[Federal Register: November 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 230)]
[Notices]
[Page 69215-69216]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30no06-43]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Receipt
of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit for the Oakmont
Industrial Group Development, City of Ontario, San Bernardino County,
CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability and receipt of application.
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SUMMARY: The Oakmont Industrial Group (Applicant) has applied to the
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of
1973, as amended. The Service is considering issuing a 5-year permit to
the Applicant that would authorize take of the federally endangered
Delhi Sands flower-loving fly (Rhaphiomidas terminatus abdominalis;
DSF). The proposed permit would authorize the incidental taking of
individual DSF. The permit is needed by the Applicant because take of
DSF could occur during the proposed construction of a commercial
development on a 19-acre site in the City of Ontario, San Bernardino
County, California.
The permit application includes the proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan (Plan), which describes the proposed action and the measures that
the Applicant will undertake to minimize and mitigate the impact of the
take of the DSF.
DATES: We must review any written comments on or before January 29,
2007.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Mr. Jim Bartel, Field Supervisor,
Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, 6010
Hidden Valley Road, Carlsbad, CA 92011. You also may send comments by
facsimile to (760) 918-0638. To review the permit application and plan,
see ``Availability of Documents'' under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Karen Goebel, Assistant Field
Supervisor (see ADDRESSES), (760) 431-9440.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
You may obtain copies of these documents for review by contacting
the office under ADDRESSES. Documents also will be available for public
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at our
Carlsbad office (see ADDRESSES) and at the San Bernardino County
Libraries. Addresses for the San Bernardino County Libraries are: (1)
13180 Central Avenue, Chino, CA 91710; (2) 2003 Grand Avenue, Chino
Hills, CA 91709; (3) 16860 Valencia Avenue, Fontana, CA 92335; and (4)
104 West Fourth Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415.
Background
Section 9 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and Federal
regulations prohibit the ``take'' of fish and wildlife species listed
as endangered or threatened. Take of federally listed fish and wildlife
is defined under the Act to include ``to harass, harm, pursue, hunt,
shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage
in any such conduct.'' The Service may, under limited circumstances,
issue permits to authorize incidental take (i.e., take that is
incidental to, and not the purpose of, the carrying out of an otherwise
lawful activity). Regulations governing incidental take permits for
threatened and endangered species are found in 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22.
The Applicant is proposing development of commercial facilities on
19 acres of land in the City of Ontario, San Bernardino County,
California. The project site is located south of Greystone Drive, north
of Brentstone Street, and west of Stanford Avenue. The proposed project
site is bordered by existing commercial facilities to the east and
west, State Route 60 to the south, and approximately 13 acres of open
space to the north. Over the past several years, the site has
experienced heavy use by off-highway vehicles.
Approximately 10 acres of the site are considered occupied by the
DSF. The Service has determined that the proposed development would
result in incidental take of the DSF. No other federally listed species
are known to utilize the site.
To mitigate take of DSF on the project site, the Applicant proposes
to purchase credits towards conservation in perpetuity of 10 acres of
occupied DSF habitat at the Colton Dunes Conservation Bank in eastern
San
[[Page 69216]]
Bernardino Valley. The conservation bank collects fees that fund a
management endowment to ensure the permanent management and monitoring
of sensitive species and habitats, including the DSF.
The Service's Environmental Assessment considers the environmental
consequences of three alternatives, including: (1) The Proposed Project
Alternative, which consists of issuance of the incidental take permit
and implementation of the Plan; (2) the Alternative Site Layout, which
would consist of DSF conservation on the project site and no offsite
conservation; and (3) the No Action Alternative, which would result in
no impacts to DSF and no conservation.
National Environmental Policy Act
Proposed permit issuance triggers the need for compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Accordingly, a draft NEPA
document has been prepared. The Service is the Lead Agency responsible
for compliance under NEPA. As the NEPA lead agency, the Service is
providing notice of the availability and is making available for public
review the Environmental Assessment.
Public Review
The Service invites the public to review the Plan and Environmental
Assessment during a 60-day public comment period (see DATES). Any
comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of
the official administrative record and may be made available to the
public. Our practice is to make comments, including names, home
addresses, home phone numbers, and email addresses of respondents,
available for public review. Individual respondents may request that we
withhold their names and /or homes addresses, etc., but if you wish us
to consider withholding this information you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your comments. In addition, you must
present a rationale for withholding this information. This rationale
must demonstrate that disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of privacy. Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden.
In the absence of exceptional, documentable circumstances, this
information will be released. We will always make submissions from
organization or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves
as representatives of or officials of organizations or businesses,
available for public inspection in their entirety.
This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(a) of the Act and
the regulations for implementing NEPA, as amended (40 CFR 1506.6). We
will evaluate the application, associated documents, and comments
submitted thereon to determine whether the application meets the
requirements of NEPA regulations and section 10(a) of the Act. If we
determine that those requirements are met, we will issue a permit to
the Applicant for the incidental take of the DSF. We will make our
final permit decision no sooner than 60 days after the date of this
notice.
Dated: November 23, 2006.
Ken McDermond,
Deputy Manager, California/Nevada Operations Office, Sacramento,
California.
[FR Doc. E6-20284 Filed 11-29-06; 8:45 am]
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