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Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit for the Copper Mountain College Habitat Conservation Plan, San Bernardino, CA

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: March 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 45)]
[Notices]
[Page 10551-10552]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08mr07-88]

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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 Copper Mountain
College Habitat Conservation Plan, San Bernardino, CA

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Copper Mountain Community College District (District) has
applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or ``we'') for an
incidental take permit pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are considering
issuing a 16-year permit to the District that would authorize take of
the federally threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
incidental to otherwise lawful activities associated with the expansion
of their existing campus onto 71.57 acres of their 156.53-acre property.
    We are requesting comments on the permit application, Habitat
Conservation Plan (Plan), Environmental Assessment (EA), and
Implementing Agreement (IA). The District's Plan describes the
mitigation and minimization measures they would implement, as required
in Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the Act, to address the effects of the
project on the desert tortoise (see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION). The EA
describes the project's impacts on the human environment and analyzes
the significance of those impacts. The IA describes the roles and
responsibilities of District, the Service, and Joshua Tree National
Park (Park) in implementation of the Plan. The draft Plan, EA, and IA
are available for public review.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before May 7, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Please address written comments to Diane K. Noda, Field
Supervisor, Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura Fish and Wildlife
Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, California 93003. You may
also send comments by facsimile to 805-644-3958.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Croft, Fish and Wildlife
Biologist, (see ADDRESSES) telephone: 805-644-1766, extension 302.

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 Ventura
office (see ADDRESSES) and at the Joshua Tree Public Library. The
address for the Joshua Tree Public Library is 6465 Park Blvd., Joshua
Tree, California 92252. These documents are also available on the
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office internet site: http://www.fws.gov/ventura.

Background

    Section 9 of the Act and Federal regulations prohibit the ``take''
of fish or wildlife species listed as endangered or threatened,
respectively. Take of listed fish or wildlife is defined under the Act
to mean to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
However, the Service, under limited circumstances, may issue permits to
cover 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 at 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22, respectively.
Among other criteria, issuance of such permits must not jeopardize the
existence of federally listed fish, wildlife, or plants.
    The proposed Copper Mountain College Expansion Project is 156.53
acres in the unincorporated community of Joshua Tree, San Bernardino
County, California. The District proposes to expand the Copper Mountain
Community College campus from the existing 8.59 acres onto 71.57 acres
that it owns in adjacent areas. It would begin the phased construction
with a solar field immediately after permit issuance, followed by a
multi-use sports complex, various roads, and a parking area in 2007.
During the next 12 years, the District would construct additional
parking lots, new sports fields, additional classroom facilities, and
other buildings on the remaining portions of the 71.57-acre site.
    The District proposes to implement measures to minimize adverse
effects to the desert tortoise during construction and operation of
these facilities, additional measures to mitigate adverse effects, and
post-construction measures to minimize indirect effects from ongoing
use of the new facilities. To minimize adverse effects to the desert
tortoise and its habitat, the District would provide on-site biological
monitoring during construction, perform pre-project clearance surveys,
conduct a desert tortoise education program for project personnel, and
use desert tortoise exclusion fencing to prevent desert tortoises from
entering work areas. In addition, the District would meet a schedule of
reporting requirements and appoint a field contact representative to
oversee compliance.
    After permit issuance, the District would also establish an 84.96-
acre desert tortoise translocation area (Translocation Area) on land
that it owns immediately adjacent to the 71.57-acre project site. The
District would manage this Translocation Area as a habitat preserve and
fund the maintenance and monitoring of the desert tortoises that are
translocated there during Project Site development.
    To mitigate adverse effects, the District would purchase an 80-acre
private in-holding in the Thermal Canyon area of Joshua Tree National
Park. The District would transfer this parcel to Joshua Tree National
Park and provide funds to assure adequate management for desert
tortoise conservation on the 80-acre site. The District would also
implement one of the following mitigation measures within 12 months
following permit issuance: (1) Provide funding to a designated
management entity for the improved management of desert tortoise
habitat on a 605-acre desert park near Coyote Hole Spring or (2)
provide funding to the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee for the
acquisition and management of 30-acres of desert tortoise habitat at
the Desert Tortoise Natural Area. The District is providing this
additional mitigation because habitat on the 80-acre Thermal Canyon
parcel is of lower quality than habitat the District would disturb on
the project site.
    The EA considers the environmental consequences of two
alternatives, including: (1) The No Action Alternative, which consists
of no campus expansion, no mitigation, and no permit issuance and (2)
the Project Development Alternative to the taking, which consists of
the development of the project site and implementation of the
minimization and mitigation measures described in the previous
paragraphs. Under the Project Development Alternative, a third party
would be selected to work as the District's agent under their
incidental take permit within 12 months of initial permit issuance.
This would cover the third party for take during management of some
mitigation lands described in the Plan.

Public Review and Comment

    We are providing this notice pursuant to section 10(a) of the Act
and the regulations of the National

[[Page 10552]]

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (40 CFR 1506.6). All comments
that we receive, including names and addresses, will become part of the
official administrative record and may be made available to the public.
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 District for the incidental take of desert tortoises. We will make
our final permit decision no sooner than 60 days from the date of this
notice.
    If you wish to comment on the permit application, draft EA, Plan,
or IA you may submit your comments to the address listed in the
ADDRESSES section of this document. Our practice is to make comments,
including names, home addresses, etc., of respondents available for
public review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold
their names and/or home 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 provide a rationale
demonstrating and documenting that disclosure would constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. In the absence of exceptional,
documented circumstances, we will release this information. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, are available for public inspection in their entirety.

    Dated: March 2, 2007.
Polly Wheeler,
Acting Deputy Manager, California/Nevada Operations Office, Sacramento,
California.
[FR Doc. E7-4138 Filed 3-7-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P

 
 

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