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



7663 



* Other species with monetary and 

 non-monetary benefits to people 

 accruing from consumptive and 

 nonconsmnptive human uses including, 

 but not limited to, Bshing, hunting, bird- 

 watching and educational, aesthetic, 

 scientific or subsistence uses. 



An analysis based only on those 

 spedes with directly identifiable 

 economic or social value may not be 

 broad enough to adequately describe all 

 of the ramifications of a land and water 

 use proposaL If it is desirable to 

 increase the ecological perspective of an 

 assessment, the following types of 

 species should be considered: 



* Species known to be sensitive to 

 specific land and water use actions. The 

 species selected with this approach 

 serve as "early warning" or indicator 

 species for the affected fish and wildlife 

 community. 



* Species that perform a key role in a 

 community because of their role in 

 nutrient cycling or energy flows. These 

 species also serve as indicators for a 

 large segment of the fish and wildlife 

 commtmity. but may be difficult to 

 identify. 



■ Species that represent groups of 

 species which utilize a common 

 environmental resource (guilds). A 

 representative species is selected from 

 each guild and predicted environmental 

 impacts for the selected species are 

 extended with some degree of 

 confidence to other guild members. 



"Federal action agency" means a 

 department, agency or instrumentality of 

 the United States which plans, 

 constructs, operates or maintains a 

 project, or which plans for or approves a 

 permit lease, or license for projects or 

 manages Federal lands. 



"Fish and wildlife resources" means 

 birds, fishes, mammals, and all other 

 classes of void animaU and all types of 

 aquatic and land vegetation upon which 

 wildlife is dependent 



"Habitat" means the area which 

 provides direct support for a given 

 species, population, or community. It 

 includes all environmental features that ' 

 comprise an area such as air quality, 

 water quality, vegetation and soil 

 characteristics and water supply 

 (including both surface and 

 groundwater]. 



"Habitat value" means the suitability 

 of an area to support a given evaluation 

 species. 



"Important Resource Problem " means 

 a clearly defined problem with a single 

 Important population or a community of 

 similar species in a given geographic 

 area as defined by the Director of the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service. 



"In-kind replacement" means 

 providing or managing substitute 



resources to replace the habitat value of 

 ' the resources lost where such substitute 

 resources are physically and 

 biologically the same or closely 

 approximate those lost 



"Loss" means a change in fish and 

 wildlife resources due to human 

 activities that is considered adverse 

 and; 



(1) reduces the biological value of that 

 habitat for evaluation species; 



(2j reduces population numbers of 

 evaluation species; 



(3) increases population numbers of 

 "nuisance" species: 



[4] reduces the human use of those 

 fish and wildlife resources; or 



(5) disrupts ecosystem structure and 

 function. 



Changes that improve the value of 

 existing habitat for evaluation species 

 are not to be considered losses. Le.. 

 burning or selective tree harvesting for 

 wildlife management purposes. In 

 addition, reductions in animal 

 populations for the purpose of harvest or 

 fish and wildlife managment will not be 

 considered as losses for the purpose of 

 this policy. 



"Minimize" means to reduce to the 

 smallest practicable amount or degree. 



"Mitigation banking" means habitat 

 protection or improvement actions taken 

 expressly for the purpose of 

 compensating for unavoidable losses 

 from specific future development 

 actions. It only includes those actions 

 above and beyond those typically taken 

 by Congress for protection of fish and 

 wdldlife. resources. 



"Out-of-kind replacement" means 

 providing or managing substitute 

 resources to replace the habitat value of 

 the resources lost where such substitute 

 resources are physically or biologically 

 different from those lost 



"Planning area" means a geographic 

 space with an identified botmdary that 

 includes: 



(1) The area identified in the study's 

 authorizing document: 



(2) The locations of resources 

 included in the study's identified 

 problems and opportimities: 



(3] The locations of alternative plans, 

 often called "project areas;" and 



(4) The locations of resources that 

 woijd be direcdy, indirectly, or 

 cumulatively affected by alternative 

 plans, often called the "affected area." 



"Practicable" means capable of being 

 done within existing constrcdnts. The 

 test of what is practicable depends upon 

 the situation and includes consideration 

 of the pertinent factors, such as 

 environment cost or technology. 



"Project" means any action, planning 

 or approval process relating to an action 



that will directly or indirectly affect fish 

 and wildlife resources. 



"Replacement" means the substitution 

 or offsetting of fish and wildlife resource 

 losses with resoinces considered to be 

 of equivalent biological value. However, 

 resources used for replacement 

 represent loss or modification of another 

 type of habitat value. Replacement 

 actions still result in a loss of habitat 

 acreage and types which will 

 continually diminish the overall national 

 resource base. It shoidd be clearly 

 understood that replacement actions 

 never restore the lost fish and wildlife 

 resource — that is lost forever. 



Dated: January 13. 1981. 

 Cecil Andnis. 

 Secretary of the Department of the Interior. 



[FR Doc. n-ia9S FUed l-=-at: ftM am] 

 BILUNO CODE 4310-S5-II 



o.s. covESHHztrr monae cmcii 1981 o - ue-jea 



