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Federal Register / Vol. 46. No. 15 / Friday, January 23. 1981 / Notices 



Service personnel shall fully coordinate 

 Environment efforts with Endangered 

 Species efforts to provide timely, 

 consistent, and unified 

 recommendations for resolution of fish 

 and wildlife impacts, to the e.xtent 

 possible. More specifically. Environment 

 and Endangered Species personnel shall 

 coordinate all related activities dealing 

 with investigations of land and water 

 developments. This includes full use of 

 all provisions that can e.xpedite Service 

 achievement of "one-stop shopping." 

 including coordinated early planning 

 involvement shared permit review 

 activities, consolidated permit reporting, 

 and consolidated flow of pre-project 

 information to developers, consistent 

 with legislative mandates and 

 deadlines. 



j. The Service will place high priority 

 on and continue to develop and 

 implement procedures for reducing 

 delays and conflicts in permit related 

 activities. Such procedures will include, 

 but not be limited to: 



[1] Joint processing of permits. 



(2) Resource mapping. 



(3) Early provision of ecological 

 design information. 



, (4) Involvement in Special Area 

 ■v>-Management Planning. 

 .■i^C k. The Service will encourage 

 V predevelopment compensation actions 

 vby Federal action agencies which can be 

 'used to offset future unavoidable losses 

 for lands or waters not adequately 

 protected by an existing law, policy, or 

 program. 



Banking of habitat value for the 

 express purpose of compensation for 

 unavoidable future losses will be 

 considered to be a mitigation measure 

 and not an enhancement measure. 

 Withdrawals &om the mitigation "bank" 

 to offset future unavoidable losses will 

 be based on habitat value replacement, 

 not acreage or cost for land purchase 

 and management 



5. Mitigation Means and Measures 



Mitigation recommendations can 

 include, but are not limited to, the types 

 of actions presented below. These 

 means and measures are presented in 

 the general order and priority in which 

 they should be recommended by -Service 

 personnel with the exception of the "no 

 project" alternative. (See Section 4(a)). 



a. Avoid the impact 



(1) Design project to avoid damage or 

 loss of fish and wildlife resources 

 including management practices such as 

 timing of activities or structural features 

 such as multiple ouUets. passage or 

 avoidance structures and water 

 pollution control facilities. 



(2) Use of nonstructural alternative to 

 proposed project 



(3) No project 



b. Minimize the impact 



(1) Include conservation of fish and 

 wildlife as an authorized purpose of 

 Federal projects. 



(2) Locate at the least environmentally 

 damaging site. 



(3) Reduce the size of the project 



(4) Schedule timing and control of 

 initial construction operations and 

 subsequent operation and maintenance 

 to minimize disruption of biological 

 conununity structure and function. 



(5) Selective tree clearing or other 

 habitat manipulation. 



(6) Control water pollution through 

 best management practices. 



(7) Time and control flow diversions 

 and releases. 



(8) Maintain public access. 



(9) Control public access for 

 recreational or commercial purposes. 



(10) Control domestic livestock use. 



c. Rectify the impact 



(1) Regrade disturbed areas to 

 contours which provide optimal fish and 

 wildlife habitat or approximate original 

 contours. 



(2) Seed, fertilize and treat areas as 

 necessary- to restore fish and wildlife 

 resources. 



(3) Plant shrubs and trees and other 

 vegetation to speed recovery. 



(4) Control polluted spoil areas. 



(5) Restock fish and wildlife resources 

 in repaired areas. Fish stocking or 

 introductions will be consistent with the 

 Service Fish Health Policy January 3, 

 1978). 



d Reduce or eliminate the impact over 

 time 



(1) Provide periodic monitoring of 

 mitigation features to assure continuous 

 operation. 



(2) Assure proper training of project 

 personnel in the operations of the 

 facility to preserve existing or restored 

 fish and wildlife resources at project 

 sites. 



(3) Maintain or replace equipment or 

 structures so that future loss of fish and 

 wildlife resources due to equipment or 

 structure failure does not occur. 



e. Compensate for impacts 



(1) Conduct wildlife management 

 activities to increase habitat values of 

 existing areas, with project lands and 

 nearby public lands receiving priority. 



(2) Conduct habitat construction 

 activities to fully restore or rehabilitate 

 previously altered habitat or modify 

 existing habitat suited to evaluation 



species for the purpose of completely 

 offsetting habitat value losses. 



(3) Build fishery propagation facilities. 



(4) Arrange legislative set-aside or 

 protective designation for public lands. 



(5) Provide buffer zones. 



(6) Lease habitat 



(7) Acquire wildlife easements. 



(8) Acquire water rights. 



(9) Acquire land in fee tide. 



6. Follow-up 



The Service encourages, supports, and 

 will initiate, whenever practicable, post- 

 project evaluations to determine the 

 effectiveness of recommendations in 

 achieving the mitigation planning goaL 

 The Service will initiate additional 

 follow-up studies when funds are 

 provided by the Federal action agency. 



In those instances where Service 

 personnel determine that Federal 

 agencies or private developers have not 

 carried out those agreed upon mitigation 

 means and measures, then the Service 

 will request the responsible Federal 

 action agency to initiate corrective 

 action. 



APPENDIX A— OTHER AUTHORITIES 

 AND DIRECTION FOR SERVICE 

 MITIGATION RECOMMENDATIONS 



LEGISLATIVE 



Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

 as amended (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.). The 

 1977 amendments require the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service ". . . upon reqtiest of 

 the Governor of a State, and without 

 reimbursement to provide technical 

 assistance to such State in developing a 

 Statewide (water quality planning) 

 program and in implementing such 

 program after its approvaL" In addition, 

 this Act requires the Service to comment 

 on proposed State permit programs for 

 the control of discharges of dredged or 

 fill material and to comment on all 

 Federal permits within 90 days of 

 receipt 



Federal Power Act of 1920. as 

 amended (16 U.S.C. 791(a), 803, 811). • 

 This Act authorizes the Secretary of the 

 Interior to impose conditions on licenses 

 issued for hydroelectric projects within 

 specific withdrawn public lands. The 

 Secretary is given specific authority to 

 prescribe fishways to be constructed, 

 maintained, and operated at the 

 liciensee's expense. 



Estuary Protection Act (16 U.S.a 

 1221-1226). This Act requires the 

 Secretary of the Interior to review all 

 project plans and reports for land and 

 water resource development affecting 

 estuaries and to make recommendations 

 for conservation, protection, and 

 enhancement 



Coastal Zone Management Act of 

 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451-1464). This Act 



