United States Department of the Interior U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office 101 12th Avenue, Room 110 Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 December 2, 2011 Kevin Morgan, Chief, Regulatory Division USACE Alaska District P.O. BOX 6898, CEPOA-RD JBER, AK 99506-0898 Re: Biological Opinion for the ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.’s proposed CD-5 project (POA-2005-1576) Dear Mr. Morgan: This document transmits the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service’s) Biological Opinion (BO) on a revised proposal by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. to construct and operate Alpine Satellite Development CD-5 and concludes section 7 consultation on the proposed action. After reviewing the information provided, the status of the species, the environmental baseline, and cumulative effects, the Service has concluded that the proposed activities may adversely affect spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri), polar bears (Ursus maritimus), and polar bear critical habitat but are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of either species and are not likely to destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat for polar bears. We also concluded that the proposed action is not likely to adversely affect Steller’s eiders (Polysticta stelleri). The Service previously issued a BO for CPAI’s proposed Alpine Satellite Development Project located within the Colville River Delta and the eastern planning area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on September 28, 2004 (2004 BO). In the 2004 BO, the Service concluded that the proposed project, including plans for future development of CD-5, would not jeopardize the continued existence of spectacled eiders and the proposed action was not likely to adversely affect Steller’s eiders. Although we provide updated information and analysis regarding effects to spectacled eiders in the current BO, the conclusions, incidental take statement, and terms and conditions of the 2004 BO remain valid. We have incorporated the 2004 BO into the current BO as Appendix B. BIOLOGICAL OPINION for the CD-5 ALPINE SATELLITE FACILITY CONOCOPHILLIPS ALASKA, INC. Consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Anchorage, Alaska Prepared by: Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 101 12th Ave, Room 110 Fairbanks, AK 99701 December 2, 2011 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................1 2. Description of the Proposed Action ...........................................................................3 Proposed Action .................................................................................................3 Construction and Operations..............................................................................4 Action Area ........................................................................................................7 3. Status of Species ........................................................................................................7 Spectacled Eider.................................................................................................7 Polar Bear.........................................................................................................17 Polar Bear Critical Habitat ...............................................................................23 4. Environmental Baseline ...........................................................................................25 Spectacled Eider...............................................................................................25 Polar Bear.........................................................................................................31 Polar Bear Critical Habitat ...............................................................................39 5. Effects of the Action on Listed Species ...................................................................41 Spectacled Eider...............................................................................................41 Polar Bear.........................................................................................................44 Polar Bear Critical Habitat ...............................................................................47 Interdependent and Interrelated Effects ...........................................................49 6. Cumulative Effects...................................................................................................49 7. Conclusion ...............................................................................................................50 8. Incidental Take Statement........................................................................................52 9. Reasonable and Prudent Measures...........................................................................53 10. Conservation Recommendations ...........................................................................54 11. Reinitiation Notice .................................................................................................54 12. Literature Cited ......................................................................................................55 Appendix A. Estimating direct and indirect spectacled eider habitat loss from the CD-5 project.................................................................................................................71 Appendix B. 2004 Biological Opinion for the Alpine Satellite Development Project ........72 Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline Biological Opinion USACE 2011 i List of Figures Figure 3.1. Male and female spectacled eiders in breeding plumage ...........................8 Figure 3.2. Distribution of spectacled eiders ................................................................9 Figure 3.3. Mean spectacled eider breeding density across Alaska’s Arctic Coastal Plain 1993–1999 above and 2000–2006 below (from Larned et al. 2006) ..................10 Figure 3.4. Estimated relative density distribution of spectacled eiders on the central coast zone of the Yukon Delta, Alaska based on 3 time periods: 1998–2001 (left), 2002–2005 (middle), and 2006–2009 (right; from Platte and Stehn 2009) .................11 Figure 3.5. Spectacled eider satellite telemetry locations for 12 female and 7 male spectacled eiders in the eastern Chukchi Sea from 1 April – 15 June 2010 and 1 April – 15 June 2011. ................................................................................................14 Figure 3.6. Ranges of polar bear stocks in Alaska (USFWS 2009). ...........................18 Figure 4.1. Estimated spectacled eider density in the Alpine Satellite Development area. Denisty polygons are based on the 2007–2010 Arctic Coastal Plain aerial survey data (USFWS Migratory Bird Management, unpublished data). .....................26 Figure 4.2. Historical polar bear den observations and designated polar bear critical habitat on and near the Colville River Delta. ...................................................33 List of Tables Table 3.1 Important staging and molting areas for each sex of each breeding population of spectacled eiders. ...................................................................................13 Table 4.1 Activities on the eastern Arctic Coastal Plain that required formal section 7 consultation and the amount of incidental take provided. ...........................................29 Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline Biological Opinion USACE 2011 ii 1. INTRODUCTION This document is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) Biological Opinion (BO) on a revised proposal by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. (CPAI) to construct and operate Alpine Satellite Development CD-5. CPAI has submitted a revised permit application (POA-2005- 1576) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE;) under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and USACE reinitiated section 7 consultation on the proposed CD-5 project on October 21, 2011. Consultation History The Service issued a BO for CPAI’s proposed Alpine Satellite Development Project (ASDP) located within the Colville River Delta and the eastern planning area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NE NPR-A) on September 28, 2004 (2004 BO; USFWS 2004). The 2004 BO examined potential effects of the proposed project on spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri) in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA) in consultation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the lead action agency and the USACE and the U.S. and the Coast Guard as cooperating agencies. The Service concluded that the proposed project would not jeopardize the continued existence or recovery of spectacled eiders and issued incidental take of 1 adult spectacled eider and 3 spectacled eider eggs/ducklings resulting from long-term habitat loss. The Service also concurred with the BLM’s determination that the proposed action was not likely to adversely affect Steller’s eiders (Polysticta stelleri). On December 20, 2005, the Service issued a letter to USACE analyzing the validity of the 2004 BO with respect to changes to the development of CD-5. At that time, the Service did not anticipate that additional adverse effects on spectacled or Steller’s eiders would result from the changes to CPAI’s Alpine Satellite project and determined that the conclusions, incidental take statement, and terms and conditions of the 2004 BO remained valid. Reinitiation Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA, (16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.), requires that each