Standard Local Operating Procedures for Endangered Species (SLOPES) for Selected Nationwide Permit Activities Affecting Bull Trout in Western Montana and Northern Idaho. Endangered Species Act Section 7 Consultation: Biological Opinion.

摘要

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires authorization from the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Corps of Engineers (Corps), for the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States. A programmatic Biological Assessment (BA) was developed cooperatively by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory offices in Walla Walla and Omaha Districts, to initiate Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act for minor actions in northern Idaho and western Montana that may affect bull trout and Kootenai white sturgeon (COE 2012). This document addresses the consultation requirements for bull trout. Consultation for Kootenai white sturgeon will be addressed separately. The BA proposes the establishment of a protocol of Standard Local Operating Procedures for Endangered Species (SLOPES), which would be applicable to activities that typically require review and verification under commonly utilized Nationwide Permits (NWPs) pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Fed Reg Vol. 63, No. 126, July 1, 1998). The Agencies intent of establishing SLOPES is to provide more efficient use of government resources required to conduct numerous ESA consultations for minor activities and to document compliance with the ESA for actions which may be authorized by NWPs affecting aquatic endangered species. The intent of the SLOPES is to cover non-federal land where the Army Corps of engineers is the lead consulting agency. The geographic area covered by this SLOPES includes portions of western Montana and northern Idaho in the Columbia River and the St. Mary Bull Trout Interim Recovery Units (RU) (USFWS 2002). The entire range of white sturgeon in the United States is a subset of this geographic area contained within the Kootenai River.