Extension of the Public Comment PeriodAvailability of an Environmental Assessment and Receipt of an Application for a Residental Project Called Pineda Crossing/Windover Farms, Located in Brevard County, FL

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Extension of the Public Comment Period--Availability of an

Environmental Assessment and Receipt of an Application for a Residental

Project Called Pineda Crossing/Windover Farms, Located in Brevard

County, FL

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of the public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service gives notice that the pubilc

comment period on the environmental assessment/habitat conservation

plan for the Pineda Crossing/Windover Farms projects (Applicant)

application for an incidental take permit pursuant to Section 10(a) of

the Endangered Species Act (Act) is being extended. The Applicant has

been assigned permit number PRT-808474. The original 30-day comment

period was to end on/about December 15, 1995 (FR 60:57247-48). In the

intervening period, the Fish and Wildlife Service was forced to cease

operations due to the lapse in Congressional appropriations during the

period of November 14 through 19. The Fish and Wildlife Service was

unable to expeditiously respond to the public requesting the

documentation announced in the original Federal Register notice. The

Fish and Wildlife Service is therefore extending the formal public

comment period to allow opportunity for public review and submittal of

comments.

DATES: The public comment period for this proposal, which originally

closed on December 15, 1995, is now extended until December 26, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the application, HCP, and EA may

obtain a copy by writing the Service's Southeast Regional Office,

Atlanta, Georgia. Documents will also be available for public

inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the Regional

Office, or the Jacksonville, Florida, Field Office. Written data or

comments concerning the application, EA, or HCP should be submitted to

the Regional Office. Please reference permit under PRT-808474 in such

comments.

Regional Permit Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1875

Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345, (telephone 404/

679-7110, fax 404/679-7081).

Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620 Southpoint

Drive,

[[Page 63053]]

South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216-0912, (telephone 904/232-

2580, fax 904/232-2404).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dawn Zattau at the Jacksonville,

Florida, Field Office, or Rick G. Gooch at the Atlanta, Georgia,

Regional Office.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) is a

territorial, non-migratory cooperative breeding bird species. RCWs live

in social units called groups which generally consist of a breeding

pair, the current year's offspring, and one or more helpers (normally

adult male offspring of the breeding pair from previous years). Groups

maintain year-round territories near their roost and nest trees. The

RCW is unique among North American woodpeckers in that it is the only

woodpecker that excavates its roost and nest cavities in living pine

trees. Each group member has its own cavity, although there may be

multiple cavities in a single pine tree. The aggregate of cavity trees

used by a breeding group is called a cluster. RCWs forage almost

exclusively on pine trees and they generally prefer pines greater than

10 inches diameter at breast height. Foraging habitat is contiguous

with the cluster. The number of acres required to supply adequate

foraging habitat depends on the quantity and quality of the pine stems

available.

The RCW is endemic to the pine forests of the Southeastern United

States and was once widely distributed across 16 States. The species

evolved in a mature, fire-maintained, ecosystem. The RCW has declined

primarily due to the conversion of mature pine forests to young pine

plantations, agricultural fields, residential and commercial

developments, and to hardwood encroachment in existing pine forests due

to fire suppression. The species is still widely distributed (presently

occurs in 13 southeastern States), but remaining populations are highly

fragmented and isolated. Presently, the largest populations occur on

federally owned lands such as military installations and national

forests. Continued development of the two tracts may result in death

of, or harm to, any remaining RCWs through the loss of nesting and

foraging habitat. The Service's EA outlines two alternatives in

response to this application. The first alternative is a no-action

alternative, which would result in the Service's denial of the request

for incidental take. The second alternative is to accept the

application as sufficient and issue an incidental take permit. Under

Alternative 2, the applicants' HCP proposes to offset the anticipated

level of incidental take, by implementing the following mitigation/

minimization measures, including providing adequate funding to ensure

their success:

1. For Pineda Crossing, temporary restrictions on construction

activities at the project site will continue during the proposed

period of 3 to 5 years of reproductive monitoring and

translocations. This will provide temporary foraging, nesting, and

roosting habitat. Construction within RCW habitat will not occur

until translocations success is noted at the mitigation site or for

3 years, whichever comes first. If young birds are not available for

3 years, the HCP period will be extended to 5 years.

2. Three new cluster sites will be created at the Hal Scott

Preserve in Orange County. Each cluster site will con-sist of three

completed cavities and two start holes. New cavities will be caged

and inspected for 6 months for sap leakage. Any trees leaking sap

will not be opened for use by RCW.

3. Annual monitoring of nesting and roosting activity will be

conducted at the project sites. During nesting season, weekly visits

to occupied cavity trees will be conducted.

4. At Windover Farms, the single male RCW will be relocated to

the newly created clusters at Hal Scott Preserve, along with a young

female from Pineda Crossing (if available), or from the Big

Econlockhatchee population, of which the RCWs occupying Hal Scott

are a part.

5. The young birds from Pineda Crossing will be translocated to

the newly created clusters at Hal Scott Preserve. Weekly visits will

be conducted to the mitigation site once a week for 1 month after

translocation to inspect the cavity and the surrounding area for the

presence of these birds. Checks of the cluster sites will also be

made four times during the following nesting season to monitor

reproductive status and success.

6. Young birds from the surrounding population in the Big Econ

River area will be used, if necessary, to augment these created

cluster sites during years of no reproduction on the Pineda Crossing

site.

7. At the mitigation site, inspections will be conducted in the

fall and winter to locate the roost sites.

Dated: December 1, 1995.

Noreen K. Clough,

Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 95-29941 Filed 12-7-95; 8:45 am]

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