Notice of Availability - 60-day comment period

37373

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 130 / Monday, July 9, 2007 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
and Plants; Draft Post-Delisting
Monitoring Plan for the Bald Eagle
(Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and
Proposed Information Collection
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of draft
post-delisting monitoring plan; request
for comments.
AGENCY:

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of the draft post-delisting
monitoring plan (draft PDM Plan) for
the bald eagle (Haliaeetus
leucocephalus). The Endangered
Species Act (ESA) requires that the
Service implement a system, in
cooperation with the States, to monitor
effectively for at least 5 years, the status
of all species that have been recovered
and no longer need protection of the
ESA. The bald eagle in the contiguous
48 states will be removed from the
Federal List of Threatened and
Endangered Wildlife and Plants
(delisted) due to recovery. We are
publishing the final rule for the
delisting simultaneously with this
notice elsewhere in today’s Federal
Register. We will also ask the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to
approve the information collection (IC)
for the draft PDM Plan described below.
DATES: Comments from all interested
parties on the draft bald eagle postdelisting monitoring plan must be
received on or before October 9, 2007.
You must submit comments regarding
the information collection aspects of the
draft bald eagle post-delisting
monitoring plan on or before October 9,
2007.
ADDRESSES: The draft PDM Plan may be
downloaded from our Web site at http://
www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered. To
request a copy of the draft PDM Plan,
write to our Rock Island Field Office:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1511
47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265; or
call 309–757–5800 to receive a copy.

You may also send an e-mail request to
[email protected]. Specify
whether you want to receive a hard
copy by U.S. mail or an electronic copy
by e-mail.
Send your comments by any of the
following methods. See ‘‘Viewing
Documents’’ and ‘‘Public Comments
Solicited’’ under SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION for important information.
• Mail: Bald Eagle Draft PDM Plan
Comments, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Rock Island Field Office, 1511
47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois 61265.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Same
address as above.
• E-mail: [email protected].
Include ‘‘Bald Eagle Draft PDM Plan
Comments’’ in the subject line of the
message.
• Fax: 309–757–5807. Include ‘‘Bald
Eagle Draft PDM Plan Comments’’ in the
subject line.
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Send your comments on the
information collection to Hope Grey,
Information Collection Clearance
Officer, Fish and Wildlife Service, MS
222–ARLSQ, 4401 North Fairfax Drive,
Arlington, VA 22203 (mail);
[email protected] (e-mail); or (703)
358–2269 (fax).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Direct all questions or requests for
additional information about the draft
PDM Plan to Jody Millar (see
ADDRESSES). To request additional
information about this information
collection, contact Hope Grey (see
ADDRESSES). Individuals who are
hearing-impaired or speech-impaired
may call the Federal Relay Service at
1–800–877–8337 for TTY assistance, 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
We are publishing the final rule to
remove the bald eagle from the Federal
List of Threatened and Endangered
Wildlife and Plants simultaneously with
this notice elsewhere in today’s Federal
Register. Available data indicate that
this species has recovered due to the
Environmental Protection Agency’s
Number of
respondents

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Activity

restrictions on organochlorine
pesticides in the United States, and also
due to implementation of successful
management activities and protection of
habitat under the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) (ESA).
Section 4(g)(1) of the ESA requires
that we implement a system, in
cooperation with the States, to
effectively monitor for not less than 5
years, the status of all species that have
been recovered and delisted. In order to
meet the ESA’s monitoring requirement,
and to facilitate the efficient collection
of data, we have designed a sampling
method to be implemented by various
States, capable of detecting substantial
changes in the bald eagle population in
the lower 48 states.
The draft bald eagle post-delisting
monitoring plan was developed in
cooperation with State resource
agencies and interested scientists, and
will be carried out by the Service’s
Monitoring Team in collaboration with
Federal, State, Tribal, and private
cooperators. The monitoring plan
proposes to start in the winter of 2008
and spring of 2009. We will conduct
surveys every 5 years over the next 20
years.
Monitoring will consist of the
collection of information on numbers of
nesting bald eagles in selected locations
based on State participation and density
of identified bald eagle nest sites. At the
end of each 5-year monitoring event we
will review all available information to
determine the status of the bald eagle.
Information Collection
OMB Control Number: New.
Title: Bald Eagle Post-Delisting
Monitoring Plan.
Service Form Number(s): 3–2343, 3–
2344.
Type of Request: New.
Affected Public: State agencies,
Federal, Tribal, private land managers,
wildlife rehabilitators, and cooperators.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: Once every 5
years for the Eagle and Nest Observation
Checklist; on occasion for the Bald Eagle
Mortality Report Form.

Number of
responses

Completion time
per response
(hours)

Annual burden
hours

Eagle and Nest Observation Checklist (FWS form #3–2344) .............
Bald Eagle Mortality Report Form (FWS form #3–2343) ....................

17
48

357
384

6.2
0.25

2,213
96

Total ..............................................................................................

65

741

..............................

2,309

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37374

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 130 / Monday, July 9, 2007 / Notices

Public Comments Solicited

Please submit Internet comments to
[email protected] in ASCII file
format and avoid the use of special
characters or any form of encryption.
Please also include ‘‘Bald Eagle Draft
PDM Plan Comments’’ in the subject
line of the message, and your full name
and return address in the body of your
message. Please note that the Internet
address [email protected] will be
closed when the public comment period
is closed.
We will take into consideration the
relevant comments, suggestions, or
objections that we receive by the
comment due date indicated above in
DATES. These comments, suggestions, or
objections, and any additional
information received may lead us to
adopt a final PDM Plan that differs from
this draft PDM Plan. Comments merely
stating support or opposition to the draft
PDM Plan without providing supporting
data are not as helpful.

We request comments on the draft
bald eagle post-delisting monitoring
plan. All comments received by the date
specified above will be considered
during preparation of the final PDM
plan. We prefer to receive comments via
e-mail, but you may submit your
comments by the alternate methods
mentioned above.

Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone
number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment

Viewing Documents

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The complete file for the monitoring
plan is available for inspection, by
appointment, during normal business
hours at our Rock Island Field Office,
1511 47th Avenue, Moline, Illinois;
309–757–5800 (phone). The comments
and materials we receive on the
monitoring plan during the comment
period will be available for public
inspection by appointment during
normal business hours at the Rock
Island Field Office and at our Ecological
Services Field Offices in Spokane,
Washington (509–893–8002), Phoenix,
Arizona (602–242–0210), Jacksonville
(904–232–2580) or Vero Beach, Florida
(772–562–3909), Manhattan, Kansas
(785–539–3474), and Annapolis,
Maryland (772–562–3909). Call those
offices to make arrangements to view
documents.

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to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
We also invite comments concerning
this IC on:
(1) Whether the collection of
information is necessary, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) Ways to minimize the burden of
the collection of information on
respondents.
Comments that you send about this IC
are a matter of public record. We will
include and/or summarize each
comment in our request to OMB to
approve this IC.
Authority: The authority for this action is
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: June 26, 2007.
H. Dale Hall,
Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 07–4303 Filed 7–6–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

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