36502 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2009 / Notices 

monitor our forests and wetlands for 

invasive plants and disease, and treat 

them to the extent our funding allows. 

Protecting and enhancing riparian and 

wetlands habitat would be a priority. 

We would also continue our monitoring 

and inventory program, but regularly 

evaluate the results to help us better 

understand the implications of our 

management actions and identify ways 

to improve their effectiveness. 

We would expand opportunities for 

all six priority public uses. We would 

seek partnerships to help us achieve any 

new or expanded programs, including 

interpretive trails construction, adding a 

self-guided canoe trail, and leading 

environmental education programs 

using the refuge as a living laboratory. 

We plan to further evaluate 

opportunities for waterfowl and turkey 

hunting. We would also improve and 

expand access for freshwater fishing. If 

we can secure permanent funding, we 

would fill up to four new staff positions 

to provide depth to our programs and 

achieve our goals and objectives. We 

also propose to construct a new, 

Service-standard small refuge 

headquarters and visitor contact facility 

on the Hutchinson tract to increase our 

visibility and improve public access to 

refuge land. 

Alternative C (Forest Management 

Emphasis) 

This alternative resembles Alternative 

B in its refuge administration, facilities, 

and visitor services programs, but 

differs in its habitat management. 

Under Alternative C, we would allow 

grasslands, old fields, and croplands to 

revert to shrub and forest, 

supplementing that process with such 

activities as plantings, applying 

herbicides, and cutting or brush-hogging 

(mowing) as necessary to achieve the 

desired results. As in Alternative B, we 

would protect and enhance riparian and 

wetlands habitats as a priority. We also 

propose to manage our existing planted 

pine stands as in Alternative B, and 

continue to monitor our forests and 

wetlands for invasive plants and disease 

and treat them to the extent funding 

allows. Protecting and enhancing 

riparian and wetland habitats would 

also be a priority. Compared to 

Alternative B, we would conduct a more 

intensive, focused monitoring and 

inventory program designed to address 

more specific questions about habitat 

quality and the response of wildlife 

populations. In the near term, 

monitoring would be aimed specifically 

at documenting the transition from 

grasslands, old fields, and croplands to 

shrub and young forest. Under 

Alternative C, our public use programs 

would be similar to those proposed 

under Alternative B, including our 

plans to pursue a new headquarters and 

visitor contact facility. 

Public Meetings 

We will give the public opportunities 

to provide input at two public meetings 

in Warsaw and Richmond, Virginia. You 

can obtain the schedule from the project 

leader or natural resource planner (see 

ADDRESSES or FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT, above). You may also submit 

comments at any time during the 

planning process by any means shown 

in the ADDRESSES section. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comments, 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. 

Dated: May 8, 2009. 

Wendi Weber, 

Acting Regional Director, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Hadley, MA 01035. 

[FR Doc. E9–17546 Filed 7–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R1–ES–2009–N123; 14420–1115– 

1SGR–A2] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Permit Application; Greater 

Sage-Grouse; Washington, Adams, 

Gem, and Payette Counties, Idaho 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Receipt of application for 

enhancement of survival permit; notice 

of availability of programmatic 

candidate conservation agreement with 

assurances and draft environmental 

assessment. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce 

receipt of an application for an 

enhancement of survival permit (permit) 

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

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (ESA). The permit application 

includes a proposed programmatic 

candidate conservation agreement with 

assurances (CCAA) for the Greater sage 

grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; 

hereafter, sage-grouse) between us and 

the Idaho Department of Fish and Game 

(IDFG). The term of the proposed CCAA 

is 30 years, and the requested term of 

the permit is 30 years. Consistent with 

the requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA), we have prepared a draft 

environmental assessment (EA) of the 

impacts of the proposed CCAA and 

permit application. We are accepting 

comments on the application, the 

proposed CCAA, and the draft EA. 

DATES: We will consider comments we 

receive on or before August 24, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Address any written 

comments concerning this notice to 

Kendra Womack, Idaho Fish and 

Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 1387 S Vinnell Way, Room 368, 

Boise, ID 83709. Alternatively, fax 

written comments to 208–378–5262, or 

e-mail comments to 

fw1srbocomment@fws.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kendra Womack, 208–378–5243. If you 

use a telecommunications device for the 

deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 

800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Document Availability 

Copies of the permit application, the 

draft CCAA, and the draft EA are 

available for public inspection, by 

appointment, at the Idaho Fish and 

Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES), or you 

may view them on the Internet at 

http://www.fws.gov/idaho. We furnish 

this notice to provide the public, other 

State and Federal agencies, and 

interested Tribes an opportunity to 

review and comment on the draft 

CCAA, permit application, and draft EA. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail 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. 

Background 

Candidate Conservation Agreements 

with Assurances encourage non-Federal 

property owners to implement 

conservation efforts for candidate or atrisk species by assuring property owners 

they will not be subjected to increased 

property use restrictions if the covered 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2009 / Notices 36503 

species becomes listed in the future. 

Application requirements and issuance 

criteria for enhancement of survival 

permits through CCAAs are in the Code 

of Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22(d) 

and 17.32(d), respectively. See also our 

joint policy on CCAAs, which we 

published in the Federal Register with 

the Department of Commerce’s National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, National Marine 

Fisheries Service (64 FR 32726; June 17, 

1999). 

The proposed CCAA is programmatic 

in nature, and, under it, individual 

property owners who wish to 

participate would enroll their properties 

under the IDFG’s section 10(a)(1)(A) 

permit through the issuance of a 

Certificate of Inclusion. The individual 

property owner would work with IDFG 

and us to develop a mutually agreeable 

site-specific management plan for the 

enrolled property. The site-specific plan 

will address known threats to sagegrouse through the implementation of 

identified conservation measures that 

are consistent with the participating 

landowner’s land use activities and the 

CCAA. If a Certificate of Inclusion is 

signed and issued to a participating 

property owner, they would then be 

authorized to incidentally take sagegrouse if the species becomes listed 

under the ESA in the future, as long as 

the terms and conditions of the permit 

and the existing site-specific plan are 

followed. 

The area to be covered under this 

proposed CCAA (Covered Area) is 

approximately 930,000 acres (ac) 

located in the West Central Planning 

Area (WCPA) in Washington, Adams, 

Gem, and Payette Counties, Idaho. 

Within the Covered Area, approximately 

590,707 ac is non-Federally owned and 

would potentially be eligible for 

enrollment under the proposed CCAA. 

Sage grouse use habitats throughout the 

WCPA, including lekking (breeding 

display) areas, and nesting, brood 

rearing, and wintering habitats. 

Accurate estimates of the number of 

sage-grouse in the WCPA are not 

available. 

The proposed CCAA identifies 

important sage-grouse use areas using a 

combination of known lek locations, 

and yearlong telemetry data identifying 

nesting, brood-rearing, and wintering 

habitats. The proposed CCAA also 

assumes that there are some areas where 

land uses or historic events have 

reduced habitat values so that they are 

no longer used by sage-grouse. However, 

the inherent physical factors and 

proximity to currently used habitat may 

make these areas candidates for 

restoration efforts. 

The proposed CCAA is intended to 

result in benefits to sage-grouse by 

reducing or eliminating threats to the 

species on enrolled properties, and 

creating or maintaining habitat 

conditions that are suitable for all lifehistory stages of the species through the 

implementation of conservation 

measures. The proposed CCAA 

describes all of the threats to sagegrouse that have been identified in the 

WCPA, and a suite of potential 

conservation actions that could be 

implemented to address those threats. 

The conservation measures that would 

be implemented on any enrolled 

property would be identified in a sitespecific conservation plan for that 

property. Activities that are covered 

under the CCAA and may be included 

in a site-specific plan as applicable 

include range and livestock 

management, farming operations, 

recreational activities, and general ranch 

operation and maintenance. These 

activities are described in more detail in 

the proposed CCAA. 

Consistent with our CCAA Policy (64 

FR 32726), the conservation goal of the 

proposed CCAA is to encourage 

enhancement and protection of suitable 

sage-grouse habitat on non-Federal 

lands by either maintaining or 

modifying existing land uses so that 

they are consistent with the 

conservation needs of sage-grouse. We 

can meet this conservation goal with the 

use of a CCAA by giving non-Federal 

landowners incentives to implement 

conservation measures, primarily 

through regulatory certainty concerning 

land-use restrictions that might 

otherwise apply should sage-grouse 

become listed under the ESA. 

We provide this notice under section 

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

and the implementing regulations for 

NEPA (40 CFR 1506.6). We will evaluate 

the permit application, associated 

documents, and comments we receive to 

determine whether the permit 

application meets the requirements of 

section 10(a) of the ESA and NEPA and 

its implementing regulations. If we 

determine that all requirements are met, 

we will sign the proposed CCAA and 

issue a permit under section 10(a)(1)(A) 

of the ESA to the IDFG for take of sagegrouse. We will not make our final 

decision until after the end of the 30- 

day public comment period, and we 

will fully consider all comments we 

receive during the public comment 

period. 

Dated: July 15, 2009. 

David J. Wesley, 

Deputy Regional Director, Region 1, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 

[FR Doc. E9–17523 Filed 7–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[CACA 49561, LLCAD08000L5101 

ER0000LVRWB09B3220] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Amendment to the California Desert 

Conservation Area Plan for the 

Lucerne Valley Solar Project; San 

Bernardino County, CA 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the 

Federal Land Policy and Management 

Act of 1976 (FLPMA), as amended, the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 

Barstow Field Office, Barstow, 

California intends to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

and by this notice is announcing the 

beginning of the scoping process to 

solicit public comments and identify 

issues. The EIS will analyze the impacts 

of the Lucerne Valley Solar Plant on 

public lands in San Bernardino County, 

California. The project is being 

proposed by Chevron Energy Solutions 

(the Applicant). The applicant has 

requested a right-of-way (ROW) 

authorization to construct and operate a 

45 megawatt solar photovoltaic project 

and connect it to the existing Southern 

California Edison 33 kV distribution 

system. Within the 516-acre solar 

facility, the project would include a new 

switchyard, control/maintenance 

building, and parking area. The EIS will 

analyze the site-specific impacts to the 

environment from the proposed grant of 

the ROW. 

DATES: This notice initiates a public 

participation and scoping period for the 

EIS of at least 30 days. This scoping 

period will also be announced through 

the local news media, newspapers, and 

BLM’s Web page (http://www.blm.gov/ 

ca/st/en/fo/barstow.html). During the 

public scoping period the BLM will 

solicit public comment on issues, 

concerns and opportunities that should 

be considered in the analysis of the 

proposed action. The BLM expects to 

hold two public meetings, one in 

Lucerne Valley and another in the city 


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