Notice2026-02012
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Habitat Conservation Plan for the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly and Four Subspecies of the Mazama Pocket Gopher, Thurston and Pierce Counties, Washington; Categorical Exclusion
Primary source
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Published
February 2, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from the Puget Sound Energy (applicant) to renew and amend an existing incidental take permit (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The ITP would authorize the applicant's take of four threatened subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher and the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly incidental to otherwise lawful activities during replacement, repair, and upgrade of existing utility systems in Thurston and portions of Pierce Counties, Washington, for the benefit of energy infrastructure and public safety. The application includes a habitat conservation plan (HCP) with measures to minimize and mitigate the impacts of the taking on the covered species. We also prepared a draft environmental action statement for our preliminary determination that the HCP and our permit decision may be eligible for categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. We invite comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies regarding the documents.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 21 (Monday, February 2, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4595-4596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-02012]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R1-ES-2025-0144; FXES11140100000-256-FF01E00000]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Habitat
Conservation Plan for the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly and Four
Subspecies of the Mazama Pocket Gopher, Thurston and Pierce Counties,
Washington; Categorical Exclusion
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 (Service), have
received an application from the Puget Sound Energy (applicant) to
renew and amend an existing incidental take permit (ITP) pursuant to
the Endangered Species Act. The ITP would authorize the applicant's
take of four threatened subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher and the
Taylor's checkerspot butterfly incidental to otherwise lawful
activities during replacement, repair, and upgrade of existing utility
systems in Thurston and portions of Pierce Counties, Washington, for
the benefit of energy infrastructure and public safety. The application
includes a habitat conservation plan (HCP) with measures to minimize
and mitigate the impacts of the taking on the covered species. We also
prepared a draft environmental action statement for our preliminary
determination that the HCP and our permit decision may be eligible for
categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. We
invite comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies regarding the documents.
DATES: Please submit written comments by March 4, 2026.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> in Docket
No. FWS-R1-ES-2025-0144.
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-R1-ES-2025-0144.
<bullet> U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R1-ES-2025-0144; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marty Acker, Washington Fish and
Wildlife Office, by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8bc6eaf9ffe2e5d4cae8e0eef9cbedfcf8a5ece4fd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="135e7261677a7d4c5270787661537564603d747c65">[email protected]</span></a>, or by telephone at
360-753-9440. 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), received an incidental take permit (ITP) application from
Puget Sound Energy (PSE; applicant) pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.). PSE has an existing ITP (Permit No. TE81283D-0) with an approved
five-year HCP for the three subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher
(Thomomys mazama pugetensis, T. m. tumuli, and T. m. yelmensis), listed
under the ESA in Thurston County, Washington. PSE is proposing a 30-
year HCP that would renew and amend the existing 5-year HCP for future
system improvements and maintenance activities, including the addition
of ITP coverage for the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas
editha taylori) and the Roy prairie pocket gopher (T. m. glacialis),
and expand the permit area to include a small portion of Pierce County,
Washington. The application includes an HCP that describes actions the
applicant will take to minimize and mitigate the impacts of take of the
covered species. We also prepared a draft environmental action
statement (EAS) for our preliminary determination that the HCP and our
permit decision may be eligible for a categorical exclusion under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We
invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to
comment on these documents.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the taking of fish and wildlife
species listed as endangered or threatened. Under section 3 of the ESA,
the term ``take'' means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound,
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)).
Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA contains provisions that authorize
the Service to issue permits to non-Federal entities for the take of
endangered and threatened species caused by otherwise lawful
activities, provided the following criteria are met (16 U.S.C.
1539(a)(2)(B) and 50 CFR 17.22(b)(2) and 17.32(b)(2)): (1) the taking
will be incidental; (2) the applicant will, to the maximum extent
practicable, minimize and mitigate the impact of such taking; (3) the
applicant will ensure that adequate funding for the conservation plan
implementation will be provided; (4) the applicant has provided
procedures to deal with unforeseen circumstances; (5) the taking will
not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of
the species in the wild; and (6) the applicant will carry out any other
measures that the Service may require as being necessary or appropriate
for the purposes of the plan or to ensure the plan will be implemented.
Regulations governing permits for endangered and threatened species are
found at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively.
Proposed Action
PSE proposes to conduct maintenance, replacement, and upgrades of
existing electric power and natural gas systems in portions of Thurston
and Pierce Counties, Washington, for the benefit of energy
infrastructure and public safety. Covered activities may include pole
replacement, cable or pipe repairs, and tree pruning projects for
purposes of safety and efficiency. Activities may also include
conversion of overhead power lines to underground power lines in
existing rights-of-way, short extensions of existing feeder lines, and
new gas service to existing homes where the gas supply pipes already
exist at the street. In some cases, project activity would occur in
potential habitat for Taylor's checkerspot butterfly and its designated
critical habitat, as well as potential habitat for the four subspecies
of the Mazama pocket gopher. PSE would fully offset impacts to each of
the covered species through the establishment and maintenance of
permanent mitigation sites. Specifically, the applicant would
permanently maintain suitable breeding, feeding, and
[[Page 4596]]
sheltering habitat for each of the covered species.
The permit area includes Thurston County and the southwest portion
of Pierce County near Joint Base Lewis-McChord that occur within the
ranges of the four federally listed subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher
and portions of the range of Taylor's checkerspot butterfly, as
depicted in the HCP (Figure 3-1). The permit area encompasses lands
where covered activities may occur, as well as 14 parcels of mitigation
lands at 7 locations where mitigation would occur, totaling roughly 81
acres. The Service proposes to issue the requested 30-year ITP renewal
with amendment based on the applicant's commitment to implement the
HCP, if ESA section 10(a)(2)(B) permit issuance criteria are met.
Public Comments
You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods
listed in ADDRESSES. We specifically request data, comments, new
information, and suggestions from interested parties regarding our
proposed Federal action including, without limitation, adequacy of the
HCP, whether the HCP meets requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 13
and 17, and adequacy of the EAS pursuant to the requirements of NEPA.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments and materials we receive become part of the public
record associated with this action. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable
information in your comments, you should be aware that your entire
comment--including your personally identifiable information--may be
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from
public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. 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 on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Next Steps
After the public comment period ends (see DATES), we will evaluate
the permit application, associated documents, and any comments received
to determine whether the permit application meets the requirements of
section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA. We will also conduct an intra-Service
consultation under section 7(a)(2) of the ESA on the proposed ITP
action. The final NEPA and permit determinations will not be completed
until after the end of the 30-day comment period and will fully
consider all comments received during the comment period. If we
determine that all requirements are met, we will issue an ITP under
section 10(A)(1)(B) of the ESA to the applicant for the take of the
covered species, incidental to otherwise lawful covered activities.
Authority
We provide this notice in accordance with the requirements of
section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.32), and National
Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and Department of the
Interior guidance (318 DM 3).
Bridget Fahey,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-02012 Filed 1-30-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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