[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 22 (Monday, February 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5032-5033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2579]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Notice of Receipt of an Application, and Availability of an
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for an
Incidental Take Permit for the Red Hills Salamander by Wilmon
Timberlands for Forest Management in Southcentral Alabama
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Wilmon Timberlands seeks an incidental take permit (ITP) from
the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), pursuant to Section
10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.) (Act), as amended. The ITP would authorize, for a period of 30
years, the incidental take of a threatened species, the Red Hills
salamander (Phaeognathus hubrichti). The proposed take is incidental to
forest management activities on about 2,970 acres of Red Hills
salamander habitat managed by the Applicant in Monroe County, Alabama.
The Service also announces the availability of an Environmental
Assessment (EA) and Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for this incidental
take permit application. The HCP, which is required by Section
10(a)(2)(A) of the Act, was prepared and submitted by the Applicant
with the permit application. Copies of the EA and/or HCP may be
obtained by making a request in writing to the Regional Office (see
ADDRESSES). This notice also advises the public that the Service has
made preliminary determinations that issuing an ITP to the Applicant is
not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the
human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended. The
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is based on information
contained in the EA and HCP. The final determination will be made no
sooner than 30 days from the date of this notice. This notice is
provided pursuant to Section 10 of the Act and NEPA regulations (40 CFR
1506.6).
DATES: Written comments on the application, EA and HCP should be sent
to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be received
on or before March 5, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application, HCP, and EA may
obtain a copy by writing the Service's Southeast Regional Office,
Atlanta, Georgia. Documents will also be available for public
inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the Regional
Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345
(Attn: Endangered Species Permits), or at the Jackson, Mississippi,
Field Office, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi
39213. Written data or comments concerning the application, EA, or HCP
should be submitted to the Regional Office. Comments must be submitted
in writing to be processed. Please reference permit under PRT-824543 in
such comments, or in requests for the documents discussed herein.
Requests for the documents must be in writing to be adequately
processed.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick G. Gooch, Regional Permit
Coordinator, Atlanta, Georgia (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/
679-7110; or Mr. Will McDearman at the Jackson, Mississippi, Field
Office (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 601/965-4900, extension 24.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Red Hills salamander (RHS), Phaeognathus
hubrichti, is a plethodontid salamander known only from the Red Hills
region of southcentral Alabama in portions of Butler, Conecuh,
Covington, Crenshaw, and Monroe Counties. This physiographic
subdivision of the Gulf Coastal Plain is distinguished by hilly,
dissected terrain, frequently with steep side slopes extending 200 feet
from the ridge to the base of the lower slope. Natural vegetation of
these moist, steep, sheltered slopes and ravines consists of a beech-
magnolia forest community. Characteristic woody species in the forest
overstory include American beech (Fagus grandifolia), bigleaf magnolia
(Magnolia macrophylla), southern magnolia (M. grandiflora), white oak
(Quercus alba), and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Portions of
this and closely related forest types in the Red Hills region are
underlain by clays, claystones, and siltstones of the Tallahatta and
Hatchetigbee formations. RHS occupy subterranean burrows within the
fissures and channels of these formations on relatively steep slopes
beneath undisturbed and moderately disturbed hardwood and hardwood-pine
dominated forests. RHS, which rarely leave their burrows, prey upon
ground-dwelling arthropods located within burrows or outside burrows
near the burrow entrance. Substrates of the Tallahatta and Hatchetigbee
formation apparently are important for maintaining suitable moisture
required for these amphibians. Other important factors preventing the
desiccation of RHS micro-habitat include loamy soils, leaf litter from
deciduous trees, and a well developed overstory canopy of hardwoods
that intercepts direct sunlight. Timber management practices that
reduce or eliminate the forest canopy, disturb or compact soils, and
convert hardwood-dominated forests to pine-dominated forests can
incidentally kill, injure, or harm RHS in violation of Section 9 of the
Act. Such practices can involve timber harvest, the operation of
vehicular logging equipment, timber regeneration, and site preparation
in habitat occupied by RHS. Based on RHS surveys conducted by the
Applicant, RHS may occur on about 2,970 acres managed by Wilmon
Timberlands. This represents about five percent of the range wide total
habitat estimated to remain in 1978.
[[Page 5033]]
The EA considers the environmental consequences of two
alternatives. The proposed action is the issuance of the ITP based upon
the submittal of the HCP. This action is based on a preliminary
determination by the Service that the HCP will satisfy the requirements
of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act. By this alternative, the HCP
conserves RHS by restricting timber management activities in optimal
and moderately suitable habitat. Optimal habitat occupies about 1,340
acres with steep (> 27 degree) slopes, underlain by the Tallahatta
formation, with a forest dominated by deciduous trees. Timber harvests,
if any, in optimal habitat will be limited to single tree selection
while maintaining a forest canopy coverage over at least 90 percent of
a site. To minimize disturbance to soils and destruction of RHS
burrows, no vehicular logging equipment will operate within optimal
habitat. Felled timber will be pulled from preferred habitat by cable
from vehicular or other logging equipment located in adjacent habitat.
Also, timber regeneration will occur naturally without site preparation
or planting. Moderately suitable RHS habitat consists of slopes 18 to
27 degrees on either the Tallahatta or Hatchetigbee formations, with
naturally occurring mixed hardwood-pine and pine-hardwood forest types.
Timber harvests by single tree selection will be conducted while
maintaining a forest canopy cover over at least 65 percent of a site,
followed by natural regeneration. In marginally suitable to unsuitable
RHS habitat on slopes of less than 18 degrees within the Tallahatta or
Hatchetigbee formations, the Applicant will use a full array of forest
management practices, including uneven-aged management, even-aged
management with clear cutting, site preparation, and artificial and
natural regeneration.
RHS populations in marginally suitable habitat will be
significantly reduced or eliminated as a result of clear cutting, site
preparation, and conversion to pine forests. Because RHS are more
common and abundant in optimal habitat, the HCP will conserve core RHS
populations where most RHS exist. The conservation of RHS in optimal
habitat is consistent with the Service's recovery plan for the species.
Populations in moderately suitable habitat may be extirpated or they
may persist following timber harvests with vehicular logging equipment
and a reduction in the forest canopy to 65 percent coverage of a site.
The HCP also includes maintaining forest buffer zones adjacent to
optimal habitat, staff training to implement the conservation plan,
funding, and monitoring and reporting of management actions.
The second alternative in the EA is the no action alternative in
which the Service would not issue the ITP. The basis for this
alternative would be the failure of the Applicant to satisfy
requirements of Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act for permit issuance.
Without the authority to incidentally take RHS, the Applicant is
expected to avoid timber harvesting and related forest management
actions in habitat occupied by the RHS to reduce or eliminate the
possibility of illegally taking the RHS.
As stated above, the Service has made a preliminary determination
that the issuance of this ITP is not a major Federal action
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the
meaning of Section 102(2)(C) of NEPA and will result in the FONSI. This
preliminary determination is based on information in the EA and HCP.
The determination may be revised due to public comment received in
response to this notice. An excerpt from the FONSI reflecting the
Service's finding on the application is provided below:
Based on the analysis conducted by the Service, it has been
determined that:
1. Issuance of an ITP would not have significant effects on the
human environment in the project area.
2. The proposed take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity.
3. The Applicant has ensured that adequate funding will be provided
to implement the measures proposed in the submitted HCP.
4. Other than impacts to endangered and threatened species as
outlined in the documentation of this decision, the indirect impacts
which may result from issuance of the ITPs are addressed by other
regulations and statutes under the jurisdiction of other government
entities. The validity of the Service's ITPs are contingent upon the
Applicants' compliance with the terms of their permits and all other
laws and regulations under the control of State, local, and other
Federal governmental entities.
The Service will also evaluate whether the issuance of a Section
10(a)(1)(B) ITP complies with Section 7 of the Act by conducting an
intra-Service Section 7 consultation. The results of the Section 7
biological opinion, in combination with the above findings, will be
used in the final analysis to determine whether or not to issue the
ITP.
Dated: January 27, 1997.
Noreen K. Clough,
Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 97-2579 Filed 1-31-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
