Special Public Notice - Finalization of the Missouri Bat Programmatic Informal Consultation Framework

Published May 10, 2019

The purpose of this public notice is to announce the Kansas City, Little Rock, St. Louis, Rock Island, and Memphis Districts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have completed programmatic informal consultation for all activities requiring Department of the Army permits. This consultation, which covers activities in waters of the United States within the state of Missouri, complies with the provisions of Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Completion of this consultation eliminates the need for individual ESA consultation on most permit applications submitted to the Corps for activities located in habitat for bats protected under the ESA. The completion of this consultation will improve the permit evaluation process by reducing the time required for evaluation of many permit applications while assuring compliance with the requirements of the ESA.