Notice2023-00902
Endangered Species; File No: 26645
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 19, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
Notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) (No. 26645) to the Arnold Irrigation District, Central Oregon Irrigation District, Lone Pine Irrigation District, North Unit Irrigation District, Ochoco Irrigation District, Swalley Irrigation District, Three Sisters Irrigation District, Tumalo Irrigation District, and the City of Prineville (hereafter applicants), pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended, for the incidental take of Middle Columbia River (MCR) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), listed threatened under the ESA, and the nonessential experimental population of steelhead (NEP) occurring upstream of the Round Butte Dam and Deschutes River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) which are not currently listed under the ESA (hereafter, covered species). Incidental take is associated with the otherwise lawful water management activitiesincluding the storage, release, diversion, and return of irrigation water by the eight irrigation districts and groundwater withdrawals, effluent discharges, and surface water diversions by the City of Prineville. The permit is issued for a duration of 28 years.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2023)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3392-3393]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-00902]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XC688]
Endangered Species; File No: 26645
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of a permit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Take
Permit (ITP) (No. 26645) to the Arnold Irrigation District, Central
Oregon Irrigation District, Lone Pine Irrigation District, North Unit
Irrigation District, Ochoco Irrigation District, Swalley Irrigation
District, Three Sisters Irrigation District, Tumalo Irrigation
District, and the City of Prineville (hereafter applicants), pursuant
to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended, for the
incidental take of Middle Columbia River (MCR) steelhead (Oncorhynchus
mykiss), listed threatened under the ESA, and the nonessential
experimental population of steelhead (NEP) occurring upstream of the
Round Butte Dam and Deschutes River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)
which are not currently listed under the ESA (hereafter, covered
species). Incidental take is associated with the otherwise lawful water
management activitiesincluding the storage, release, diversion, and
return of irrigation water by the eight irrigation districts and
groundwater withdrawals, effluent discharges, and surface water
diversions by the City of Prineville. The permit is issued for a
duration of 28 years.
ADDRESSES: The record of decision, findings, biological opinion and
other related documents are available on the NMFS West Coast Region
website at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/habitat-conservation/habitat-conservation-plans-west-coast">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/habitat-conservation/habitat-conservation-plans-west-coast</a>. The draft and final
environmental impact statement and public comments are available on the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at <a href="https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/deschutes-hcp">https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/deschutes-hcp</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Carlon (phone: 971-322-7436 or
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1c6f7f736868327f7d6e7073725c72737d7d327b736a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4d3e2e223939632e2c3f2122230d23222c2c632a223b">[email protected]</span></a>. or Celeste Stout (phone: 301-427-8436 or
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e3808f86909786cd90978c9697a38d8c8282cd848c95"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="11727d746265743f62657e6465517f7e70703f767e67">[email protected]</span></a>).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On August 30, 2019, NMFS received an application for an ESA section
10(a)(1)(B) incidental take permit for activities pertaining to
irrigation and municipal water management in the Deschutes River basin,
Oregon. Included with the application was the draft Deschutes Basin
Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) collectively developed by eight
irrigation districts (Arnold, Central Oregon, Lone Pine, North Unit,
Ochoco, Swalley, Three Sisters, and Tumalo Irrigation Districts) and
the City of Prineville. Activities covered under the HCP would occur in
Klamath, Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook, Wasco, and Sherman Counties,
Oregon. The applicants also applied with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) for incidental take of bull trout (Salvelinus
confluentus) and Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa).
Issuing an ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit constitutes a Federal
action requiring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as implemented by 40 CFR parts 1500-1508
and NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A, Compliance with the NEPA (2016).
For this action, USFWS is the lead agency under NEPA and NMFS is a
cooperating agency. As the lead agency, the USFWS published a notice of
availability (NOA) of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) in
the Federal Register on October 4, 2019 (84 FR 53164), and published a
NOA of the Final EIS with the USFWS on November 6, 2020 (85 FR 71086).
USFWS received numerous comments on the Draft EIS, which were
considered by both USFWS and NMFS. These comments were addressed as
changes to the Final EIS. All alternatives were described in detail,
evaluated, and analyzed in the Draft and Final EIS. NMFS found that
issuing the ITP would have a significant impact on the quality of the
environment and adopted the USFWS' EIS through its own NEPA process (40
CFR 1506.3). NMFS determined that the EIS considered a range of
reasonable alternatives and fully evaluated the direct, indirect, and
cumulative impacts likely to result from the authorization of ITPs
issued by both the NMFS and the US Fish and Wildlife Service for this
HCP.
All eight irrigation districts are quasi-municipal corporations
formed and operated according to Oregon State law to distribute water
to irrigators (patrons) within designated geographic boundaries and in
accordance with the individual water rights held by those patrons. The
City of Prineville operates City-owned infrastructure and provides
essential services--including public safety, municipal water supply,
and sewage treatment--for more than 9,000 residents. The applicants
determined that continued operation of irrigation and essential
services requires incidental take permits to address unavoidable take
of the covered species.
Conservation Plan
Section 10 of the ESA requires an applicant to submit an adequate
conservation plan. The applicants proposed a conservation program to
avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of taking MCR steelhead, the
NEP of steelhead, and sockeye salmon (covered species). The activities
covered by the HCP cause changes in surface water hydrology that alter
the quantity and quality of aquatic habitats for listed species. The
covered activities modify the timing and magnitude of flow in the
Deschutes River and a number of its tributaries through the storage,
release, diversion, and return of irrigation water. In most cases, the
hydrologic changes resulting from irrigation activities have adverse
impacts on aquatic habitats for the covered species. When flows are
reduced, the total area of usable habitat for aquatic species generally
decreases and water temperatures typically increase to the extent that
habitat quality is negatively impacted. These
[[Page 3393]]
adverse effects on listed species can result in direct harm or injury
of individuals of the covered species, and through changes in habitat
that interfere with the essential life activities of the species. Both
types of effects are addressed in the HCP conservation measures.
The HCP addresses the adverse effects of the covered activities on
the covered species by reducing or eliminating those effects to the
maximum extent practicable, and by mitigating effects that cannot be
eliminated altogether. To address the adverse effects, the HCP's
conservation measures modify irrigation activities that reduce instream
flow. As a result, with implementation of the HCP, flows in the
affected reaches will be higher than they were historically (over the
last 50+ years) in the winter, and the duration of high summer water
temperatures will be reduced.
The conservation strategy consists of a series of conservation
measures to reduce and mitigate (i.e., offset) the adverse effects of
covered activities that can result in the take of the covered species.
Proposed conservation measures include actions that would change the
timing and volume of water released from covered reservoirs and
streamflow in covered rivers and creeks by (1) establishing a minimum
instream flow in the Deschutes River below Crane Prairie Dam; (2)
increasing fall and winter Deschutes River flows based on a schedule of
flow increases, thus improving rearing and migratory habitat for
covered species in the middle and lower Deschutes River; (3) limiting
irrigation season flows (summer flow cap) in years 8 through 28 of the
ITP; (4) supplementing releases of uncontracted storage from Prineville
Reservoir on the Crooked River; (5) providing conservation funds for
the Crooked River, Whychus Creek, and Upper Deschutes River; and (6)
providing other conservation measures to modify operation and
maintenance of water facilities to enhance flows on the Deschutes
River, Crescent Creek, Little Deschutes River, Whychus Creek, Crooked
River, Ochoco Creek, and McKay Creek. The conservation strategy also
provides an adaptive management and monitoring program to ensure that
it is achieving the intended benefits to the covered species.
Criteria for Issuing Permit 26645
Issuance criteria for this permit are described in ESA section
10(a)(2)(B) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 222.307(c)(2)).
According to the ESA, NMFS shall issue the requested incidental take
permit, if NMFS finds that the following criteria are met:
(i) The taking will be incidental;
(ii) The applicant will, to the maximum extent practicable,
minimize and mitigate the impacts of such taking;
(iii) The applicant will ensure that adequate funding for the plan
will be provided;
(iv) The taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the
survival and recovery of the species in the wild; and
(v) The measures, if any, required under subparagraph (A)(iv) will
be met, and NMFS has received such other assurances as it may require
that the plan will be implemented.
NMFS found that the applicants met the criteria for the issuance of
an incidental take permit, and as such, NMFS issued the incidental take
permit to the applicants for the incidental take of the covered
species.
Authority
Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulations prohibits the
``taking'' of a species listed as endangered or threatened. The ESA
defines ``take'' to mean harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound,
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct. NMFS may issue permits, under limited circumstances to take
listed species when take is incidental to, and not the purpose of,
otherwise lawful activities. Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides
for authorizing incidental take of listed species by non-Federal
entities. The regulations for issuing incidental take permits for
threatened and endangered species are promulgated at 50 CFR 222.307.
Dated: January 12, 2023.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-00902 Filed 1-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 19, 2023.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.