[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1538-1539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00230]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2024-0188; FXES11140800000-256-FF08EVEN00]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher,
Ventura County, CA; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt
of an application from Angie Harbin, Director--Natural Resources,
Rincon Consultants, Inc., on behalf of Comstock Homes (applicant) for
an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The
applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed coastal
California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) incidental
to residential development in the City of Moorpark, in Ventura County,
California. We request public comment on the application, which
includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and
on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting
action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the
Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA
regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary
determination, we prepared a low-effect screening form. The HCP and
low-effect screening form are available for public review. We invite
comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before February 7,
2025.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2024-0188 at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2024-0188.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R8-ES-2024-0188; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Chris Dellith, Senior Fish and
Wildlife Biologist, by email at [email protected], via phone at
805-644-1766, or by U.S. mail at 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura,
CA 93003. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind,
hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals
outside the United States should use the relay services offered within
their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in
the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
announce receipt of an application from Angie Harbin, Director--Natural
Resources, Rincon Consultants, Inc., on behalf of Comstock Homes
(applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The
applicant requests the ITP to take the federally threatened coastal
California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) incidental
to the development of a mixed-density residential community (project)
in the City of Moorpark, Ventura County, California. We request public
comment on the application, which includes the applicant's habitat
conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination
that this proposed ITP qualifies as low effect, and may qualify for a
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR
1501.4), the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations (43
CFR 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make
this preliminary determination, we prepared a low-effect screening
form, also available for public review.
Background
On March 30, 1993 (58 FR 16742), the Service listed the coastal
California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) as
threatened. Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of fish and
wildlife species listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538), where take is
defined to include the following activities: ``to harass, harm, pursue,
hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to
engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). The take prohibitions of
section 9 are extended to species listed as threatened at the
discretion of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and were
extended to coastal California gnatcatcher, with exceptions. The
Service published a 4(d) rule, which includes exceptions to incidental
take associated land-use activities addressed in an approved Natural
Community Conservation Planning Act program
[[Page 1539]]
undertaken by the State of California and local governments (December
10, 1993; 58 FR 65088).
Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), we
may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife species
that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an
otherwise lawful activity. Regulations governing incidental take
permits for endangered and threatened species are in the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively.
Issuance of an ITP also must not jeopardize the existence of federally
listed fish, wildlife, or plant species. The permittee would receive
assurances under our ``No Surprises'' regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5)
and 17.32(b)(5)).
Applicant's Proposed Activities
The applicant has applied for a permit for incidental take of the
coastal California gnatcatcher. The take would occur in association
with activities necessary for the development of a largely vacant
277.30-acre (ac) site by constructing residences, a neighborhood park
site, and flood-control facilities, as well as enhancement of disturbed
coastal sage scrub vegetation on 52.77 ac of conserved land for the
coastal California gnatcatcher.
The HCP includes avoidance and minimization measures for the
coastal California gnatcatcher, and mitigation for unavoidable loss of
occupied habitat. The applicant will commensurately offset impacts by
placing conservation easements over approximately 29.44 ac of the
project site and enhancing 23.33 ac on adjacent parcels of conserved
open space areas owned by the City of Moorpark.
Public Availability of Comments
If you submit a comment at https://www.regulations.gov, your entire
comment, including any personal identifying information, will be posted
on the website.
If you submit a hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying
information, such as your address, phone number, or email address, 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 hardcopy document to withhold your
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the
applicant's proposed project would individually and cumulatively have a
minor effect on the coastal California gnatcatcher and the human
environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the
proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a ``low-effect'' ITP
that individually or cumulatively would have a minor effect on the
species and may qualify for application of a categorical exclusion
pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations,
DOI's NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. A ``low-
effect'' ITP is one that would result in (1) minor or nonsignificant
effects on species covered in the HCP; (2) nonsignificant effects on
the human environment; and (3) impacts that, when added together with
the impacts of other past, present, and reasonable foreseeable actions,
would not result in significant cumulative effects to the human
environment.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received
to determine whether to issue the requested ITP. We will also conduct
an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to
evaluate the effects of the proposed take. After considering the
preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit
issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If
met, the Service will issue an ITP to the applicant.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered
Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations
(50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508
and 43 CFR 46).
Catherine Darst,
Acting Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura,
California.
[FR Doc. 2025-00230 Filed 1-7-25; 8:45 am]
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