[Federal Register: September 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 178)]
[Notices]
[Page 55645-55647]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15se04-62]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Receipt of Application for an Incidental Take Permit by the
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Proposed
Improvements to Gulf State Park Hotel/Convention Center & Pavilion,
Gulf Shores, Baldwin County, AL
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of application for an incidental take
permit, habitat conservation plan and environmental assessment.
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SUMMARY: The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
(Applicant) has applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for
an incidental take permit [ITP] under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 United States Code [U.S.C.] 1531 et
seq.), as amended (Act) for the take of Alabama beach mouse (Peromyscus
polionotus ammobates) (ABM). The proposed take would be incidental to
otherwise lawful activities, including the demolition of the current
facility, site grading, and construction and development of a new
facility. The proposed facility would consist of a seven-story hotel
with a total of 350 guest rooms, a beach inn with 100 guest rooms, four
beach side cottages with a total of 16 rooms, a new beach pavilion, and
other amenities. The proposed project would result in a net gain of
3.16 acres of ABM habitat. The proposed action would involve approval
of the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) developed by the applicant, as
required by section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act, to minimize and mitigate
for incidental take of the federally listed endangered Alabama beach
mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) (ABM), the threatened green sea
turtle (Chelonia mydas), the threatened loggerhead turtle, (Caretta
caretta), and the endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys
kempii). A detailed description of the mitigation and minimization
measures to address the effects of the project on the ABM and sea
turtles is provided in the applicant's HCP, the Service's Environmental
Assessment and in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. The
Service announces the availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA)
and Habitat Conservation Plan/Application for Incidental Take.
DATES: Written comments on the ITP application, HCP and EA should be
sent to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be
received on or before October 15, 2004.
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, Ecological Services Field
Office, 1208-B Main Street, Daphne, Alabama 36526. Written data or
comments concerning the application or HCP should be submitted to the
Regional Office. Please reference Gulf State Park Reconstruction and
the permit number TE-072831-0 in requests for the documents discussed
herein.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Joe Johnston, Regional Project
Manager, (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/679-4155; or Ms. Barbara
Allen, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Daphne Field Office (see
ADDRESSES), telephone: 251/441-5873.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We announce the availability of an EA and
HCP application for an incidental take permit. The EA is an assessment
of likely environmental impacts associated with this project. Copies of
these documents may be obtained by making a request, in writing, to the
Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). This notice advises the public that we
have opened the comment period on the permit application, which
includes an HCP and the EA. This notice is provided under section 10 of
the Act and NEPA regulations at 40 CFR 1506.6.
We specifically request information, views, and opinions from the
public via this notice on the Federal action, including the
identification of any other aspects of the human environment not
already identified in the EA. Further, we specifically solicit
information about the adequacy of the HCP as measured against our ITP
issuance criteria found in 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.
If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of
several methods. Please reference Gulf State
[[Page 55646]]
Park Reconstruction and permit number TE-072831-0 in your comments. You
may mail comments to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You
may also comment via the Internet to joe_johnston@fws.gov. Please
submit comments over the Internet as an ASCII file avoiding the use of
special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include your
name and return address in your Internet message. If you do not receive
a confirmation from us that we have received your Internet message,
contact us directly at either telephone number listed (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION).
Finally, you may hand deliver comments to either Service office
listed (see ADDRESSES). Our practice is to make comments, including
names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review
during regular business hours. Individual respondents may request that
we withhold their home address from the administrative record. We will
honor such requests to the extent allowable by law. There may also be
other circumstances in which we would withhold from the administrative
record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to
withhold your name and address, you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your comments. We will not, however, consider anonymous
comment. We will make all submissions from organizations or businesses,
and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or
officials of organizations or businesses, available for public
inspection in their entirety.
The ABM is one of eight subspecies of the old field mouse
restricted to coastal dunes. We estimate that ABM historically occupied
about 28 miles [mi] of shoreline. By 1987, the total occupied linear,
shoreline habitat for the ABM, Choctawhatchee, and Perdido Key beach
mice was estimated at less than 22 mi. Monitoring (trapping and field
observations) of the ABM population on other private lands that hold,
or are under review for, an ITP during the last five years indicates
the Fort Morgan Peninsula remains occupied (more or less continuously)
by ABM along its primary and secondary dunes, and interior habitats.
The ABM is known to occupy about 55.8 acres of land within the
action area of the project. At this time, ABM have not been recorded on
or west of the existing hotel and convention center compound.
Construction and occupancy of the new park facilities may result in the
incidental taking of ABM. The applicant, recognizing the potential for
such an event, is seeking the issuance of an incidental take permit for
the ABM from us.
The proposed project will include the demolition, removal and off-
site disposal of all existing above-ground structures and paved
surfaces, south of Highway 182. Items to be removed include the
following:
A. About 16 acres of pavement from existing driveways and parking
areas;
B. Twelve existing hotel units (cottages) and two associated
maintenance buildings;
C. One abandoned tennis court; and
D. The convention center and associated pool and deck area.
Land where the hotel and convention center now stand will be used
for the new hotel center or returned to its natural state. This will
result in restoration of 14.7 acres of dune habitat that will adjoin
verified occupied ABM habitat to the east. The applicant's restoration
of these 14.7 acres provides for a net gain of 3.16 acres of habitat
over that which currently exists in the action area. All of these acres
would be capable of supporting the ABM.
With the implementation of the habitat enhancement measures
outlined in the applicant's HCP, the quality of existing habitat will
be improved. Construction activities associated with site preparation,
heavy equipment operations, and site alterations within habitat
occupied by ABM may impact individuals by crushing or burying them in
their burrows, or by impairing essential breeding, feeding, or
sheltering behaviors.
Through project planning minimization effects, impacts to ABM
habitat resulting from project conservation have been limited to 11.55
acres. This impact is primarily confined to three areas: (1) 4.54 acres
west of the entrance road to Gulf State Park Pier; (2) 5.88 acres
located east of the same entrance road and (3) 1.13 acres located
around the pavilion. At this time, although the first two areas (near
the existing hotel and convention center) appear to be suitable
habitat, they are not known to contain ABM nor do they adjoin any known
occupied habitat. The third area, near the pavilion site, is known to
support ABM. This area will be directly affected by construction of
buildings and associated infrastructure.
The majority of the new building and construction efforts will
remain within the footprint of the currently impacted area. There are
2.1 acres of scrub dunes, not suitable for ABM use, which will be
impacted by the proposed action. However, since this acreage is not
suitable for the ABM, its loss is not considered as an adverse impact
to the ABM.
Construction activities associated with site preparation, heavy
equipment operations, and site alterations within habitat occupied by
ABM may impact ABM by crushing or burying them in their burrows, or by
impairing essential breeding, feeding, or sheltering behaviors.
Following construction, use of the area may also result in take of ABM
due to inadequate garbage or refuse management that could attract ABM
competitors or predators, and lights that may alter ABM nocturnal
behavioral patterns. Boardwalks running perpendicular to the beach will
act as a safeguard against pedestrian use of the dune system that may
cause erosion and the loss of habitat required for ABM shelter, food,
and reproduction.
The EA considers the effects of three project alternatives,
including an alternative that would result in no new construction on
the project site. Alternative 1 would not be economically feasible for
the applicant. Alternative 2 and 3 involve the proposed development of
44.29 or 54.09 acres of a 137.8 acre action area in connection with the
replacement, construction, occupancy, use, operation, and maintenance
of the proposed new Gulf State Park Hotel/Convention Center, lodging
facilities, and parking. The difference between these two alternatives
relate to the amount of habitat restored and preserved for the ABM.
Alternative 3, the preferred alternative involves the greatest
amount of habitat restoration and preservation and includes revisions
designed to avoid or minimize take by reducing the impacts to habitat
and enhance restoration efforts while still providing the necessary
infrastructure improvements to increase use of the Park and provide an
influx of about $65 million per year (increase of $52 million per year)
to the local economy. The resulting alternative was chosen as the
preferred alternative and would create a net gain of 3.16 acres of
habitat exhibiting constituent elements of ABM CH. This alternative
will allow 14.7 acres of currently degraded or developed land (which is
adjoining ABM occupied habitat), to be restored to natural habitat with
the potential for future ABM occupancy.
Under section 9 of the Act and its implementing regulations,
``taking'' of endangered and threatened wildlife is prohibited.
However, we, under limited circumstances, may issue permits to take
such wildlife if the taking is incidental to and not the purpose of
otherwise lawful activities. The applicants have prepared a HCP which
includes measures for the long-term
[[Page 55647]]
protection, management, and enhancement of ABM habitat as required for
the incidental take permit application as part of the proposed project
We will evaluate whether the issuance of the 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 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: August 25, 2004.
Sam D. Hamilton,
Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 04-20772 Filed 9-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P