Notice2026-01258
Application for Enhancement of Survival Permit, University of Illinois at Chicago; Draft Conservation Benefit Agreement for Eleven Bumble Bee Species
Primary source
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Published
January 23, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an application from University of Illinois at Chicago (applicant), for an enhancement of survival (EOS) permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The application is supported by the proposed "Nationwide Conservation Benefit Agreement for Bumble Bees on Energy and Transportation Lands" (CBA) in the conterminous 48 United States. The intent of the CBA is to provide non-Federal landowners in the covered area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the covered species and associated habitat while carrying out on-going operations in a manner that would result in a net conservation benefit to the species. We have made a preliminary determination that the CBA and permit application are eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The basis for this determination is contained in a categorical exclusion checklist, which is available for public review. If approved, the EOS permit would be for a 35-year period following the signature of the EOS and would authorize the incidental take of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee and endangered Franklin's bumble bee. The EOS would also authorize the incidental take of the American bumble bee, variable cuckoo bumble bee, western bumble bee, Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee, crotch bumble bee, southern plains bumble bee, Morrison bumble bee, yellow banded bumble bee, and Ashton's cuckoo bumble bee, if any of these species were to be listed under the ESA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 15 (Friday, January 23, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2952-2955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-01258]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2025-0245; FXES11130300000-256-FF03E00000]
Application for Enhancement of Survival Permit, University of
Illinois at Chicago; Draft Conservation Benefit Agreement for Eleven
Bumble Bee Species
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an
application from University of Illinois at Chicago (applicant), for an
enhancement of survival (EOS) permit under the Endangered Species Act
of 1973, as amended (ESA). The application is supported by the proposed
``Nationwide Conservation Benefit Agreement for Bumble Bees on Energy
and Transportation Lands'' (CBA) in the conterminous 48 United States.
The intent of the CBA is to provide non-Federal landowners in the
covered area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the covered
species and associated habitat while carrying out on-going operations
in a manner that would result in a net conservation benefit to the
species. We have made a preliminary determination that the CBA and
permit application are eligible for a categorical exclusion under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The basis for this
determination is contained in a categorical exclusion checklist, which
is available for public review. If approved, the EOS permit would be
for a 35-year period following the signature of the EOS and would
authorize the incidental take of the endangered rusty patched bumble
bee and endangered Franklin's bumble bee. The EOS would also authorize
the incidental take of the American bumble bee, variable cuckoo bumble
bee, western bumble bee, Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee, crotch bumble
bee, southern plains bumble bee, Morrison bumble bee, yellow banded
bumble bee, and Ashton's cuckoo bumble bee, if any of these species
were to be listed under the ESA.
[[Page 2953]]
DATES: We must receive written comments on the application by February
23, 2026.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and materials that we receive, will be available for
public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2025-0245 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
<bullet> Online: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2025-0245.
<bullet> U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R3-ES-2025-0245; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathryn Bulliner, Section 10
Supervisory Biologist, Division of Endangered Species, Midwest Regional
Office; telephone 573-476-9136, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cca7adb8a4beb5a293aeb9a0a0a5a2a9be8caabbbfe2aba3ba"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6c070d18041e1502330e1900000502091e2c0a1b1f420b031a">[email protected]</span></a>.
Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals
outside the United States should use the relay services offered within
their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in
the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), make available for public comment an application we received
from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for an enhancement of
survival permit (permit) under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered
Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) supported by the CBA and the
associated draft categorical exclusion checklist. The permit
application includes an integrated draft CBA for the rusty patched
bumble bee (Bombus affinis), Franklin's bumble bee (B. franklini),
American bumble bee (B. pensylvanicus), variable cuckoo bumble bee (B.
variabilis), western bumble bee (B. occidentalis), Suckley's cuckoo
bumble bee (B. suckleyi), crotch bumble bee (B. crotchii), southern
plains bumble bee (B. fraternus), Morrison bumble bee (B. morrisoni),
yellow banded bumble bee (B. terricola), and Ashton's cuckoo bumble bee
(B. ashtoni) (hereafter collectively referred to as the Covered
Species) throughout the 48 conterminous United States.
The CBA and associated permit would implement a voluntary
conservation strategy developed by the UIC for energy and
transportation activities on enrolled lands. These activities include
conservation measures to restore, maintain, enhance, or create habitat
for the Covered Species, as well as activities to conduct on-going
maintenance, management, and minor modernization activities within
existing rights-of-way and associated lands. The intent of the CBA is
to provide non-Federal landowners with the opportunity to voluntarily
conserve bumble bees and their habitat on enrolled properties while
carrying out their operations in a manner that would result in a net
conservation benefit to the Covered Species.
We also announce the availability of a draft categorical exclusion
checklist supporting our determination that the proposed action
qualifies for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We are making the permit
application, including the draft CBA, and draft categorical exclusion
checklist, available for public review and comment.
Background
A CBA is an agreement with the Service in which private and other
non-Federal landowners voluntarily agree to undertake on-going
management activities and conservation efforts on their properties to
enhance, restore, or maintain habitat to benefit species that are
either listed or at-risk for listing under the ESA. The Service works
with these partners to identify threats to Covered Species, plan the
measures needed to address the threats and conserve these species,
identify willing landowners, develop agreements, and design and
implement conservation measures and monitor their effectiveness. In
return for managing their lands to the benefit of the species covered
by the CBA, participating property owners receive assurances that the
Service will not require additional or different conservation measures
to be undertaken by the permittee without their consent as described in
the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22(c)(5) and
17.32(c)(5).
The Service provides these assurances through an enhancement of
survival (EOS) permit, issued pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the
ESA for a specific number of years, that becomes effective for listed
species upon issuance. For non-listed Covered Species, the take
authorized through the permit becomes effective upon the effective date
of the species' listing provided the permittee signed the permit within
90 calendar days of issuance and has properly implemented the
conservation benefit agreement since signing the permit. Under the
permit, participating landowners also receive authorization for take
that is incidental to activities covered by the CBA. In a case such as
this, in which a third-party would administer the CBA, the permit is
issued to the third-party administrator, the UIC in this case, and
permit coverage extends to non-Federal landowners who enroll in the
agreement through a Certificate of Inclusion (CI) and comply with the
requirements stated in the agreement and their respective CIs.
Additional permit application requirements and issuance criteria for
CBAs are found in 50 CFR 17.22(c) and 17.32(c), respectively, as well
as 50 CFR part 13.
Because the CBA participants' rights-of-way may cross Federal as
well as non-Federal lands, the UIC is proposing an integrated CBA
approach modeled after the ``Nationwide Candidate Conservation
Agreement for Monarch Butterfly on Energy and Transportation Lands''
and associated EOS permit to provide a seamless implementation of the
conservation strategy across enrolled non-Federal and Federal lands at
a landscape level.
While the integrated agreement applies throughout enrolled lands,
neither Federal agencies nor non-Federal partners would receive EOS
permit coverage or ``assurances'' on activities conducted on enrolled
lands that cross Federal property. Although there are no assurances
associated with Federal lands, enrollees have a high degree of
certainty that no additional conservation measures, beyond those
contained in this CBA, will be required on Federal lands for listed and
any at-risk Covered Species that becomes listed under the ESA in the
future. The CBA provides a conservation strategy that results in a net
conservation benefit to bumble bee species throughout the lands
enrolled in the agreement. Private and non-Federal partners in energy
and transportation sectors are encouraged to enter the CBA through the
UIC.
Proposed Action
The proposed action involves the issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A)
EOS permit by the Service to UIC and approval of the proposed CBA. The
purpose of these agreements and permits are to implement a conservation
strategy that benefits Covered Species throughout their range in the
conterminous United States. The UIC would administer the CBA and enroll
eligible applicants, who would hold CIs,
[[Page 2954]]
as described in the CBA. The CBA and associated permit are proposed to
cover 35 years from the time the EOS permit is signed.
Under the proposed CBA, UIC and partners who enroll into the
agreement through UIC would create, enhance, and maintain Covered
Species foraging, nesting, and overwintering habitat, as well as
continue on-going activities supporting operations of energy and
transportation sectors, including general operations, vegetation
management, and maintenance and minor modernization activities within
existing rights-of-way and associated lands. The proposed CBA does not
include construction and land disturbing activities that pose
significant environmental, socioeconomic, historical or cultural
impacts (for example, new interstate highways, new pipelines, new
transmission lines, new rail routes, or similar).
Partners enrolled in the CBA through UIC would hold a CI and be
authorized for incidental take and assurances for the Covered Species
on non-Federal lands. Where enrolled partners have property interests
across Federal lands, incidental take may be authorized through Section
7 of the ESA. The biological opinion and conference opinion the Service
will prepare for this CBA can inform and help streamline future
consultations involving partners' activities on Federal lands. The
conservation strategy contained in this CBA creates a net conservation
benefit, giving partners a high degree of certainty that additional
conservation measures or limitations, above those contained in the CBA
and CIs, will not be required in the future for Covered Species on
Federal lands.
The conservation measures in this agreement were designed to meet
the net conservation benefit standard specifically for lands managed by
the energy and transportation sectors. Unlike many other lands in the
U.S., those lands are already actively managed to prevent the growth of
trees and woody vegetation. This results in lands that are generally
maintained as grassland, meadow, prairie, or shrub-scrub type habitats,
all of which provide habitat for species, such as the bumble bee
species covered in the CBA, that depend on early successional plant
communities and structures. We have worked with UIC to design
conservation measures expected to have a net conservation benefit to
the Covered Species within the covered area; however, landowners and
enrollees would not have to conduct every conservation measure in this
list for their actions to have a net conservation benefit on the
Covered Species. To maintain a net conservation benefit, each partner
must use selected conservation measures to create and maintain a
proportion of their enrolled lands as bumble bee habitat each year.
Each partner will need to follow their individual CIs and the
conservation measures included within. Some examples of these
conservation actions include the following: (1) establishing and using
native seed mixes containing a diversity of native wildflowers, (2)
avoidance of known or observed nest sites, (3) removing woody plants in
densely covered shrub areas and invasive plant species to promote
grassland habitats, (4) sustaining idle lands with suitable habitat for
bumble bees, (5) using conservation mowing to enhance floral resources
and habitat.
Covered Area
This agreement encompasses a covered area consisting of energy and
transportation lands within the Covered Species' ranges across the
lower 48 states of the U.S. Within this covered area, Partners may
enroll their energy and transportation lands. Although the covered area
spans 48 United States, only a portion of this area will be enrolled in
the agreement. Enrollment of lands under this agreement is voluntary.
The partners reasonably expect that Covered Species may occur in all or
a portion of habitats on enrolled lands where management actions will
be undertaken in accordance with this agreement. This agreement will
cover those properties that have existing, historic, or potential
suitable habitat for Covered Species across their range. Enrolled lands
may include all or some combination of suitable habitat types or areas
with the potential to create those habitats.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
This issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(A) permit is a federal action
subject to NEPA compliance. The Service's decision on whether to enter
the proposed CBA is a federal action subject to NEPA compliance. The
UIC's proposed CBA and related application for the EOS permit is
eligible for categorical exclusion under NEPA.
As required by NEPA, we considered impacts to the human environment
that would result from issuance of the requested permit. Entering the
CBA is strictly a voluntary action for landowners, and the covered
activities under the permit are generally activities already occurring
on these properties (e.g., general operations, vegetation management,
and maintenance and minor modernization activities within existing
rights-of-way and associated lands). As explained in the categorical
exclusion checklist, we believe the agreement will cause no or
negligible environmental disturbance and qualifies for categorical
exclusion under NEPA as provided by the Department of the Interior
Manual (516 DM 8.5(c)(1)). The proposed CBA sustains, creates, and
enhances Covered Species foraging, nesting, and overwintering habitat;
addresses ongoing maintenance and minor modernization activities; and
does not include construction and land disturbing activities that pose
significant environmental, socioeconomic, historical or cultural
impacts (e.g., new interstate highways, new pipelines, new transmission
lines, new rail routes, or similar). Therefore, we are proposing to
categorically exclude this action from further analysis under NEPA.
Next Steps
We specifically request information and comments from the public
via this notice on our proposed Federal action to enter the proposed
CBA and issue an EOS permit for the Covered Species. Further, we
specifically solicit information regarding the adequacy of the
agreement per 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.
We will evaluate the enhancement of survival permit application,
including the agreement and any comments we receive, to determine
whether the application meets the requirements of section 10(a)(1)(A)
of the ESA. We will also evaluate whether the section 10(a)(1)(A)
enhancement of survival permit would comply with section 7 of the ESA
by conducting an intra-Service section 7 consultation. If we determine
that the requirements are met, we will issue a permit under section
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA to UIC in accordance with the applicable
regulatory requirements. We will not make our final decision until
after the end of the 30-day comment period and will fully consider all
comments received during the comment period.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments we receive become part of the public record associated
with this action. If you submit a comment at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
comment that includes personal identifying information, such as your
address, phone number, or email address, you should be aware that your
entire comment, including your personal
[[Page 2955]]
identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so. Moreover, all submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public disclosure in their entirety.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered
Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations
(50 CFR 17.22) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.).
Sean Marsan,
Acting Assistant Regional Director, Midwest Region, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-01258 Filed 1-22-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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