[Federal Register: August 1, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 147)]
[Notices]
[Page 43511-43512]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01au06-79]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Receipt of Application for an Incidental Take Permit for
Construction of Three Single-Family Homes in Brevard County, FL
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Duke Construction Corporation (Applicant) requests an
incidental take permit (ITP) for a duration of two years pursuant to
section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended
(Act). The Applicant anticipates taking about 0.77 acre of Florida
scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) (scrub-jay) foraging, sheltering,
and potential nesting habitat incidental to lot preparation for the
construction of three single-family homes and supporting
infrastructure, over a two-year term, in Brevard County, Florida
(Project). The destruction of 0.77 acre of foraging, sheltering, and
possibly nesting habitat is expected to result in the take of one
family of scrub-jays. The Applicant's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)
describes the mitigation and minimization measures proposed to address
the effects of the Project to the Florida scrub-jay. These measures are
outlined in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
DATES: Written comments on the ITP application and HCP should be sent
to the Service's Regional Office (see ADDRESSES) and should be received
on or before August 31, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application and HCP may obtain
a copy by writing the Service's Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta,
Georgia. Please reference permit number TE109694-0 in such requests.
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 Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620
Southpoint Drive South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216-0912.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Dell, Regional HCP
Coordinator, (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/679-7313, facsimile:
404/679-7081; or Ms. Erin Gawera, Fish and Wildlife Biologist,
Jacksonville Field Office, Jacksonville, Florida (see ADDRESSES above),
telephone: 904/232-2580, ext. 121.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to comment, you may submit
comments by any one of several methods. Please reference permit number
TE109694-0 in such requests. You may mail comments to the Service's
Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also comment via the Internet
to david_dell@fws.gov. Please 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 below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT). Finally, you may hand deliver comments to either Service
office listed below (see
[[Page 43512]]
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
comments. 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 Florida scrub-jay (scrub-jay) is geographically isolated from
other species of scrub-jays found in Mexico and the western United
States. The scrub-jay is found exclusively in peninsular Florida and is
restricted to xeric uplands (predominately in oak-dominated scrub).
Increasing urban and agricultural development have resulted in habitat
loss and fragmentation which has adversely affected the distribution
and numbers of scrub-jays. The total estimated population is between
7,000 and 11,000 individuals.
Residential construction for Duke Construction Corporation will
take place within Section 23, Township 23 South, Range 35 East, Port
St. Johns, Brevard County, Florida on Lots 09, 10, and 11, Block 42.
These lots are within locations where scrub-jays were sighted during
surveys for this species from 1999-2003.
Scrub-jays affected by the issuance of this permit are found on the
extreme western edge of a large area supporting a 16-family cluster of
birds that inhabits urban areas, commercial development, and
undeveloped native habitat in the Tico and Grissom territory cluster
just south of Port St. Johns, Florida. This cluster of scrub-jays is
part of a larger metapopulation complex of scrub-jays that persists in
northern Brevard County. The number of scrub-jay families in the
vicinity of the project site and in the northern Brevard County
metapopulation has declined in recent years. Survey results indicate
that the number of scrub-jay families has declined in the Tico and
Grissom cluster from 72 in the early 1990s to 47 in 2002 (33 percent
decline). Similarly, the number of families of scrub-jays within the
northern Brevard County metapopulation, which includes the Tico and
Grissom territory cluster, has declined from 102 to 67 families (34
percent decline) during this same time period. Both of these observed
rates of decline approximate the four percent per year decline
estimated by recent research findings.
The decline in numbers of scrub-jay families in northern Brevard
County is the cumulative result of habitat destruction, fragmentation,
and degradation. Metapopulation viability analysis suggests that this
metapopulation of scrub-jays has a high quasi-extinction risk if no
further conservation efforts are undertaken to acquire and manage land
for the benefit of scrub-jays.
The Applicant agrees to confine construction activities to a time
period outside of the nesting season, will look for active nests nearby
during the nesting season, and will contact the Service if active nests
are found onsite, but no other on-site minimization measures are
proposed to reduce take of scrub-jays. The lots combined encompass
about 0.77 acre (0.24 acre for Lot 9, 0.24 acre for Lot 10, and 0.29
acre for Lot 11) and the footprints of the homes, infrastructure, and
landscaping preclude retention of scrub-jay habitat. On-site
minimization may not be a biologically viable alternative due to
increasing negative demographic effects caused by urbanization.
The Applicant proposes to mitigate for the loss of 0.77 acre of
scrub-jay habitat by contributing a total of $10,318 to the Florida
Scrub-jay Conservation Fund administered by the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation. Funds in this account are ear-marked for use in
the conservation and recovery of scrub-jays and may include habitat
acquisition, restoration, and/or management. The $10,318 is sufficient
to acquire and perpetually manage about 1.54 acres of suitable occupied
scrub-jay habitat based on a replacement ratio of two mitigation acres
per one impact acre. The cost is based on previous acquisitions of
mitigation lands in southern Brevard County at an average $5,700 per
acre, plus a $1,000 per acre management endowment necessary to ensure
future management of acquired scrub-jay habitat.
The Service has determined that the Applicant's proposal, including
the proposed mitigation and minimization measures, will individually
and cumulatively have a minor or negligible effect on the species
covered in the HCP. Therefore, the ITP is a ``low-effect'' project and
qualifies as a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), as provided by the Department of Interior Manual
(516 DM 2, Appendix 1 and 516 DM 6, Appendix 1). This preliminary
information may be revised based on our review of public comments that
we receive in response to this notice. Low-effect HCPs are those
involving: (1) Minor or negligible effects on federally listed or
candidate species and their habitats, and (2) minor or negligible
effects on other environmental values or resources.
The Service will evaluate the HCP and comments submitted thereon to
determine whether the application meets the requirements of section
10(a) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). If it is determined that
those requirements are met, an ITP will be issued for incidental take
of the Florida scrub-jay. The Service will also evaluate whether
issuance of the section 10(a)(1)(B) ITP comply with section 7 of the
Act by conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation. The results
of this consultation, in combination with the above findings, will be
used in the final analysis to determine whether or not to issue an ITP.
This notice is provided pursuant to section 10 of the Endangered
Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act regulations (40 CFR
1506.6).
Dated: July 3, 2006.
Cynthia K. Dohner,
Acting Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. E6-12304 Filed 7-31-06; 8:45 am]
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