Build on Beaches? Save the Alabama Beach Mouse First!
Published Date: 8/21/2026
Notice
Summary
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of application from each of Randy G. Carter, James W. Vladuchek, Joseph J. Smith, and Four Mile Marker, LLC (applicant/applicants) for four respective incidental take permits (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act under the Service's approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact statement for the Alabama beach mouse (ABM). A GCP is a mechanism that meets the definition of a conservation plan in the ESA and enables the programmatic permitting and conservation process to address a defined suite of proposed activities over a defined planning area. Each applicant requests an ITP to take the federally listed ABM incidental to the construction associated with residential development. We request public comment on these applications, which include the applicants' proposed habitat conservation plan, as well as on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may qualify under the terms of the ABM GCP. We certify that each of the applications received are statutorily complete and include the necessary information to enroll in the GCP.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Builders must pay ABM mitigation fees
Four applicants in Gulf Shores, Alabama requested 50-year incidental take permits that would allow conversion of small areas of Alabama beach mouse habitat: 0.147 acres, 0.02 acres, 0.01 acres, and 0.034 acres. Each applicant proposes to mitigate by paying in-lieu fees of $14,690.79, $1,968.80, $1,000.50, and $3,399.40 respectively to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's Alabama beach mouse conservation fund.
Service preliminarily finds projects minor
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service preliminarily determined the foreseeable effects of these residential projects would be minor and that the proposed permits may qualify under the Alabama beach mouse General Conservation Plan and the final environmental impact statement published March 28, 2012. That preliminary finding applies to the proposed single-family home construction, garage and driveway, deck with pool addition, and tear-down/rebuild described in the applications.
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