Notice of Intent To Amend an Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of Bull Trout on the Plum Creek Timber Company Permit for Timber Harvest in the State of Washington

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Notice of Intent To Amend an Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of

Bull Trout on the Plum Creek Timber Company Permit for Timber Harvest

in the State of Washington

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Fish and Wildlife

Service (Service) has received a request to add bull trout (Salvelinus

confluentus) to the species covered by permit PRT-808398 issued to Plum

Creek Timber Company, L.P., on June 27, 1996. This request is pursuant

to the Implementation Agreement for the Habitat Conservation Plan

accompanying incidental take permit PRT-808398. The Service is

proposing to add bull trout to Plum Creek's permit.

DATES: Written comments regarding the addition of bull trout to the

Plum Creek permit should be received on or before June 3, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. John Engbring,

Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E.,

Suite 101, Lacey, Washington 98503. Documents cited in this notice and

comments received will be available for public inspection by

appointment during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday

through Friday).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. William Vogel, Wildlife Biologist,

Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E.,

Suite 101, Lacey, Washington 98503; telephone (360) 753-4367.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On June 27, 1996, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued an

incidental take permit (PRT-808398) to Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P.,

pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of

1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.). This permit authorizes the

incidental take of the threatened northern spotted owl (Strix

occidentalis caurina), marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus

marmoratus), and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos=U.a. horribilis), and the

endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus), in the course of the otherwise

legal forest management and related land-use activities in portions of

King and Kittitas Counties, Washington. Pursuant to the Habitat

Conservation Plan and the Implementation Agreement, Plum Creek received

assurances from the Service that then-unlisted vertebrate species would

be added to the permit upon listing under the Act, if doing so were

consistent with the Implementation Agreement.

On June 13, 1997 (62 FR 32268), the Service proposed to list the

Klamath River population of bull trout as endangered and the Columbia

River population of bull trout as threatened. On September 11, 1997,

Plum Creek requested that bull trout be added to its permit. While the

Service has not yet made a final decision on listing bull trout as a

threatened or endangered species, the Service is proposing to respond

to Plum Creek's request and determine if addition of the Columbia River

distinct population segment of bull trout to the permit is warranted.

The purpose of this notice is to seek public comment on the Service's

proposal to add bull trout to Plum Creek's permit.

Implementation Agreement Provisions

The Implementation Agreement is a legal document describing the

roles and responsibilities of the Service and Plum Creek during the

permit period. Under the Implementation Agreement, plan species are

those vertebrate species dependent on the various habitat types

analyzed in the Habitat Conservation Plan. In the Plum Creek Habitat

Conservation Plan, bull trout are a plan species. The Implementation

Agreement specifies that should any of the plan species that were

unlisted at the time of permit issuance subsequently become listed

under the Act, Plum Creek may request a permit amendment to have that

species added to their permit.

Plum Creek received assurances that, absent extraordinary

circumstances, plan species would be added to the permit without

requiring additional mitigation from Plum Creek if the Service

determined that such action would not appreciably reduce the likelihood

of the survival and recovery of the affected species, or any other

species, in the wild and that adding the species to the permit would be

consistent with the Service's other responsibilities. Absent

extraordinary circumstances, plan species would be added to the permit

without requiring additional mitigation from Plum Creek. Extraordinary

circumstances are defined in the Implementation Agreement as a

substantial and material adverse change in the status of the species.

To determine whether adding bull trout to Plum Creek's permit would

appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of bull

trout or

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any other species, the Service will reinitiate the Section 7 process

under the Act. The Service will also determine whether the permit

amendment meets each of the issuance criteria described in Section

10(a)(2)(B) and that a substantial and material adverse change in the

status of bull trout has not occurred since the permit issuance.

Bull Trout Requirements and New Information Since Permit Issuance

The Service is currently reviewing information about bull trout to

determine whether extraordinary circumstances exist and/or whether

adding bull trout to Plum Creek's permit would appreciably reduce the

ability of bull trout to survive and recover in the wild. The Service

is also reviewing public comments on the proposed rule to list the

Klamath River population of bull trout as endangered and the Columbia

River population of bull trout as threatened, and will make a final

listing determination soon. Information collected as part of the

listing determination process is also being used to make the permit

amendment decision. This information is available for review at the

address listed above.

The Service has identified five distinct population segments of

bull trout: (1) Coastal/Puget Sound; (2) Klamath River; (3) Columbia

River; (4) Jarbidge River; and (5) Saskatchewan River (June 13, 1997,

62 FR 32268). The Columbia River population segment includes the entire

Columbia River Basin and all its tributaries, excluding the isolated

bull trout populations found in the Jarbidge River of Nevada. In the

Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan area, bull trout have been

documented in the Yakima River subbasin, which is part of the proposed

Columbia River Basin distinct population segment. Within the planning

area, bull trout are documented to occur upstream of Cle Elum Lake,

within and upstream of Kachess and Kechelus Lakes, and in the Cle Elum

River downstream of Kechelus Lake.

The Yakima River subbasin encompasses 6,155 square miles and

contains about 1,900 river miles of perennial streams. Predominant land

use within the subbasin includes irrigated agriculture

(1,000 square miles), urbanization (50 square

miles), timber harvesting (2,200 square miles), and grazing

(2,900 square miles) (DOI 1996). About 150 square miles of

the subbasin is managed for timber production by Plum Creek and these

lands are located within 3 subpopulation areas of the 7 subpopulation

areas within the Yakima River subbasin.

Despite an extensive survey effort, bull trout have not been found

in the Green River drainage upstream of the Howard Hansen Dam. The

Green River drainage is part of the Coastal/Puget Sound distinct

population segment. The Coastal/Puget Sound distinct population segment

has not been proposed for listing under the Act ( June 13, 1997, 62 FR

32268) and is not being considered for addition to the Plum Creek

permit.

Bull trout rely on cold, clean water. They are most closely

associated with complex habitats, including large woody debris,

undercut banks, boulders, and pools. Cover provides critical rearing,

foraging, and resting habitat, and protection from predators. The fact

that bull trout spawn in the fall and that the young have a strong

association with substrates makes them particularly vulnerable to

altered stream flow patterns and channel instability. Bull trout prefer

cold, low-gradient streams with loose, clean gravels for spawning and

rearing. Bull trout appear to have strict water temperature tolerances

and maintaining cold water temperatures is important for bull trout.

Water temperature is controlled not only by shade (as influenced by

canopy coverage of adjacent riparian stands), but by groundwater

sources, sedimentation, influx of water from upstream areas, presence

of large woody debris, elevation, and other factors.

Historic adverse impacts to bull trout from forest management and

related land-use activities include removal of large woody debris from

streams and riparian areas, inputs of sediment from upslope logging and

road construction, elevated stream temperatures, and transportation of

logs within the channel network. Current management actions to minimize

impacts from timber harvest include managing riparian buffers to

provide large woody debris, shade, root strength, detrital inputs, and

sediment filtration; managing upslope areas to reduce peak flows, mass-

wasting, and other man-caused inputs of sediment; adequately addressing

construction, maintenance, and abandonment of roads so as to reduce the

delivery of fine sediments to streams; and avoiding any unnatural

blockages to fish passage or alterations in channel morphology. There

are several recent treatments of the effects of forest management,

especially forest roads, on bull trout (Baxter et al. In press; Quigley

and Arbelbide 1997; Quigley et al. 1996; and Thurow et al. 1997).

Thurow determined that increasing road densities and their related

effects are associated with declines in four non-anadromous salmonid

species (including bull trout). Thurow found a correlation between low

road densities and healthy populations of salmonids. Therefore,

addressing impacts from roads is extremely important to protect

critical bull trout habitat requirements.

Minimization and Mitigation Measures

The Environmental Impact Statement developed for the initial permit

decision analyzed the effects that implementing the Habitat

Conservation Plan would have on bull trout. The Service believed that

the Habitat Conservation Plan would have minimal adverse impacts on

bull trout and that it generally provided improving conditions for bull

trout. Buffers on fishbearing and other perennial streams were expected

to provide for the natural processes and functions that bull trout rely

on such as large woody debris inputs, detrital and litter input, root-

strength and bank stability. The Service expected to see reductions in

delivery of fine sediment from roads and recovery of forest stand

structures to improve hydrologic conditions, and reductions in peak

flows and mass-wasting risks.

The Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan utilizes a combination of

conservation measures that are expected to protect bull trout. All

fishbearing streams receive a conservatively managed buffer 200 feet in

width (measured horizontally). The first 30 feet is a no-harvest zone.

Perennial streams without fish and spatially intermittent streams

containing perennial subsurface flow both receive a 100-foot managed

buffer if they are located above bull trout streams. The management of

these buffers is dictated by post-harvest criteria as well as by stand-

level amounts of various forest stages. For instance, over the 50-year

duration Habitat Conservation Plan, these areas are scheduled to

improve from 37 percent mature forest or better to 60 percent mature

forest or better. Any riparian habitat area entered for selective

harvest must retain minimum standards designed to maintain riparian

functions. Inner gorges and mass-wasting areas are protected. The

entire area is undergoing Watershed Analysis on an accelerated 5-year

schedule that can only increase (not decrease) the level of protection

these streams and sensitive areas receive. Even-aged harvest units will

contain an average of 6 snags or snag recruitment trees per acre. Where

harvest units contain ephemeral streams with definable channels, a

portion of the leave trees are often aggregated in these areas due to

logistical constraints. Additionally,

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because rotations are long (65-120 years depending on species and site)

and selective harvest is used liberally (about 80 percent of east-side

harvests are uneven-aged management), fewer ephemeral streams are

exposed to the temporary yet harsh conditions of a standard clearcut at

any given time than would be observed under standard commercial

forestry.

Road management is another important component of the Habitat

Conservation Plan and will also be addressed through watershed

analysis. Watershed Analysis examines potential risks to the resources,

such as sediment delivery from roads, and develops prescriptions to

reduce the vulnerability of the resources. For instance, as a result of

the Quartz Mountain Watershed Analysis within the Habitat Conservation

Plan area, a road-sediment budget was established that included an

elaborate monitoring system. In that watershed, sediment delivery must

be reduced to target levels prior to construction of new roads.

In the Plum Creek Habitat Conservation Plan area, the known bull

trout locations are within the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone. In that

area, as part of the Habitat Conservation Plan's grizzly bear

conservation strategy, open roads under Plum Creek's control must be

reduced to below 1 mile per section within the first 10 years of the

plan.

The minimization and mitigation measures described above represent

the minimum level of riparian conservation that Plum Creek has

committed to implement. Several aspects of the Habitat Conservation

Plan, including watershed analysis, are subject to adaptive management

as described below. If additional actions are necessary to protect bull

trout, adjustments would be made to watershed analysis-derived

prescriptions and to the interim and minimum buffer prescriptions.

Monitoring and Adaptive Management: To ensure that the mitigation

and minimization strategies are effective, the Habitat Conservation

Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic monitoring components that will

provide feedback for adaptive management. For habitat conditions, Plum

Creek will conduct bank-full and low-flow cross-sectional and

longitudinal channel profiles, Wolman pebble counts, large woody debris

counts, permanent photo points to document changes in channel

morphology and substrate composition, and measurement of the frequency

and residual volume of pools. To analyze the effects on stream

temperatures, Plum Creek will initiate a study to measure potential

differences in stream temperatures for four riparian prescriptions,

including 300-foot no-harvest riparian buffers on fish-bearing streams

on National Forest lands. Streams with verified populations of bull

trout, or those on the Clean Water Act 303(d) list, will be monitored

for stream temperature at a minimum of two locations per stream.

Diurnal fluctuations and maximum annual temperature will be evaluated.

Bull trout streams will have additional temperature measurements to

monitor conditions during the spawning season, and to evaluate the

effects of groundwater input on stream temperature. Ambient air

temperature will also be monitored.

In addition to habitat monitoring, Plum Creek will assess salmonid

populations in a watershed with recovering habitat conditions. To

assess the biological integrity of streams, Plum Creek will continue

long-term monitoring of aquatic macro-invertebrates.

Plum Creek will also conduct watershed analysis and re-evaluations

of watershed analyses to provide updated information on hillslope

conditions, stream channel conditions, and the effectiveness of

resource protection prescriptions. Examples of monitoring and research

done as a result of watershed analysis include: (1) A road sediment

production study; (2) McNeil sampling of streams to assess fine

sediment levels; (3) installation of stream gages; (4) testing of

digital elevation hydrologic models; (5) stream temperature monitoring;

and (6) stream surveys to evaluate channel changes and large woody

debris levels. If monitoring results indicate that prescriptions are

ineffective or inadequate, the prescriptions will be changed to make

them effective and adequate.

References

Baxter, C.V., Frissell, C.A. and F.R. Hauer. In press.

Geomorphology, logging roads and the distribution of bull trout

(Salvelinus confluentus) spawning in a forested river basin:

implications for management and conservation.

Quigley, T.M., R.W. Haynes and R.T. Graham, technical editors. 1996.

Integrated scientific assessment for ecosystem management in the

interior Columbia Basin and portions of the Klamath and Great

Basins. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station. Portland, Oregon.

Quigley, T.M. and S.J. Arbelbide, technical editors. 1997. An

assessment of ecosystem components in the interior Columbia Basin

and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins: Volume III. U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. Portland, Oregon.

Thurow, R.F., D.C. Lee and B.E. Rieman. 1997. Distribution and

status of seven native salmonids in the Interior Columbia River

Basin and portions of the Klamath River and Great Basins. North

American Journal of Fisheries Management 17: 1094-1110.

U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Commerce. 1996.

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Issuance of a

Permit to Allow Incidental Take of Threatened and Endangered

Species: Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P., Lands in the I-90

Corridor, King and Kittitas Counties, Washington. (U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service). Olympia,

Washington. March 1996.

Dated: April 29, 1998.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.

[FR Doc. 98-11825 Filed 5-1-98; 8:45 am]

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