Endangered Species; Receipt of Recovery Permit Applications

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2026-1321; FXES11130500000-267-FF05E00000]

Endangered Species; Receipt of Recovery Permit Applications

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of receipt of permit applications; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct scientific research to promote conservation or other activities intended to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We invite local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public to comment on these applications. Before issuing the requested permits, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

DATES:

We must receive your written comments on or before July 1, 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-R5-ES-2026-1321] for this document. You must submit comments using one of the following methods:

•

Electronic submission:

Federal eRulemaking Portal at:

https://www.regulations.gov.

In the Search box, enter FWS-R5-ES-2026-1321, 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.

•

U.S. mail:

Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2026-1321, 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.

We will post all comments at

https://www.regulations.gov.

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 Public Availability of Comments for more information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Abby Goldstein, 413-253-8212 (phone), or

permitsR5ES@fws.gov

(email). Submit requests for copies of the applications and related documents, by one of these methods. All requests should specify the applicant name(s) and application number(s) (

e.g.,

ESXXXXXX; see table in

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

). 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, invite local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public to review and comment on applications we have received for permits under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531

et seq.

), and our implementing regulations in part 17 of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The requested permits would allow the applicants to conduct activities intended to promote recovery of species that are listed as endangered under the ESA. Documents and other information submitted with the applications are available for review, subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a) and the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).

Background

With some exceptions, the ESA prohibits activities that constitute take of listed species, unless a Federal permit is issued that allows such activity. The ESA's definition of “take” includes such activities as pursuing, harassing, trapping, capturing, or collecting, in addition to hunting, shooting, harming, wounding, or killing.

A recovery permit issued by us under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA authorizes the permittee to conduct activities constituting or resulting in take of endangered or threatened species for scientific purposes that promote recovery or for enhancement of propagation or survival of the species. Our regulations implementing section 10(a)(1)(A) for these permits are found at 50 CFR 17.22 for endangered wildlife species, 50 CFR 17.32 for threatened wildlife species, 50 CFR 17.62 for endangered plant species, and 50 CFR 17.72 for threatened plant species.

Permit Applications Available for Review and Comment

In accordance with the ESA, we invite local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public to submit written data, views, or arguments with respect to the applications in table 1.

Table 1—Permit Applications Received

Application No.

Applicant

Species

Location

Activity

Type of take

Permit action

PER31379402-0

Fort Drum Military Reservation, U.S. Army; Fort Drum, NY

Indiana bat (

Myotis sodalis

), northern long-eared bat (

Myotis septentrionalis

)

New York

Capture via mistnet, band, telemetry, release

Capture

New.

CS18420331

Hillary Mower; Crab Orchard, WV

Indiana bat (

Myotis sodalis

), northern long-eared bat (

Myotis septentrionalis

), tricolored bat (

Perimyotis subflavus

), gray bat (

Myotis grisescens

), Virginia big-eared bat (

Corynorhinus (=Plecotus) townsendii virginianus

)

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

Capture via mistnet and harp trap, band, telemetry, release

Capture

New.

PER82615D-4

Downeast Salmon Federation; Columbia Falls, ME

Atlantic salmon (

Salmo salar

)

Maine

Electrofish, trap, mark, propagate

Capture, Collect

Renew with amendment.

PER12175217-1

Jacob Miller; Hurricane, WV

Add: Guadalupe Orb (

Cyclonaias necki

), Rusty patched bumble bee (

Bombus affinis

), Alabama lampmussel (

Lampsilis virescens

), Balcones spike (

Fusconaia iheringi

), Cumberlandian combshell (

Epioblasma brevidens

), Cumberland monkeyface (

Theliderma intermedia

), Dromedary pearlymussel (

Dromus dromas

), Dwarf wedgemussel (

Alasmidonta heterodon

), False spike (

Fusconaia mitchelli

), Fluted kidneyshell (

Ptychobranchus subtentus

), Guadalupe fatmucket (

Lampsilis bergmanni

), James Spinymussel (

Parvaspina collina

), Oyster Mussel (

Epioblasma capsaeformis

), Purple Bean (

Villosa perpurpurea

), Rough Rabbitsfoot (

Quadrula cylindrica strigillata

), Shiny Pigtoe (

Fusconaia cor

), Texas Fatmucket (

Lampsilis bracteata

), Texas Fawnsfoot (

Truncilla macrodon

), Texas Pimpleback (

Cyclonaias petrina

), Yellow Lance (Elliptio lanceolata)

Add: Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas

Capture, release

Capture

Amend.

PER26044385-0

Walter Veselka; Reedsville, WV

Rusty patched bumble bee (

Bombus affinis

)

West Virginia

Capture, photograph, release

Capture

New.

Public Availability of Comments

Written comments we receive become part of the administrative record associated with this action. 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 request in your comment that we 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.

Next Steps

If we decide to issue permits to the applicants listed in this notice, we will publish a notice in the

Federal Register

.

Authority:

Section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531

et seq.

).

Amanda Cross,

Acting Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Northeast Region.

[FR Doc. 2026-10856 Filed 5-29-26; 8:45 am]

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