Joint Counterpart Endangered Species Act Section 7 Consultation Regulations

This final rule codifies joint counterpart regulations for consultation under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA), to streamline consultation on proposed projects that support the National Fire Plan (NFP), an interagency strategy approved in 2000 to reduce risks of catastrophic wildland fires and restore fire-adapted ecosystems. These counterpart regulations were developed, as part of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative announced in August 2002, by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (singly or jointly, Service), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (FS) and the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and National Park Service (NPS). These counterpart regulations, authorized in general at 50 CFR 402.04, provide an optional alternative to the existing section 7 consultation process described in 50 CFR part 402, subparts A and B. The counterpart regulations complement the general consultation regulations in part 402 by providing an alternative process for completing section 7 consultation for agency projects that authorize, fund, or carry out actions that support the NFP. The alternative consultation process contained in these counterpart regulations eliminates the need to conduct informal consultation and eliminates the requirement to obtain written concurrence from the Service for those NFP actions that the Action Agency determines are "not likely to adversely affect" (NLAA) any listed species or designated critical habitat.