[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33090-33091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16056]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Application to Amend an Endangered Species Act
Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of Bull Trout on the Washington
Department of Natural Resources Permit for Western Washington
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Permit Amendment Application.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) has received a request to add bull trout (Salvelinus
confluentus) to the species covered by an incidental take permit PRT-
812521, issued to the Washington Department of Natural Resources under
the Endangered Species Act (Act) on January 30, 1997. This request is
pursuant to the Implementation Agreement for the Habitat Conservation
Plan (Plan) accompanying incidental take permit PRT-812521. The
Department of Natural Resources has requested the Service add bull
trout to their permit.
DATES: Written comments regarding the application to add bull trout to
the Department of Natural Resources' permit must be received on or
before July 17, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. John Engbring,
Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite 101, Lacey,
Washington 98503; facsimile (360) 534-9331. Documents cited in this
notice and comments received will be available for public inspection at
the above office by appointment during normal business hours (8 a.m. to
5 p.m., Monday through Friday).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Vogel, Wildlife Biologist,
Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite 101, Lacey,
Washington 98503; telephone (360) 753-4367.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On January 30, 1997, the Service issued an incidental take permit
(PRT-812521) to the Department of Natural Resources, pursuant to
Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as
amended (16 USC 1531 et seq.). This permit authorizes the incidental
take of the threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis
caurina) and other listed species in the course of the otherwise lawful
forest management and other land-use activities within the range of the
spotted owl. Pursuant to the Plan and the Implementation Agreement, the
Department of Natural Resources received assurances from the Service
that then-unlisted species occurring on their lands west of the Cascade
Crest would be added to the permit upon listing of those species, in
accordance with the Act, the Plan, and the Implementation Agreement.
On June 8, 1998 (63 FR 31647), the Service published the final rule
to list the Columbia River distinct population segment of bull trout as
a threatened species. On May 20, 1998, the Service received a request
from the Department of Natural Resources that bull trout be added to
its incidental take permit (PRT 812521). The purpose of this notice is
to seek public comment on the Department of Natural Resources'
application to add bull trout to its permit.
According to the Implementation Agreement for the Department of
Natural Resources permit, if any species that was unlisted at the time
of permit issuance subsequently becomes listed under the Act, the
Department of Natural Resources may request a permit amendment to have
that species added to their permit. Under the terms of the Plan and the
Implementation Agreement, the Service would add the newly listed
species to the Department of Natural Resources permit without requiring
additional mitigation unless extraordinary circumstances exist.
Prior to adding bull trout to the Department of Natural Resources'
permit, the Service will determine if extraordinary circumstances exist
and will also reinitiate consultation under section 7 of the Act to
determine whether adding bull trout to the Department of Natural
Resources' permit would be likely to jeopardize the continued existence
or destroy modify the critical habitat of any listed species.
Bull Trout Conservation
Bull trout rely on cold, clean water. They are most closely
associated with complex habitats, including large woody debris,
undercut banks, boulders, and pools. Cover provides critical rearing,
foraging, and resting habitat, and protection from predators. Bull
trout spawn in the fall and the young have a strong association with
stream bottoms, thus making them particularly vulnerable to altered
stream flow patterns and channel instability. Bull trout prefer cold,
low-gradient streams with loose, clean gravels for spawning and
rearing. There is also a correlation between increasing road densities
and declines in the health of bull trout populations. These
characteristics make bull trout particularly susceptible to effects of
timber-management and other stream-side and forest management
activities. Historic adverse impacts to bull trout from forest
management and related land-use activities included removal of large
woody debris from streams and riparian areas, inputs of sediment from
upslope logging and road construction, elevated stream temperatures,
and transportation of logs within the channel network.
Department of Natural Resources Plan Measures
The Department of Natural Resources' Plan utilizes a combination of
conservation measures that are expected to adequately minimize or
mitigate the impacts of any incidental take of bull trout. All
fishbearing streams (Washington State Types 1 through 3) receive a
conservatively managed buffer equal in width (measured horizontally
from the 100-year floodplain) to a site-potential tree height (derived
from 100-year site-index curves) or 150 feet, whichever is greater. The
first 25 feet is a no-harvest zone. Perennial streams without fish
(Type 4) receive a 100-foot buffer. Additional information, including a
description of wind buffers, can be found in the Plan at pages IV 56-
59.
Inner gorges and mass-wasting areas are protected by unstable
hillslope and mass wasting protection provisions of
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the Plan (IV 62) and it is expected that 50 percent of the seasonal
streams (Type 5) will be protected as a result of the mass-wasting
protection provisions. The other 50 percent of Type 5 streams receive
interim protections as necessary and will be addressed within the Type
5 research and adaptive-management component to be completed within the
first 10 years of the Plan. Watershed Analysis can only increase, not
decrease, the level of protection these streams receive. Road
management is another critical component of the Department of Natural
Resources' Plan (IV 62-68).
Provisions for the Olympic Experimental State Forest are described
in the Plan on pages IV 81-86, 106-121. In general, the strategy for
the Olympic Experimental State Forest provides conservation very
similar to the remainder of the Department of Natural Resources Plan,
but a higher emphasis is placed on research, landscape assessments, and
validation monitoring.
These minimization and mitigation measures described above
represent the minimum level of riparian conservation the Department of
Natural Resources will provide under the Plan. Several aspects of the
Plan, including riparian protection, are subject to adaptive
management. To ensure that the mitigation and minimization strategies
are effective, the Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic monitoring
components that will provide feedback for adaptive management and, if
needed, increase riparian protection.
Dated: June 11, 1998.
Ronald E. Lambertson,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-16056 Filed 6-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
