Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement on a Permit Application to Incidentally Take Threatened and Endangered Species in Association With the San Joaquin County Multiple Species Conservation Plan in San Joaquin County, CA

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement on a Permit

Application to Incidentally Take Threatened and Endangered Species in

Association With the San Joaquin County Multiple Species Conservation

Plan in San Joaquin County, CA

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service (Service) and the County of San Joaquin, California, intend to

prepare a joint Federal Environmental Impact Statement/State

Environmental Impact Report (Statement/Report), pursuant to the

National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality

Act. The Service intends to proceed with preparation of the joint

Statement/Report in response to an anticipated application by San

Joaquin County to obtain a 30-year permit under the Federal Endangered

Species Act that would authorize incidental take of up to approximately

100 species of plants and animals. The anticipated application would be

accompanied by a Habitat Conservation Plan. This notice describes the

proposed action and alternatives, and the history of the scoping

process.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted by the Service at the address

below until April 14, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Information and comments related to preparation of the joint

Statement/Report should be submitted to Mr. Wayne White, Field

Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3310 El Camino Avenue,

Suite 120, Sacramento, California 95821. Written comments also may be

sent by facsimile to (916) 979-2723.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Peter Cross, Division of

Endangered Species, at the above Sacramento address, telephone (916)

979-2725.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability of Documents

Background material will be available for public inspection, by

appointment, during normal business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,

Monday through Friday) at the above Service address.

History of the Scoping Process

The public scoping process for the Statement/Report was formally

initiated with the publication by San Joaquin County of a Notice of

Public Hearing Scoping Meetings and Notice of Preparation/Notice of

Intent for the Preparation of a Joint Environmental Impact Report/

Environmental Impact Statement for the San Joaquin County Multi-species

Habitat Conservation and Open Space Plan in The Record (the largest

distribution newspaper in San Joaquin County) on January 22, 1997. This

Notice also was sent to 271 organizations, agencies, native American

tribes and other interested public within San Joaquin County and

adjacent cities and counties. On February 6, 1997, the Service attended

a public scoping meeting held in the city of Stockton, California,

pursuant to the January 22 notice. During this meeting, concern was

raised regarding the potential impact of linear projects that could

create significant dispersal barriers to certain species that will be

addressed in the Habitat Conservation Plan (e.g., water delivery

canals). The Service intends to use the information collected at the

February 6 scoping meeting and a second scoping meeting held on March

5, 1997, in Lodi, California, as well as other information and comments

received in development of the joint Statement/Report.

Proposed Action

San Joaquin County intends to submit an application to the Service

for a 30-year incidental take permit under Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the

Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The

application would include a Multi-Species Habitat Conservation and Open

Space Plan (Plan) that would serve as a Habitat Conservation Plan as

defined by Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Act.

The Service anticipates that San Joaquin County would seek a permit

authorizing incidental take, now or in the future, of up to

approximately 100 species, to the extent that take is prohibited under

Section 9 of the Act for each of these species. The anticipated permit

application would include 12 listed species: the endangered San Joaquin

kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), Conservancy fairy shrimp

(Branchinecta conservatio), longhorn fairy shrimp (Branchinecta

longiantenna), vernal pool tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus packardi), large-

flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia grandiflora), and palmate-bracted

bird's-beak (Cordylanthus palmatus), and the threatened California red-

legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii), valley elderberry longhorn beetle

(Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), vernal pool fairy shrimp

(Branchinecta lynchi), delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), giant

garter snake (Thamnophis gigas), and Aleutian Canada goose (Branta

canadensis leucopareia). In addition, the anticipated application

likely would seek assurances for future incidental take, should it

become necessary, of 83 currently unlisted species. These unlisted

species include 4 species proposed for listing: the Sacramento

splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), succulent owl's clover (fleshy

owl's clover) (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulenta) and Colusa grass

(Neostapfia colusana), currently proposed for threatened status, and

Greene's tuctoria (Tuctoria greenei), currently proposed for endangered

status. Should an unlisted species covered by the Plan be listed in the

future, take authorization would become effective upon listing under

the Act.

The anticipated Plan would encompass all of San Joaquin County:

approximately 1,400 square miles (900,000 acres), including 43 percent

of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Plan, however, would only be

applicable to the area covered by those jurisdictions choosing to adopt

the Plan. The anticipated Plan would allow conversion of up to 104,299

acres of land to non-open space uses while providing compensation for

approximately 100 plant and animal species and 52 vegetative

communities, including the conversion of vernal pools to such uses

pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act.

The anticipated Plan would have multiple purposes, all of which

address the conversion of open space (for wildlife, agricultural,

recreational, educational, flood control and other uses) to non-open

space uses. The anticipated Plan would allow new development to proceed

with predetermined, standardized mitigation

[[Page 12248]]

measures for habitat loss. The anticipated Plan would eliminate the

need for project surveys and mitigation negotiations, and would be

limited to payment of a fee (or in-lieu land dedications, if preferred)

and implementation of incidental take avoidance measures.

The anticipated Plan would be completed by the San Joaquin Council

of Governments (Council of Governments) through a planning process

pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding adopted by the Service, San

Joaquin Council of Governments, San Joaquin County, the California

Department of Fish and Game, Caltrans, and the cities of Escalon,

Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, Stockton, and Tracy.

Only those agencies adopting the Plan would be covered by it.

Agencies indicating interest in adopting the anticipated Plan are: the

San Joaquin Council of Governments; San Joaquin County; Caltrans;

Federal Highway Administration; San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency;

Stockton East Water District; Reclamation Districts, some local School

Districts; East Bay Municipal Utilities District; and the cities of

Escalon, Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, Stockton, and Tracy. To receive

coverage under the Plan, incidental take authorizations would be

required by each of these entities from the Service and California

Department of Fish and Game.

The Plan would be voluntary for individual project proponents. This

means that if the anticipated Plan is prepared and approved and its

associated incidental take permit issued, individuals would have the

option of either participating in the Plan or negotiating directly with

the State and Federal permitting agencies. Specifically, for local

jurisdictions adopting the Plan, the following alternatives would be

available to individuals undertaking activities covered by the Plan

within that jurisdiction unless exempted by the Plan: (1) Pay the

appropriate fee; (2) dedicate, as conservation easements or fee title,

habitat lands; or (3) perform/undertake alternative mitigation as

approved by the permittee. Such alternative mitigation would be

equivalent to, or otherwise consistent with, the purposes of the

anticipated Plan.

Alternatives

To date, the following alternatives have been considered during the

planning process:

Full Plan Alternative/Proposed Project: The anticipated Plan would

include coverage for approximately 100 special status species and 52

vegetative communities occurring in the County, including wetlands,

specifically vernal pools.

No Plan Alternative: This alternative would maintain the current

process of negotiating mitigation and obtaining incidental take permits

for impacts to wildlife habitat on a project-by-project basis.

Moderate Plan Alternative A: This alternative would exclude species

not currently listed under the State and Federal Endangered Species

Acts (i.e., non-listed species of special concern) and would exclude

wetland mitigation under the anticipated Plan.

Moderate Plan Alternative B: This alternative would address Plan

funding if some jurisdictions do not participate in the Plan and if a

five-acre exemption is adopted during reauthorization of the Federal

Endangered Species Act.

Economic Alternatives: This alternative would involve a single fee

versus the tiered fee provided for in the Proposed Project.

Mitigation Alternatives: This would involve a one-half to one

compensation level with increased preserve enhancements for

agricultural habitat lands versus the one-to-one compensation with

lesser preserve enhancements provided for in the Proposed Project.

The comment period will provide an opportunity to address the

potential effects of these alternatives and to propose others.

Interested persons are encouraged to comment on the issues and

alternatives to be addressed in the joint Statement/Report.

Environmental review of the joint Statement/Report will be in

accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy

Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), National

Environmental Policy Act regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), other

appropriate regulations, and Service procedures for compliance with

those regulations. The notice is being furnished in accordance with

section 1501.7 of the National Environmental Policy Act to obtain

suggestions and information from other agencies and the public on the

scope of issues to be addressed in the joint Statement/Report.

Dated: March 7, 1997.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Regional Director, Region 1,

Portland, Oregon.

[FR Doc. 97-6494 Filed 3-13-97; 8:45 am]

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