General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse; Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL

General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse; Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL

DATES:

Comments will be accepted on or before April 20, 2026. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES , below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing date.

To ensure your comment is received and considered, you must submit it using one of the methods identified in the ADDRESSES section of this document. Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be considered.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application under the approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) for the Alabama Beach Mouse from Kitty Bowden, Tracey Thompson, and Douglas J. Spurling for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ). Each applicant requests an ITP to take the federally listed Alabama Beach Mouse (ABM; Peromyscus polionotus ammobates ). One applicant will take ABM incidental to the construction, maintenance, and operation of a deck and pool addition, one will take ABM due to a deck expansion, and one will take ABM incidental to construction of a single-family home in Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on the applications, on the applicants' HCPs, and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed ITPs may qualify for a categorical exclusion under the General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the ABM published on March 28, 2012 (FWS-R4-ES-2012-N063).

Proposed Projects

Permit Number: PER22978544

Kitty Bowden, applicant, requests a 50-year ITP to take ABM via the conversion of 0.007 acres (ac) of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering habitat incidental to the construction of a deck expansion to an existing house on a 0.145-ac parcel located at 330 Buchana Ct. West in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The applicant proposes to mitigate for the take of ABM through an in-lieu fee of $676.20 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM conservation fund.

Permit Number: PER22254010

Tracey Thompson, applicant, requests a 50-year ITP to take Alabama beach mice via the conversion of 0.056 ac of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering ABM habitat incidental to the construction of a single-family home on a 0.140-ac parcel located at 8400 Zeanah Road in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The applicant proposes to mitigate for the take of ABM through an in-lieu fee of $5,609.70 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM conservation fund.

Permit Number: PER23007373

Douglas J. Spurling, applicant, requests transfer and modify an existing 30-year ITP to take Alabama beach mice via the conversion of 0.016 ac of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering ABM habitat incidental to the construction of a pool with deck to an existing house on a 0.451-ac lot located at 2177 Ponce de Leon Court, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The applicant proposes to mitigate for the take of ABM through an in-lieu fee of $1,619.20 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM conservation fund.

Our Preliminary Determination

The Service has made a preliminary determination that reasonably foreseeable effects of the applicants' proposed projects, including the construction of a deck with a pool and a single-family home and associated infrastructure ( e.g., electric, water, and sewer lines), would have a minor effect on ABM and the human environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would meet the requirements of the GCP and FEIS.

Next Steps

The Service will evaluate the application and the comments to determine whether to issue the requested ITP. We also will conduct an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects of the proposed take. After considering the preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue ITP number PER22978544 to Kitty P. Bowden, ITP number PER2254010 to Tracey Thompson, and ITP Number PER23007373 to Douglas J. Spurling.

Public Availability of Comments

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made available to the public. If you submit a comment at https://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment, including any personal identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a hard copy comment that includes personal identifying information, such as your address, phone number, or email address, you may request at the top of your document that we withhold this information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Moreover, all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public disclosure in their entirety.

Authority

The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.32), National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ), as amended, and the Department of the Interior's implementing regulations (43 CFR part 46).