Proposed Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement for Oregon Chub, Willamette Valley, OR

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an enhancement of survival permit pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The permit application includes a proposed Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement (Agreement) between ODFW and the Service. The proposed term of the permit and Agreement is 30 years. The requested permit would authorize ODFW to extend incidental take coverage with assurances to eligible landowners who are willing to carry out habitat management measures that would benefit the federally- listed as endangered Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri) by enrolling them under the Agreement as Cooperators through issuance of Certificates of Inclusion. The covered area or geographic scope of this Agreement includes all non-Federal properties in the Willamette Valley between the cities of Oregon City and Oakridge, Oregon, the estimated historical distribution of the species. We request comments from the public on the permit application, proposed Agreement, and related documents, which are available for review (see ADDRESSES below).