Notice2026-11869
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher, Ventura County, CA; Categorical Exclusion
Primary source
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Published
June 12, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Moorpark 67, LLC (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) incidental to residential development in the City of Moorpark, Ventura County, California. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan, and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a low-effect screening form, which is also available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 113 (Friday, June 12, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 113 (Friday, June 12, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35701-35702]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-11869]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2026-2410; FXES11140800000-267-FF08EVEN00]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher,
Ventura County, CA; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt
of an application from Moorpark 67, LLC (applicant) for an incidental
take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant
requests the ITP to take the federally listed coastal California
gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) incidental to
residential development in the City of Moorpark, Ventura County,
California. We request public comment on the application, which
includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan, and on the
Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action
may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the Interior's (DOI)
NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this
preliminary determination, we prepared a low-effect screening form,
which is also available for public review. We invite comment from the
public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before July 13,
2026.
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:
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 in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2026-2410 at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Submitting Comments: All submissions must include the docket number
[FWS-R8-ES-2026-2410] for this document. You must submit comments using
one of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronic submission: Federal eRulemaking Portal at:
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. In the Search box, enter FWS-R8-ES-2026-
2410, which is the docket number for this action. Then click the Search
button. On the resulting page, you may submit a comment by clicking on
``Comment.'' Please ensure that you have found the correct document
before submitting your comments.
<bullet> U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R8-ES-2026-2410, Policy and Regulations Branch, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Chris Dellith, Senior Fish and
Wildlife Biologist, by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b7d4dfc5dec4e8d3d2dbdbdec3dff7d1c0c499d0d8c1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9af9f2e8f3e9c5fefff6f6f3eef2dafcede9b4fdf5ec">[email protected]</span></a>, via phone at
805-644-1766, or by U.S. mail at 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura,
CA 93003. 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 Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
announce receipt of an application from the applicant for an incidental
take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended
(ESA;
[[Page 35702]]
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The applicant requests the ITP to take the
federally threatened coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila
californica californica) incidental to the development of a mixed-
density residential community (project) in the City of Moorpark,
Ventura County, California. We request public comment on the
application, which includes the applicant's habitat conservation plan
(HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that this
proposed ITP qualifies as low effect, and may qualify for a categorical
exclusion pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA
regulations (43 CFR part 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM
1, Appendix 2 Section 8.5C(2)). To make this preliminary determination,
we prepared a low-effect screening form, which is available for public
review.
Background
On March 30, 1993 (58 FR 16742), the Service listed the coastal
California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) as
threatened. Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of fish and
wildlife species listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538), where take is
defined to include the following activities: ``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). The take prohibitions of
section 9 are extended to species listed as threatened at the
discretion of the DOI Secretary of and were extended to coastal
California gnatcatcher, with exceptions. On December 20, 1993, the
Service published a 4(d) rule, which includes exceptions to incidental
take associated land-use activities addressed in an approved Natural
Community Conservation Planning Act program undertaken by the State of
California and local governments (58 FR 65088).
Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), we
may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife species
that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an
otherwise lawful activity. Regulations governing incidental take
permits for endangered and threatened species are in the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively.
Issuance of an ITP also must not jeopardize the existence of federally
listed fish, wildlife, or plant species. The permittee would receive
assurances under our ``No Surprises'' regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5)
and 17.32(b)(5)).
Applicant's Proposed Activities
The applicant has applied for a permit for incidental take of the
coastal California gnatcatcher. The take would occur in association
with activities necessary for the development of a largely vacant 68-
acre (ac) site by constructing residences, associated infrastructure,
flood-control facilities, a new road providing access to the site, as
well as enhancement and permanent protection of disturbed coastal sage
scrub vegetation on 28.76 ac of conserved land for the coastal
California gnatcatcher.
The HCP includes avoidance and minimization measures for the
coastal California gnatcatcher, and mitigation for unavoidable loss of
occupied habitat. The applicant will commensurately offset impacts by
placing conservation easements over approximately 13.22 ac of the
project site, which will be restored and/or enhanced, and 15.54 ac on
adjacent conserved open space areas owned by the City of Moorpark,
which will be enhanced.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment, including your personal 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 view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able
to do so.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the
applicant's proposed project would individually and cumulatively have a
minor effect on the coastal California gnatcatcher and the human
environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the
proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a ``low-effect'' ITP
that individually or cumulatively would have a minor effect on the
species and may qualify for application of a categorical exclusion
pursuant to NEPA, DOI's NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental
Manual. A ``low-effect'' ITP is one that would result in (1) minor or
nonsignificant effects on species covered in the HCP; (2)
nonsignificant effects on the human environment; and (3) impacts that,
when added together with the impacts of other past, present, and
reasonable foreseeable actions, would not result in significant
cumulative effects to the human environment.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received
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 an ITP to the applicant.
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 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Department's NEPA implementing regulations
(43 CFR part 46).
Catherine Darst,
Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura,
California.
[FR Doc. 2026-11869 Filed 6-11-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 12, 2026.
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