Appendix b – hibernacula: forest habitat analysis 98 appendix c – literature cited 101
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PROGRAMMATIC BIOLOGICAL OPINIONFOR THE SHAWNEE NATIONAL FOREST 2006 FOREST PLAN ILLINOIS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marion, Illinois Ecological Services Field Office 8588 Route 148 Marion, Illinois 62959 TABLE OF CONTENTSCONSULTATION HISTORY 3 TIERED APPROACH 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION 4 MEAD’S MILKWEED 28 Status of the Species 28 Environmental Baseline 33 Effects of the Action 36 Cumulative Effects 42 Conclusion 43 INCIDENTAL TAKE STATEMENT – MEAD’S MILKWEED 43 INDIANA BAT 43 Status of the Species 43 Environmental Baseline 55 Effects of the Action 59 Cumulative Effects 83 Conclusion 84 INCIDENTAL TAKE STATEMENT – INDIANA BAT 85 Amount or Extent of Take Anticipated 86 Effects of the Take 88 Reasonable and Prudent Measures 88 Terms and Conditions 88 Requirements for Monitoring and Reporting of Incidental Take 89 of Indiana bats CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS 91 REINITIATION NOTICE 91 APPENDIX A – STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR FEDERALLY 93 LISTED THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES APPENDIX B – HIBERNACULA: FOREST HABITAT ANALYSIS 98APPENDIX C – LITERATURE CITED 101BIOLOGICAL OPINIONCONSULTATION HISTORYInformal consultation on the 2006 Forest Plan began in 2002. The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) provided a list of federally listed threatened and endangered species and information concerning preparation of a biological assessment in a letter dated June 6, 2002. A draft version of the Biological Assessment for the Revised Land and Resources Management Plan was provided to the Service for review on May 12, 2004. The Service met with Forest Service staff on May 27, 2004, to discuss comments on the draft Biological Assessment. In June 2005, the Service, through the Department of the Interior, provided comments to the Forest Service regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Revised Land and Resource Management Plan. The Forest Service submitted a Programmatic Biological Assessment and requested initiation of formal consultation on July 19, 2005. The Service agreed to the request for initiation of formal consultation and requested additional information on August 17, 2005. The additional information was subsequently provided by mail and email with receipt of a Revised Programmatic Biological Assessment dated September 2005. TIERED CONSULTATION APPROACHTo assess the landscape effects of the proposed actions and to facilitate the Shawnee National Forest’s (SNF) section 7(a) (2) responsibilities, a tiered programmatic consultation approach will be implemented. The Tier I level is the review of how the overall goals and prescribed management in the 2006 Forest Plan will impact listed species over the life of the plan. The Tier 1 review will also assess the effects of the management activities (i.e., harvest, burning, etc.) the SNF will utilize to implement the plan on listed species. This programmatic biological opinion constitutes the Tier I level review. The Tier 2 level is the review of how the site specific future actions will affect listed species. As individual projects are proposed under the 2006 Forest Plan, the SNF will do the following: ● Site-specific projects will incorporate all applicable standards and guidelines identified in the 2006 Forest Plan and all of the terms and conditions associated with the reasonable and prudent measures outlined in this opinion. ●Site-specific biological assessments (or biological evaluations) will be submitted to the Service. Site-specific biological assessments will tier to the programmatic documents. As such, much of the information regarding the life history of listed species and other information can be referred back to the appropriate pages in the programmatic documents (Tier 1). The status of the species should be updated as appropriate. ● Site-specific biological assessments will clearly describe the proposed action, identify the species that may be present and describe the site-specific effects of the project to the listed species that may be affected by the project. ● Site-specific biological assessments will contain a statement that identifies al applicable standards and guidelines, terms and conditions and other conservation-related commitments. ● Site-specific biological assessments will contain a statement indicating that the site-specific project is fully compliant with the Tier 1 Programmatic Biological Opinion. ● All site-specific biological assessments will contain the appropriate site-specific determination of effects (i.e., no effect, not likely to adversely affect, wholly beneficial effects, or likely to adversely affect). ● Site-specific biological assessments will provide the cumulative total of take (or surrogate measure to monitor take) that has occurred thus far under the Tier 1 consultation. The Service will review the information provided by the SNF for each site-specific project. We will (1) confirm the species that may be affected, (2) assess how the action may affect the species, including ensuring that the level of effect is commensurate with the effects contemplated in the Program-level biological opinion, and (3) verify the tally of the cumulative total of incidental take that has occurred to date under the Forest Plan. During this review, if it is determined that an individual proposed project is not likely to adversely affect listed species, the Service will complete its documentation with a standard concurrence letter that refers to this Biological Opinion, the Tier 1 programmatic document (i.e., it “tiers” to it), and specifies that the Service concurs that the proposed project is not likely to adversely affect listed species or designated critical habitat. If it is determined that the proposed project is likely to adversely affect listed species or designated critical habitat, then the Service will complete a Tier 2 biological opinion with a project specific incidental take statement. |
