Application for Enhancement of Survival Permit, University of Illinois at Chicago; Draft Conservation Benefit Agreement for Eleven Bumble Bee Species

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an application from University of Illinois at Chicago (applicant), for an enhancement of survival (EOS) permit under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The application is supported by the proposed "Nationwide Conservation Benefit Agreement for Bumble Bees on Energy and Transportation Lands" (CBA) in the conterminous 48 United States. The intent of the CBA is to provide non-Federal landowners in the covered area with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the covered species and associated habitat while carrying out on-going operations in a manner that would result in a net conservation benefit to the species. We have made a preliminary determination that the CBA and permit application are eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The basis for this determination is contained in a categorical exclusion checklist, which is available for public review. If approved, the EOS permit would be for a 35-year period following the signature of the EOS and would authorize the incidental take of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee and endangered Franklin's bumble bee. The EOS would also authorize the incidental take of the American bumble bee, variable cuckoo bumble bee, western bumble bee, Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee, crotch bumble bee, southern plains bumble bee, Morrison bumble bee, yellow banded bumble bee, and Ashton's cuckoo bumble bee, if any of these species were to be listed under the ESA.