receive a confirmation from us that 

we have received your email message, 

contact us directly at either telephone 

number listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Finally, you may hand-deliver 

comments to either of our offices listed 

under ADDRESSES. 

Covered Area 

The revised agreement covers 

approximately 558,615 acres of 

potentially eligible lands in the Upper 

Little Red River watershed in 

northcentral Arkansas. Lands eligible to 

enroll in the revised agreement include 

any non-Federal properties within the 

watershed of the Upper Little Red River, 

Archey Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork, 

and Devils Fork upstream from Greers 

Ferry Reservoir. 

Next Steps 

We will evaluate the enhancement of 

survival permit amendment 

applications, including the revised 

agreement, and any comments we 

receive, to determine whether the 

amendment applications meet the 

requirements of section 10(a)(1)(A) of 

the Act. We will also evaluate whether 

amendment of the section 10(a)(1)(A) 

enhancement of survival permits would 

comply with section 7 of the Act by 

conducting an intra-Service section 7 

consultation. We will use the results of 

this consultation, in combination with 

the above findings, in our final analysis 

to determine whether or not to amend 

the enhancement of survival permits. If 

we determine that the requirements are 

met, we will amend the enhancement of 

survival permits to add yellowcheek 

darter and rabbitsfoot to the Safe 

Harbor, and amend the Candidate 

Conservation Agreement to remove 

yellowcheek darter and to add the 19 

species of State concern. 

Authority 

We provide this notice under section 

10 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 

and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: October 23, 2014. 

Mike Oetker, 

Acting Regional Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27232 Filed 11–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLWY920000–L14300000–EU0000; WYW– 

167526] 

Notice of Realty Action: Modified 

Competitive Sealed Bid Sale of Public 

Land in Sweetwater County, WY 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Realty Action. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) proposes to offer by 

modified competitive, sealed-bid sale, 

two parcels totaling 650 acres in 

Sweetwater County at no less than the 

fair market value (FMV) of $290,000 for 

parcel 1 and $210,000 for parcel 2 as 

determined by the October 29, 2013, 

appraisal. The sale will be subject to the 

applicable provisions of Section 203 of 

the Federal Land Policy and 

Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), 43 

U.S.C. 1713, and the BLM land sale 

regulations at 43 CFR 2710. 

DATES: Interested parties may submit 

written comments to the BLM at the 

address below. The BLM must receive 

your comments on or before January 2, 

2015. The BLM will accept sealed bids 

for the offered lands until January 20, 

2015, 3 p.m. Mountain Time (MT). If the 

BLM determines to conduct the sale, the 

sealed bids will be opened on January 

20, 2015, at the Rock Springs Field 

Office at 9 a.m. MT. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments 

concerning this notice to the Field 

Manager, BLM, Rock Springs Field 

Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock 

Springs, WY 82901–3447. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patricia Hamilton, Realty Specialist, at 

email phamilto@blm.gov or by 

telephone at 307–352–0334. Public 

comments concerning this proposed 

sale may be mailed or emailed to BLM_

WY_Sweetwater_County_Land_Sale@

blm.gov by January 2, 2015. Persons 

who use a telecommunications device 

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1– 

800–877–8339 to contact the above 

individual during normal business 

hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a 

day, 7 days a week, to leave a message 

or question with the above individual. 

You will receive a reply during normal 

business hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The two 

parcels of public land will be sold 

individually. The parcels proposed for a 

modified competitive sale are 

approximately 6 miles northwest of 

Green River, Wyoming. The parcels are 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES