2022-05666. Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse, Baldwin County, AL; Categorical Exclusion

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of availability; request for comment and information.

SUMMARY:

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Rhonda H. Barber (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed Alabama beach mouse incidental to construction in the City of Orange Beach, Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and the Service's preliminary determination that this HCP qualifies as low-effect, categorically excluded, under the National Environmental Policy Act. To make this determination, we used our environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review.

DATES:

We must receive your written comments on or before April 18, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents online in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2022-0016 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 any of the following methods:

• Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2022-0016.

• U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2022-0016; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. William Lynn, Project Manager, by telephone at 251-441-5868 or via email at [e-mail]. 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 Rhonda H. Barber (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 listed Alabama beach mouse ( Peromyscus polionotus ammobates ) (ABM) incidental to the construction of a single-family home (project) in the City of Orange Beach, Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and the Service's preliminary determination that this HCP qualifies as low-effect, categorically excluded, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq. ). To make this determination, we used our environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review.

Project

The applicant requests a 50-year ITP to take ABM by converting approximately 0.20 acre (ac) of occupied ABM foraging and sheltering habitat incidental to the construction of a single-family home located on a 1.397-ac parcel in Baldwin County, Alabama. The previous single-family home that was located on the site was destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan. The site was left fallow, and 0.832 acr of ABM foraging and sheltering habitat formed on the site. The applicant would impact 0.20 ac of the occupied 0.832 ac of ABM habitat in constructing the single-family home. An existing concrete driveway (0.053 ac) will be used in the redevelopment plan to minimize new impacts to the species. The concrete driveway may need to be replaced and, if it is replaced, additional concrete will be used. The applicant proposes to donate a $2.30-per-square-foot in-lieu fee totaling $20,037.60 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust (ACHT) for the 0.20-ac impact. ACHT will use the donation to manage, maintain, or acquire ABM habitat within the City of Orange Beach or elsewhere within the range of the ABM.

The applicant also proposes to implement standard minimization and mitigation measures to remove the remaining nonnative vegetation on 0.429 ac on the site and restore the area to ABM habitat. The standard mitigation and minimization measures to be implemented on the site include installing sea turtle-friendly lighting and tinted windows, landscaping with native vegetation, enhancing the frontal dune area, constructing a concrete driveway that will not disperse in a storm surge, implementing refuse-control measures during construction and also requiring that future residents utilize such measures, and restoring ABM habitat after tropical storms. Free-roaming cats and the use of exterior rodenticide will be prohibited within the parcel. Post-construction ABM habitat on site should total 1.14 ac of the 1.397-ac parcel. The Service would require the applicant to donate the total contribution to ACHT prior to engaging in any activities on the parcel that are associated with the project.

Public Availability of Comments

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made available to the public. While you may request that we withhold your personal identifying information, 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 project, including land clearing, infrastructure building, landscaping, and the proposed mitigation and minimization measures, would individually and cumulatively have a minor or negligible effect on the Alabama beach mouse and the environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily concluded that the ITP for this project would qualify for categorical exclusion and that the HCP is low effect under our NEPA regulations at 40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46.305. A low-effect HCP is one that would result in (1) minor or negligible effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species and their habitats; (2) minor or negligible effects on other environmental values or resources; and (3) impacts that, when considered together with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable similarly situated projects, would not result in significant cumulative effects to environmental values or resources over time.

Next Steps

The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received to determine whether to issue the requested permit. We will also conduct an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects of the proposed take on the species. We will consider all of the above in determining whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue ITP number PER0027719 to Rhonda H. Barber.

Authority

The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.32) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46.305).

William J. Pearson,

Field Supervisor, Alabama Ecological Service Field Office.