[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 109 (Monday, June 9, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24285-24286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office []
[FR Doc No: 2025-10403]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0049; FF09E41000-256-FXES11130900000]
Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 10(a) Program
Implementation; Development of Conservation Benefit Agreements and
Habitat Conservation Plans, and Issuance of Associated Enhancement of
Survival and Incidental Take Permits
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for information and comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, issue enhancement of
survival permits associated with conservation benefit agreements and
issue incidental take permits associated with habitat conservation
plans under section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as
amended (ESA). We are soliciting information that would improve the
development and implementation of these voluntary agreements, plans,
and permits to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our
section 10(a) program.
DATES: Comments and information must be received by July 9, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comment submission: You may submit comments and information
on this document by one of the following methods:
(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: . In the Search box, enter FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0049,
which is the docket number for this rulemaking action. Then, click on
the Search button. On the resulting page, in the panel on the left side
of the screen, under the Document Type heading, check the notice box to
locate this document. You may submit a comment by clicking on
``Comment.'' Please ensure that you have found the correct document
before submitting your comment. Comments must be submitted to before 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the date
specified in DATES.
(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments
Processing, Attn: FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0049; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We request that you send comments only by the methods described
above. We will post all comments on . This
generally
[[Page 24286]]
means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see
Request for Comments, below, for more information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andy DeVolder, Branch Manager for
Recovery and Conservation Planning, via phone at 703-358-1971.
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:
Background
The purposes of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended
(hereafter referred to as ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), are to provide
a means to conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened
species depend (listed species), to develop a program for the
conservation of listed species, and to achieve the purposes of certain
treaties and conventions. Moreover, the ESA states that it is the
policy of Congress that the Federal government will seek to conserve
endangered and threatened species and use its authorities to further
the statutory purposes (16 U.S.C. 1531(c)(1)). The ESA's implementing
regulations are in title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA authorizes the issuance of permits,
under certain terms and conditions, for any act otherwise prohibited by
section 9 for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or
survival of the affected species. In 1999, we promulgated regulations
(at 50 CFR 17.22(c) and (d) and 50 CFR 17.32(c) and (d)) and finalized
policies regarding safe harbor agreements and candidate conservation
agreements with assurances to incentivize the use of enhancement of
survival permits to further species recovery and conservation (64 FR
32706, 32717, and 32726; June 17, 1999). We updated our implementing
regulations for section 10(a) on April 12, 2024 (89 FR 26070; 2024
rule) to simplify the requirements for enhancement of survival permits
by combining safe harbor agreements and candidate conservation
agreements with assurances into one agreement type called a
conservation benefit agreement. The 2024 rule also clarified which
statutory provision the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)
authorizes the proposed take, either through an enhancement of survival
permit (section 10(a)(1)(A)) or an incidental take permit (section
10(a)(1)(B)). Additional regulatory changes were made to reduce costs
and times associated with negotiating and developing the required
documents to support applications.
The purpose of Section 10(a)(1)(A) conservation benefit agreements
is to incentivize voluntary conservation of listed and at-risk species
on non-Federal lands. The enhancement of survival permits associated
with conservation benefit agreements are intended to incentivize
voluntary conservation by authorizing the take of covered species that
may result from implementing the approved conservation benefit
agreement. These permits also provide assurances that the Service will
not in the future require an increased commitment or impose additional
restrictions on the permittee's current management and use of land,
water, or financial resources. As a result, a property owner may
continue ongoing activities and implement beneficial conservation
measures without concern that their activities may be curtailed by
increasing populations or distribution of a listed species or a species
that may become listed in the future. Therefore, property owners
managing or improving habitat that could be used by a species that is
listed or could be listed in the future, or establishing new
populations of such species, have an incentive to continue their
activities without fear of being subjected to increased regulatory
burdens in the future. In general, take associated with working lands
(e.g., agriculture and silviculture) that are managed in a sustainable
fashion to improve conditions for listed and at-risk species, may be
appropriate under this authority depending upon the proposed covered
activities.
The purpose of Section 10(a)(1)(B) is to provide a means for non-
federal entities to ensure ESA compliance when otherwise lawful
activities may result in incidental take of listed species or a species
that may become listed in the future. Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA
authorizes the issuance of permits, under certain terms and conditions,
to authorize take that would be otherwise prohibited by section 9,
provided the taking is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying
out an otherwise lawful activity. Under section 10(a)(1)(B), the
impacts of the take associated with the otherwise lawful activities
must be minimized and mitigated to the maximum extent practicable,
i.e., the nature of the associated habitat conservation plan is a
mitigation plan to minimize and offset the adverse impacts to the
species that are incidental to otherwise lawful activities. Ultimately,
issuance of an incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) is
beneficial because they strike a balance for non-Federal entities to
continue projects of their choosing on their lands while also providing
for species protection.
Information and Comments Requested
The Service invites information and comments from anyone who would
like to submit information and/or suggestions for improving the
efficiency and effectiveness of conservation benefit agreements,
habitat conservation plans, and their respective enhancement of
survival permits and incidental take permits. We invite all private and
public stakeholders, Tribes or Tribal governments, as well as the
general public to comment or provide any information that they believe
should be taken into consideration. We particularly seek comments
concerning:
(1) Barriers that prevent applicants from pursuing development of
conservation benefit agreements and habitat conservation plans;
(2) Methods to streamline conservation benefit agreement and
habitat conservation plan development and their associated permit
issuance;
(3) Strategies to enhance Service communications on conservation
benefit agreements, habitat conservation plans, and their associated
permits;
(4) Whether any clarification is needed on the roles and
responsibilities of the Service and applicants during conservation
benefit agreement and habitat conservation plan development and permit
issuance;
(5) Funding and resources necessary to develop and implement
conservation benefit agreements and habitat conservation plans;
(6) Strategies the Service could pilot to improve the overall
effectiveness of the section 10(a) program.
Gina Shultz,
Acting Assistant Director for Ecological Services, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-10403 Filed 6-6-25; 8:45 am]
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