Notice of Application to Amend an Endangered Species Act Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of Bull Trout on the Washington Department of Natural Resources Permit for Western Washington

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Notice of Application to Amend an Endangered Species Act

Incidental Take Permit: Inclusion of Bull Trout on the Washington

Department of Natural Resources Permit for Western Washington

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Permit Amendment Application.

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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 an incidental take permit PRT-

812521, issued to the Washington Department of Natural Resources under

the Endangered Species Act (Act) on January 30, 1997. This request is

pursuant to the Implementation Agreement for the Habitat Conservation

Plan (Plan) accompanying incidental take permit PRT-812521. The

Department of Natural Resources has requested the Service add bull

trout to their permit.

DATES: Written comments regarding the application to add bull trout to

the Department of Natural Resources' permit must be received on or

before July 17, 1998.

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

Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite 101, Lacey,

Washington 98503; facsimile (360) 534-9331. Documents cited in this

notice and comments received will be available for public inspection at

the above office by appointment during normal business hours (8 a.m. to

5 p.m., Monday through Friday).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Vogel, Wildlife Biologist,

Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive, S.E., Suite 101, Lacey,

Washington 98503; telephone (360) 753-4367.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On January 30, 1997, the Service issued an incidental take permit

(PRT-812521) to the Department of Natural Resources, pursuant to

Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as

amended (16 USC 1531 et seq.). This permit authorizes the incidental

take of the threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis

caurina) and other listed species in the course of the otherwise lawful

forest management and other land-use activities within the range of the

spotted owl. Pursuant to the Plan and the Implementation Agreement, the

Department of Natural Resources received assurances from the Service

that then-unlisted species occurring on their lands west of the Cascade

Crest would be added to the permit upon listing of those species, in

accordance with the Act, the Plan, and the Implementation Agreement.

On June 8, 1998 (63 FR 31647), the Service published the final rule

to list the Columbia River distinct population segment of bull trout as

a threatened species. On May 20, 1998, the Service received a request

from the Department of Natural Resources that bull trout be added to

its incidental take permit (PRT 812521). The purpose of this notice is

to seek public comment on the Department of Natural Resources'

application to add bull trout to its permit.

According to the Implementation Agreement for the Department of

Natural Resources permit, if any species that was unlisted at the time

of permit issuance subsequently becomes listed under the Act, the

Department of Natural Resources may request a permit amendment to have

that species added to their permit. Under the terms of the Plan and the

Implementation Agreement, the Service would add the newly listed

species to the Department of Natural Resources permit without requiring

additional mitigation unless extraordinary circumstances exist.

Prior to adding bull trout to the Department of Natural Resources'

permit, the Service will determine if extraordinary circumstances exist

and will also reinitiate consultation under section 7 of the Act to

determine whether adding bull trout to the Department of Natural

Resources' permit would be likely to jeopardize the continued existence

or destroy modify the critical habitat of any listed species.

Bull Trout Conservation

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. Bull

trout spawn in the fall and the young have a strong association with

stream bottoms, thus making 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. There is also a correlation between increasing road densities

and declines in the health of bull trout populations. These

characteristics make bull trout particularly susceptible to effects of

timber-management and other stream-side and forest management

activities. Historic adverse impacts to bull trout from forest

management and related land-use activities included 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.

Department of Natural Resources Plan Measures

The Department of Natural Resources' Plan utilizes a combination of

conservation measures that are expected to adequately minimize or

mitigate the impacts of any incidental take of bull trout. All

fishbearing streams (Washington State Types 1 through 3) receive a

conservatively managed buffer equal in width (measured horizontally

from the 100-year floodplain) to a site-potential tree height (derived

from 100-year site-index curves) or 150 feet, whichever is greater. The

first 25 feet is a no-harvest zone. Perennial streams without fish

(Type 4) receive a 100-foot buffer. Additional information, including a

description of wind buffers, can be found in the Plan at pages IV 56-

59.

Inner gorges and mass-wasting areas are protected by unstable

hillslope and mass wasting protection provisions of

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the Plan (IV 62) and it is expected that 50 percent of the seasonal

streams (Type 5) will be protected as a result of the mass-wasting

protection provisions. The other 50 percent of Type 5 streams receive

interim protections as necessary and will be addressed within the Type

5 research and adaptive-management component to be completed within the

first 10 years of the Plan. Watershed Analysis can only increase, not

decrease, the level of protection these streams receive. Road

management is another critical component of the Department of Natural

Resources' Plan (IV 62-68).

Provisions for the Olympic Experimental State Forest are described

in the Plan on pages IV 81-86, 106-121. In general, the strategy for

the Olympic Experimental State Forest provides conservation very

similar to the remainder of the Department of Natural Resources Plan,

but a higher emphasis is placed on research, landscape assessments, and

validation monitoring.

These minimization and mitigation measures described above

represent the minimum level of riparian conservation the Department of

Natural Resources will provide under the Plan. Several aspects of the

Plan, including riparian protection, are subject to adaptive

management. To ensure that the mitigation and minimization strategies

are effective, the Plan incorporates a variety of aquatic monitoring

components that will provide feedback for adaptive management and, if

needed, increase riparian protection.

Dated: June 11, 1998.

Ronald E. Lambertson,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.

[FR Doc. 98-16056 Filed 6-16-98; 8:45 am]

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