Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 184 / Monday, September 25, 2017 / Notices 44651 

VI. Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

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

Joyce Russell, 

Government Information Specialist, Branch 

of Permits, Division of Management 

Authority. 

[FR Doc. 2017–20381 Filed 9–22–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R6–ES–2017–N113; FF06E11000– 

178–FXES111606CSAGE] 

Enhancement of Survival Permit 

Application; Draft Candidate 

Conservation Agreement With 

Assurances for the Greater SageGrouse and Four Grassland Songbirds 

in Montana; Draft Environmental 

Assessment 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, are making available 

for public comment an application from 

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for an 

enhancement of survival permit (permit) 

under the Endangered Species Act for 

take of five species associated with 

implementation of a candidate 

conservation agreement with assurances 

(CCAA) in Montana. The intent of the 

CCAA is to provide private landowners 

in the coverage area with the 

opportunity to voluntarily conserve 

covered species and their habitats while 

carrying out their operations in a 

manner that would contribute to 

precluding the need to list the covered 

species. Pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act, we have 

prepared a draft environmental 

assessment (EA) that analyzes the 

potential impacts of issuance of the 

permit and implementation of the 

proposed CCAA, as well as two 

alternatives to the proposed action in 

the EA. The permit application, the 

draft CCAA, and draft EA are available 

for public review, and we seek public 

comment on these documents and 

potential issuance of the permit. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted by October 25, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: To request further 

information or submit written 

comments, please use the following 

methods, and note that your information 

request or comments are in reference to 

the Montana CCAA. 

Æ Internet: Documents may be viewed 

on the Internet at https://www.fws.gov/ 

greatersagegrouse/news.php. 

Æ U.S. Mail: Field Supervisor, 

Montana Ecological Services Field 

Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

585 Shephard Way, Suite 1, Helena, MT 

59601. 

Æ Email: MT_CCAA@fws.gov. Include 

‘‘MT CCAA’’ in the subject line of the 

message. 

Æ Fax: 406–449–5339, Attn: MT 

CCAA. 

Æ In-Person Viewing or Pickup: 

Documents will be available for public 

inspection by appointment during 

normal business hours at the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, Montana 

Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, 585 Shephard 

Way, Suite 1, Helena, MT 59601. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Field Supervisor, Montana Ecological 

Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES), 

telephone: 406–449–5225. If you use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf, 

please call the Federal Relay Service at 

800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 

received and make available for 

comment an application from The 

Nature Conservancy (TNC). The 

application is for an enhancement of 

survival permit (permit) under section 

10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 

et seq.; ESA), for potential take of five 

species associated with implementation 

of a candidate conservation agreement 

with assurances (CCAA) in Montana 

(coverage area). The coverage area 

would be the range of the five species 

on privately owned lands in Montana. 

The CCAA would cover and include 

conservation measures for the greater 

sage-grouse (Centrocercus 

urophasianus), Baird’s sparrow 

(Ammodramus bairdii), chestnutcollared longspur (Calcarius ornatus), 

McCown’s longspur (Rhynchophanes 

mccownii), and Sprague’s pipit (Anthus 

spragueii). The intent of the CCAA is to 

provide ranchers and agriculture 

producers in the coverage area with the 

opportunity to voluntarily conserve the 

covered species and their habitat, while 

carrying out their operations in a 

manner that would provide net 

conservation benefit to the species. 

Pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq.; NEPA), we have prepared 

a draft environmental assessment (EA) 

that analyzes the potential impacts of 

issuance of the permit and 

implementation of the proposed CCAA, 

as well as two alternatives to the 

proposed action. The permit 

application, draft CCAA, and EA are 

available for public review, and we seek 

public comment on these documents 

and potential issuance of the permit. 

Background Information 

A CCAA is an agreement with the 

Service in which private and other nonFederal landowners voluntarily agree to 

undertake management activities and 

conservation efforts on their properties 

to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat 

to benefit species that are proposed for 

listing under the ESA, that are 

candidates for listing, or that may 

become candidates. The Service works 

with these partners to identify threats to 

candidate species, plan the measures 

needed to address the threats and 

conserve these species, identify willing 

landowners, develop agreements, and 

design and implement conservation 

measures and monitor their 

effectiveness. 

If we approve this CCAA, we will 

issue an associated enhancement of 

survival permit under section 

10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA that authorizes 

incidental take resulting from covered 

activities should any of the five covered 

species addressed in the CCAA become 

listed. Through the CCAA and permit, 

we also provide assurances to 

participating landowners that we will 

not impose additional land, water, or 

financial commitments, or restrictions 

on land, water, or resource use, as a 

result of their efforts to attract or 

increase the numbers or distribution of 

a species on their properties if that 

species becomes listed under the ESA in 

the future. Application requirements 

and issuance criteria for enhancement of 

survival permits through a CCAA are 

found in 50 CFR 17.22(d) and 17.32(d), 

as well as in 50 CFR part 13. 

Proposed Action 

Under the proposed programmatic 

CCAA, enrolled landowners in the 

CCAA (participants) would implement 

conservation measures that avoid, 

minimize, and mitigate impacts to the 

covered species and their habitats from 

ongoing grazing and range management 

activities on enrolled lands. The Service 

would issue the permit to TNC, which 

would administer the CCAA and enroll 

the participants. The CCAA would be in 

effect for 20 years. The covered area 

would encompass the non-Federal lands 

within the range of the covered species 

in Montana. 

With issuance of the enhancement of 

survival permit, the Service would 

provide TNC and the participants 


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44652 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 184 / Monday, September 25, 2017 / Notices 

assurances that, should any of the 

covered species be listed, no further 

commitments or restrictions than those 

they committed to under the CCAA 

would be imposed, as long as the CCAA 

is properly implemented. Furthermore, 

if any of the covered species are listed, 

the permit would provide TNC and 

individuals TNC enrolls in the CCAA 

with incidental take authorization. 

Participants would receive take 

authorization through their certificates 

of inclusion under the permit. The 

permit would become effective on the 

effective date of a listing of the covered 

species as endangered or threatened and 

would continue through the end of the 

CCAA term. 

The Secretary of the Interior has 

delegated to the Service the authority to 

approve or deny a section 10(a)(1)(A) 

permit in accordance with the ESA. To 

act on TNC’s permit application, we 

must determine that the CCAA meets 

the issuance criteria specified in the 

ESA and at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, as 

well as at 50 CFR part 13. These criteria 

include a finding that the proposed 

CCAA complies with the requirements 

of our CCAA Policy (81 FR 951646; 

December 27, 2016). 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Compliance 

The issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A) 

permit is a Federal action subject to 

NEPA compliance, including the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations for implementing the 

procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 

1500–1508). The draft CCAA and 

application for the enhancement of 

survival permit are not eligible for 

categorical exclusion under NEPA. We 

have prepared a draft EA to analyze the 

direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts 

of the CCAA on the quality of the 

human environment and other natural 

resources. In compliance with NEPA, 

we analyzed the impacts of 

implementing the CCAA, issuance of 

the permit, and a reasonable range of 

alternatives in the draft EA. Based on 

these analyses and any new information 

resulting from public comment on the 

proposed action, we will determine if 

issuance of the permit would cause any 

significant impacts to the human 

environment. After reviewing public 

comments, we will evaluate whether the 

proposed action and alternatives in the 

draft EA are adequate to support a 

finding of no significant impact under 

NEPA. We now make the draft EA 

available for public inspection online or 

in person at the Service offices listed in 

ADDRESSES. 

Public Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

materials by one of the methods listed 

in ADDRESSES. We request data, 

information, opinions, or suggestions 

from the public, other concerned 

governmental agencies, the scientific 

community, Tribes, industry, or any 

other interested party on our proposed 

permit action. We particularly seek 

comments on the following: (1) 

Biological information and relevant data 

concerning the covered species; (2) 

current or planned activities in the 

subject area and their possible impacts 

on the covered species; (3) identification 

of any other environmental issues that 

should be considered with regard to the 

proposed permit action; and (4) 

information regarding the adequacy of 

the draft CCAA pursuant to the 

requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 

13 and 17. 

Public Availability of Comments 

All comments and materials we 

receive become part of the public record 

associated with this action. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personally 

identifiable information (PII) in your 

comments, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

PII—may be made publicly available at 

any time. While you can ask us in your 

comment to withhold your PII from 

public review, we cannot guarantee that 

we will be able to do so. Comments and 

materials we receive, as well as 

supporting documentation we use in 

preparing the EA, will be available for 

public inspection by appointment, 

during normal business hours, at our 

Montana Field Office (see ADDRESSES). 

Next Steps 

After completion of the EA based on 

consideration of public comments, we 

will determine whether adoption of the 

proposed CCAA warrants a finding of 

no significant impact or whether an 

environmental impact statement should 

be prepared. We will evaluate the 

proposed CCAA as well as any 

comments we receive, to determine 

whether implementation of the 

proposed CCAA would meet the 

requirements for issuance of a permit 

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

We will also evaluate whether the 

proposed permit action would comply 

with section 7 of the ESA by conducting 

an intra-Service section 7 consultation. 

We will consider the results of this 

consultation, in combination with the 

above findings, in our final analysis to 

determine whether or not to issue a 

permit to TNC. 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. 

Authority: We provide this notice in 

accordance with the requirements of section 

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

NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and their 

implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22, 40 

CFR 1506.6, and 43 CFR Part 46, 

respectively). 

Dated: September 11, 2017. 

Michael Thabault, 

Assistant Regional Director—Ecological 

Services, Mountain-Prairie Region, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colorado. 

[FR Doc. 2017–20373 Filed 9–22–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

[NPS–WASO–NAGPRA–NPS0024017; 

PPWOCRADN0–PCU00RP14.R50000] 

Notice of Inventory Completion: 

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The University of Michigan 

has completed an inventory of human 

remains and associated funerary objects, 

in consultation with the appropriate 

Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 

organizations, and has determined that 

there is no cultural affiliation between 

the human remains and associated 

funerary objects and any present-day 

Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 

organizations. Representatives of any 

Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 

organization not identified in this notice 

that wish to request transfer of control 

of these human remains and associated 

funerary objects should submit a written 

request to the University of Michigan. If 

no additional requestors come forward, 

transfer of control of the human remains 

and associated funerary objects to the 

Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 

organizations stated in this notice may 

proceed. 

DATES: Representatives of any Indian 

Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization 

not identified in this notice that wish to 

request transfer of control of these 

human remains and associated funerary 

objects should submit a written request 

with information in support of the 

request to the University of Michigan at 

the address in this notice by October 25, 

2017. 

ADDRESSES: Dr. Ben Secunda, NAGPRA 

Project Manager, University of Michigan 

Office of Research, 4080 Fleming 


asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES