Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Habitat Conservation Plan for the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly and Four Subspecies of the Mazama Pocket Gopher, Thurston and Pierce Counties, Washington; Categorical Exclusion

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have received an application from the Puget Sound Energy (applicant) to renew and amend an existing incidental take permit (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The ITP would authorize the applicant's take of four threatened subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher and the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly incidental to otherwise lawful activities during replacement, repair, and upgrade of existing utility systems in Thurston and portions of Pierce Counties, Washington, for the benefit of energy infrastructure and public safety. The application includes a habitat conservation plan (HCP) with measures to minimize and mitigate the impacts of the taking on the covered species. We also prepared a draft environmental action statement for our preliminary determination that the HCP and our permit decision may be eligible for categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act. We invite comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies regarding the documents.