Notice2026-04975
Receipt of One Incidental Take Permit Application for Participation in the General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse; Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL
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
March 13, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of one application from Ethan Bishop (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, under the Service's approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the Alabama beach mouse. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed Alabama beach mouse (ABM) incidental to the construction of a single-family home in Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plans (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action qualifies under the terms of the ABM GCP. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 49 (Friday, March 13, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 49 (Friday, March 13, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12439-12440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-04975]
[[Page 12439]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-0067; FXES11140400000-267-FF04EA4000]
Receipt of One Incidental Take Permit Application for
Participation in the General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach
Mouse; Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce
receipt of one application from Ethan Bishop (applicant) for an
incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to the Endangered Species Act,
under the Service's approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final
environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the Alabama beach mouse. The
applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed Alabama beach
mouse (ABM) incidental to the construction of a single-family home in
Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on the application,
which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plans
(HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed
permitting action qualifies under the terms of the ABM GCP. We invite
comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before April 13,
2026. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking
Portal (see ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern
time on the closing date.
To ensure your comment is received and considered, you must submit
it using one of the methods identified in the ADDRESSES section of this
document. Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered.
ADDRESSES:
Comment submission: All submissions must include the docket number
[FWS-R4-ES-2026-0067] this document. You must submit comments using 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-R4-ES-2026-0067.
<bullet> U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R4-ES-2026-0067; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered. We will not accept comments via email, fax, or hand
delivery. We are not required to consider comments that are submitted
after the comment period ends or that are submitted via a method
outside of these instructions. Comments containing profanity,
vulgarity, threats, or other inappropriate content will not be
considered.
We will post all comments at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. You may
request that we withhold personal identifying information from public
review; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. See
Request for Public Comments for more information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Lentz, by U.S. mail (see
ADDRESSES), by telephone at 1-251-298-3853, or via email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#97f2e5fef9c8fbf2f9e3edd7f1e0e4b9f0f8e1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a9ccdbc0c7f6c5ccc7ddd3e9cfdeda87cec6df">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United States who are deaf,
blind, 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), announce receipt of an application from Ethan Bishop under
the approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) for the Alabama beach
mouse (ABM; Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) for an incidental take
permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The applicant requests the ITP to take the
federally listed incidental to the construction, maintenance and
operation of a single-family home in Baldwin County, Alabama.
A GCP is a mechanism that meets the definition of a conservation
plan in section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and enables the construction of
a programmatic permitting and conservation process to address a defined
suite of proposed activities over a defined planning area. We certify
that each application to enroll in the GCP is statutorily complete and
includes the necessary information. We have no evidence that the
applicant is disqualified pursuant to 50 CFR 13.21.
We request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's
preliminary determination that the requested ITP qualifies under the
ABM GCP and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) published on
March 28, 2012 (FWS-R4-ES-2012-N063).
Proposed Project
Ethan Bishop requests a 50-year ITP to take ABM via the conversion
of 0.09 acre (ac) of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering ABM
habitat incidental to the construction of a single-family home on a
0.52-ac parcel located off Palmetto Drive in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The
applicant proposes to mitigate for the take of ABM through an in-lieu
fee of $8,535.30 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM
conservation fund.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the
applicant's proposed project, including the construction of the
residential development and associated infrastructure (e.g., electric,
water, and sewer lines), would have a minor effect on ABM and the human
environment. Reasonably foreseeable effects encompass effects of
implementation of the action including effects of the action in
addition to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future
effects. Therefore, we have the made a preliminary determination that,
if issued, the requested ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit action would
meet the requirements of the GCP and FEIS.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments to
determine whether to issue the requested ITP. We will also conduct an
intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate
the effects of the proposed take. After considering the preceding and
other matters, we will determine whether the permit issuance criteria
of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service
will issue ITP number PER23666323 to Ethan Bishop.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information,
may be made available to the public. 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
hardcopy comment that includes
[[Page 12440]]
personal identifying information, such as your address, phone number,
or email address, you may request at the top of your document that we
withhold this information from public review. However, 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
The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (50 CFR 17.32), National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Department of the Interior's implementing
regulations (43 CFR part 46).
Jeffrey Powell,
Acting Field Supervisor, Alabama Ecological Service Field Office, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-04975 Filed 3-12-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-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 March 13, 2026.
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.