[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 190 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53401-53403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25140]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Availability of an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental
Impact Report and Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take
Permit for the San Joaquin County Multi-Species Habitat Conservation
and Open Space Plan in California
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The San Joaquin Council of Governments has applied to the Fish
and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit pursuant
to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (Act). The San Joaquin Council of Governments has applied on
behalf of the cities of Escalon, Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon,
Stockton, and Tracy; San Joaquin County; the East Bay Municipal Utility
District; California Department of Transportation-District 10 within
San Joaquin County; San Joaquin Council of Governments; San Joaquin
Area Flood Control Agency; Stockton East Water District; and the South
San Joaquin Irrigation District (applicants). The proposed permit would
authorize incidental take of 16 federally listed species. The proposed
taking of these species would be incidental to the implementation of
the San Joaquin County Multi-Species Habitat Conservation and Open
Space Plan, which provides, in part, for the conversion of open space
to non-open space uses. The proposed permit also would authorize future
incidental take of 84 currently unlisted species, should any of them
become listed under the Act during the life of the permit. The proposed
permit duration is 50 years. The permit application, available for
public review, includes a Habitat Conservation Plan (Plan) which
describes the proposed program and mitigation, and the accompanying
Implementing Agreement.
The Service also announces the availability of a joint draft
Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (Impact
Statement/Report) for the incidental take permit application. All
comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of
the official administrative record and may be made available to the
public.
PUBLIC HEARING: A public hearing will be held November 9, 1999, from
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Hutchens Street Square, 125 South
Hutchens St., Lodi, California. For additional hearing information,
contact Ms. Amy Augustine at (209) 532-7376. Oral and written comments
will be received at the meeting.
DATES: Written comments should be received on or before January 7,
2000.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to the Field Supervisor, Fish
and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage
Way, W-2605, Sacramento, California 95825. Written comments may be sent
by facsimile to (916) 414-6711.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Cay C. Goude, Assistant Field
Supervisor, at the above address, telephone (916) 414-6601.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
Individuals wishing copies of the application, draft Impact
Statement/Report, Plan, and Implementing Agreement for review should
immediately contact the San Joaquin Council of Governments by telephone
at (209) 468-3913 or by letter to the San Joaquin Council of
Governments at 6 S. El Dorado St., Suite 400, Stockton, California
95202. Copies of the draft Impact Statement/Report, Plan, and
Implementing Agreement also are
[[Page 53402]]
available for public inspection at branch libraries in San Joaquin
County during regular business hours.
Background Information
Section 9 of the Act and Federal regulation prohibit the ``take''
of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. That is, no one
may harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or
collect listed animal species, or attempt to engage in such conduct (16
USC 1538). Under limited circumstances, the Service, however, may issue
permits to authorize ``incidental take'' of listed animal species
(defined by the Act as take that is incidental to, and not the purpose
of, the carrying out of an otherwise lawful activity). Regulations
governing permits for threatened species and endangered species,
respectively are at 50 CFR 17.32 and 50 CFR 17.22.
Background
The San Joaquin Council of Governments seeks a permit for take of
the following federally listed species: threatened Aleutian Canada
goose (Branta canadensis leucopareia), giant garter snake (Thamnophis
gigas), California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii), delta smelt
(Hypomesus transpacificus), Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys
macrolepidotus), vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi), valley
elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), fleshy
owl's-clover (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulenta), Colusa grass
(Neostapfia colusana), and endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes
macrotis mutica), Conservancy fairy shrimp (Branchinecta conservatio),
longhorn fairy shrimp (Branchinecta longiantenna), vernal pool tadpole
shrimp (Lepidurus packardi), large-flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia
grandiflora), palmate-bracted bird's-beak (Cordylanthus palmatus), and
Greene's tuctoria (Tuctoria greenei). This take would be incidental to
the applicants' conversion of open space to non-open space uses within
the 900,000+ acre planning area in San Joaquin County, California. The
proposed permit also would authorize future incidental take of 84
species that are not currently federally listed, should any of them
become listed under the Act during the life of the permit. The 84
currently unlisted species include 24 plant species, 2 fish species, 5
invertebrate species, 3 amphibian species, 3 reptile species, 32 bird
species, and 15 mammal species (9 of which are bats). Collectively, the
100 listed and unlisted species addressed in the Plan are referred to
as the ``covered species'' for the San Joaquin County Multi-Species
Habitat Conservation and Open Space Plan.
In the Plan, the applicants have proposed the conversion of
approximately 109,302 acres from open space to non-open space uses
throughout the life of the permit, primarily by activities already
addressed in adopted plans of the local cities and County. These
activities include residential, commercial, and industrial development;
aggregate mining; construction and maintenance of transportation
facilities, public utilities, schools, and parks and trails; minor
dredging, non-federal flood control and irrigation district projects;
agricultural conversions of vernal pool grasslands; managing reserves;
and other anticipated projects. A more detailed description of covered
activities is provided in the Plan.
The Plan classifies the County's land uses into four general
categories: Natural Lands, Agricultural Lands, Multi-Purpose Open
Space, and Urban Lands. Habitat preservation and/or creation will be
required to mitigate for loss of Natural and Agricultural Lands. For
Agricultural Land (e.g., row and field crops), 1 acre will be preserved
for each acre impacted. For Natural Lands, mitigation varies according
to habitat type: (a) for non-wetland habitat (e.g., grasslands, oak
woodlands, scrub), 3 acres will be preserved for each acre lost; (b)
for vernal pools in the designated ``Vernal Pool Zone'', 2 acres will
be preserved and 1 acre will be created for each acre lost; (c) for
vernal pools in the ``Southwest Zone'', 3 acres of preservation will be
required for each acre lost (unless vernal pool conservancy shrimp or
vernal pool longhorn shrimp are impacted which will require 5 acres of
preservation for each acre lost); and (d) for wetlands other than
vernal pools (e.g., channel islands, riparian creeks, sloughs), each
acre lost will be mitigated through 3 acres of preservation, at least 1
acre of which will be created. Up to 71,837 acres of Natural and
Agricultural Lands could be converted under the plan, requiring
approximately 100,241 acres of habitat preservation and/or creation.
Additionally, up to 37,465 acres of Multi-Purpose Open Space are
expected to be converted, requiring mitigation in the form of fee
payments to help finance enhancement, management, and administration
costs associated with the preserve system. The amount of land that will
actually be converted during the life of the permit is unknown, but
maximum acreage limits have been set based on existing local land use
plans.
An additional 600 acres will be preserved under the Plan to
compensate for potential impacts to covered species which stray from
preserve lands onto neighboring lands. At the election of landowners
within 0.5 mile of preserve land, agricultural and aggregate mining
activities will receive incidental take authorization for covered
species, except for foraging Swainson's hawks, that become established
on the property after the adjacent land has been preserved. For
foraging Swainson's hawks, landowners within 10 miles of established
preserves may receive neighboring land protections at their discretion.
Exceptions to this coverage and other details regarding these
neighboring land protections are provided in the Plan.
Preservation is anticipated to be achieved primarily through the
purchase of conservation easements (approximately 90 percent) with some
purchase of lands in fee title (approximately 10 percent). Conservation
easements would stress the preservation of existing agricultural
practices which are deemed compatible with the conservation of the
covered species. It is anticipated that about 100,841 acres of Preserve
will be acquired (about 100,241 to mitigate loss of Natural and
Agricultural Lands and 600 acres to mitigate for neighboring land
protections) during the 50-year term of the Plan. These lands would be
preserved and managed for wildlife values in perpetuity.
The Plan includes measures to avoid and minimize incidental take
for each of the covered species, emphasizing project design
modifications to protect both habitats and species individuals. A
monitoring and reporting plan will gauge the Plan's success, based on
biological success criteria, and ensure that compensation keeps pace
with open space conversions. The Plan also includes adaptive management
which allows for changes in the conservation program if the biological
success criteria are not met, or new information becomes available to
improve the efficacy of the Plan's conservation strategy.
In addition to incidental take avoidance measures, the Plan
includes requirements for conserving corridors for the San Joaquin kit
fox and for avoiding the creation of linear barriers to species
dispersal. The Plan also establishes limits on Natural Land conversions
and for particular species covered by the Plan. Details of avoidance
and minimization measures, and preserve design and management are
presented in the Plan.
[[Page 53403]]
The Plan would be implemented by a Joint Powers Authority which
would be advised by a Technical Advisory Committee including
representatives from the Fish and Wildlife Service, California
Department of Fish and Game, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among
others. Additional assistance will be provided to the Joint Powers
Authority by conservation, agricultural, and business interests, and
other stakeholders in the County.
Funding for the Plan is anticipated to be provided by multiple
sources including development fees (to fund 67 percent of the Plan);
local, state and federal funding sources (16 percent of Plan funding);
Plan-generated income (e.g., through lease revenues--approximately 5
percent of funding); conservation bank revenues (2 percent); and
revolving funds (10 percent).
The draft Impact Statement/Report considers five alternatives,
including the Proposed Action and the No-Action Alternatives. Under the
No-Action Alternative, landowners within the County would continue to
apply for individual incidental take permits on a case-by-case basis,
resulting in piecemeal planning that would establish isolated patches
of mitigation land scattered throughout the County. This could result
in cumulatively significant adverse impacts to those species which
would benefit from larger tracts of interconnected habitats.
Under the Reduced Land Acquisition/Increased Preserve Enhancement
Alternative, mitigation would focus on habitat enhancement which could
interfere substantially with agricultural activities, creating
significant adverse impact to agricultural productivity in the County.
This alternative would have questionable benefits to the covered
species because habitat enhancement is unpredictable and may be
unsuccessful.
Under the No Wetlands Coverage Alternative, landowners within the
County would continue to apply for individual permits pursuant to the
Federal Clean Water Act, resulting in piecemeal planning. Mitigation
lands would consist of smaller and more widely scattered habitat blocks
than would occur with the Proposed Action, resulting in cumulatively
significant adverse impacts to those wetland-dependent species which
would benefit from larger tracts of interconnected habitats.
Under the Preserve Location Outside of the County Alternative,
significantly less habitat within the County would be preserved than
with the Proposed Action, adversely impacting some covered species by
creating gaps in the species' range and potentially disrupting the
genetic integrity of some populations. This alternative could also
adversely impact relatively immobile species that are unable to
relocate to distant newly created habitats.
The California Department of Fish and Game intends to use this
draft Impact Statement/Report and the Plan as a basis for issuing state
permits for incidental take equivalent to the actions described above.
In addition, under a separate action, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers may use this draft Impact Report/Statement and the Plan as a
basis for developing a programmatic general permit pursuant to section
404(e) of the Federal Clean Water Act [33 CFR 322.2(f) and 323.2(h)] in
consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency covering Waters
of the United States for the San Joaquin County Multi-Species Habitat
Conservation and Open Space Plan covered activities conducted on
jurisdictional lands. In conjunction, these documents will be used by
the California State Water Resources Control Board or Central Valley
Regional Water Quality Control Board to consider the issuance of a
water quality certification or waiver pursuant to section 401 of the
Federal Clean Water Act after issuance of the programmatic section
404(e) general permit.
This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(a) of the Endangered
Species Act and Fish and Wildlife Service regulations for implementing
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: September 22, 1999.
Elizabeth H. Stevens,
Deputy Manager, Region 1, California/Nevada Operations Office,
Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 99-25140 Filed 9-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
