[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 107 (Thursday, June 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31916-31918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13624]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-ES-2015-N076; FXES11130100000-156-FF01E00000]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revised Draft
Recovery Plan for the Coterminous United States Population of Bull
Trout and Draft Recovery Unit Implementation Plans
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of document availability for review and public comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of six draft recovery unit implementation plans (RUIPs)
that are part of the recovery plan we are developing for the
coterminous United States population of bull trout (Salvelinus
confluentus). On September 4, 2014, we announced the availability of
the Revised Draft Recovery Plan for the Coterminous United States
Population of Bull Trout, along with a 90-day comment period. While the
revised draft recovery plan proposed the specific goals, objectives,
and criteria that should be met to remove the species from the Federal
List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, the principal conservation
actions needed to advance the recovery of bull trout had not yet been
developed. We have been working through an interagency collaboration of
interested and knowledgeable Federal, Tribal, State, private, and other
parties to develop individual draft RUIPs that propose site-specific
conservation actions for each of six recovery units (Coastal, Klamath,
Mid-Columbia, Columbia Headwaters, Upper Snake, and St. Mary). Based on
comments received on the revised draft recovery plan, we are also
proposing a modification to the recovery criteria for the Columbia
Headwaters Recovery Unit. We consider this a substantive change to the
current revised draft recovery plan. We request review and comment on
the draft RUIPs and recovery criteria modifications from Federal, State
and local agencies, Native American Tribes, and the public.
DATES: In order to be considered, comments on the draft RUIPs and
modified recovery criteria must be received on or before July 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the draft recovery unit implementation
plans, as well as the revised draft recovery plan of September 2014 and
a summary of newly proposed recovery criteria, are available at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/recovery-plans.html and http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/plans.html. These
documents are also available by request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Idaho Fish and Wildlife Office, 1387 S. Vinnell Way, Room 368,
Boise, ID 83709; telephone (208) 378-5345.
If you want to comment, you may submit written comments by one of
the following methods:
(1) You may submit written comments and materials to Bull Trout
Recovery, Idaho Fish and Wildlife Office, at the above Boise address;
(2) You may hand-deliver written comments to our Idaho Fish and
Wildlife Office, at the above Boise address, or fax them to (208) 378-
5262; or
(3) You may send comments by email to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Carrier, State Supervisor,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Fish
[[Page 31917]]
and Wildlife Office, at the above Boise address; telephone (208) 378-
5243. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In November 1999, all populations of bull trout (Salvelinus
confluentus) within the coterminous United States were listed as a
threatened species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; Act) (64 FR 58910; November 1, 1999).
This final listing added bull trout in the Coastal-Puget Sound
populations (Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound regions) and Saint Mary-
Belly River populations (east of the Continental divide in Montana) to
the previous listing of three distinct population segments of bull
trout in the Columbia River, Klamath River, and Jarbidge River basins
(63 FR 31647, June 10, 1998; 64 FR 17110, April 8, 1999).
Recovery of endangered and threatened animals and plants is a
primary goal of our endangered species program. To help guide the
recovery effort, we prepare recovery plans for most listed species.
Recovery plans describe actions considered necessary for conservation
of the species, establish criteria for downlisting or delisting, and
estimate time and cost for implementing recovery measures.
For the coterminous population of bull trout, three separate draft
bull trout recovery plans were completed in 2002 and 2004. The 2002
draft recovery plan (USFWS 2002) addressed bull trout populations
within the Columbia, St. Mary-Belly, and Klamath River basins and
included individual chapters for 24 separate recovery units. In 2004,
draft recovery plans were developed for the Coastal-Puget Sound
drainages in western Washington, including two recovery unit chapters
(USFWS 2004a), and for the Jarbidge River in Nevada (USFWS 2004b).
Although none of these draft recovery plans were finalized, they served
to identify recovery actions across the range of the species, and
provided the framework for implementing numerous recovery actions by
our partner agencies, local working groups, and others since that time.
Revised Draft Recovery Plan
On September 4, 2014, the Service announced the availability of a
Revised Draft Recovery Plan for the Coterminous United States
Population of Bull Trout (79 FR 52741).
The primary recovery strategy for bull trout in the coterminous
United States proposed in the revised draft recovery plan is to: (1)
Conserve bull trout so that they are geographically widespread across
representative habitats and demographically stable in six recovery
units; (2) effectively manage and ameliorate the primary threats in
each of six recovery units at the core area scale such that bull trout
are not likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future; (3)
build upon the numerous and ongoing conservation actions implemented on
behalf of bull trout since their listing in 1999, and improve our
understanding of how various threat factors potentially affect the
species; (4) use that information to work cooperatively with our
partners to design, fund, prioritize, and implement effective
conservation actions in those areas that offer the greatest long-term
benefit to sustain bull trout and where recovery can be achieved; and
(5) apply adaptive management principles to implementing the bull trout
recovery program to account for new information.
The revised draft recovery plan also proposed recovery criteria
that represent our best assessment of the conditions that would most
likely result in a determination that listing under the Act is no
longer required. For bull trout, these conditions would be met when
conservation actions have been implemented to ameliorate the primary
threats in suitable habitats in each of the six recovery units.
Additionally, proposed recovery criteria were drafted with the
acknowledgement that despite our best conservation efforts, it is
possible that some existing bull trout core areas may become extirpated
due to various factors, including the effects of small populations,
isolation, and possible future climate change effects.
If threats are effectively managed at the thresholds established in
the revised draft recovery plan, we expect that bull trout populations
will respond accordingly and reflect the biodiversity principles of
resiliency, redundancy, and representation. Specifically, achieving the
proposed recovery criteria in each recovery unit would result in
geographically widespread and demographically stable local bull trout
populations within the range of natural variation, with their essential
cold water habitats connected to allow their diverse life history forms
to persist into the foreseeable future; therefore, the species would be
brought to the point where the protections of the Act are no longer
necessary.
During the 90 day comment period, we received 70 comment letters
from 4 federal agencies, 5 state agencies, 6 Native American tribes, 9
utilities/commissions/counties, 20 environmental or conservation
organizations, 26 individuals, and 4 peer reviewers. Several commenters
provided new and updated scientific information or suggested revisions
or changes in the revised draft recovery plan. New scientific
information will be incorporated or updated in the final recovery plan
where appropriate.
In general, most of the comments were centered around: (1) The six
recovery unit structure and boundary delineations, with several
suggested boundary changes or further splitting of recovery units
(i.e., separating the core areas in the lower Columbia/Willamette
watersheds from the rest of the Coastal Recovery Unit, separating the
Malheur drainage from the rest of the Upper Snake Recovery Unit, and/or
moving the Clearwater drainage from the Mid-Columbia to Upper Snake
Recovery Unit); (2) lack of support for the proposed threshold for
effective threat management in recovery criteria for the Coastal, Mid-
Columbia, Upper Snake, and Columbia Headwaters Recovery Units (i.e.,
primary threats effectively managed in 75 percent of core areas,
representing 75 percent of local populations within each recovery
unit), which many believe does not conserve all remaining bull trout
populations; (3) concern that the revised draft recovery plan abandons
demographic or population targets proposed in earlier draft recovery
plans for bull trout; and (4) requests for further explanation and
detail regarding the role of monitoring and evaluation in bull trout
recovery.
Any changes resulting from these comments will be reflected when
the final recovery plan is published, and a detailed response to
comments will be included as an appendix to the final recovery plan. We
are continuing to review proposed modifications to the recovery unit
boundaries, but at present the draft RUIPs continue to be based upon
the original recovery unit boundaries as published in the revised draft
recovery plan. Based on comments received, we propose modifying the
recovery criteria for the Columbia Headwaters Recovery Unit to address
simple and complex core areas separately. Given that this is a
substantive change to the revised draft recovery plan, we request
public comment on the criteria as modified. A link to the amended
recovery criteria is available at the Web addresses above. Note also
that the current status and expected needs for bull trout monitoring
and evaluation at the recovery unit and core area level are now
discussed in greater detail within the draft RUIPs.
[[Page 31918]]
The final bull trout recovery plan will describe the principal
actions needed to advance the recovery of bull trout in the six
recovery units within the coterminous United States; and will include
individual RUIPs for each recovery unit that will provide site-specific
detail at the core area scale. The RUIPs for each recovery unit have
been developed through an interagency collaboration of interested and
knowledgeable Federal, Tribal, State, private, and other parties prior
to completion of the final recovery plan. In many parts of the range of
bull trout, local interagency bull trout working groups have previously
identified and are already implementing recovery actions necessary for
local bull trout core area conservation. Much of this existing
information has been incorporated into the RUIPs where appropriate.
RUIPs incorporated in the final recovery plan will also include an
implementation schedule that outline core area specific recovery
actions and estimated costs for bull trout recovery.
Request for Public Comments
Section 4(f) of the Act requires us to provide public notice and an
opportunity for public review and comment during recovery plan
development. In an appendix to the approved final recovery plan, we
will summarize and respond to the issues raised by the public and peer
reviewers. Substantive comments may or may not result in changes to the
recovery plan; comments regarding recovery plan implementation will be
forwarded as appropriate to Federal or other entities so that they can
be taken into account during the course of implementing recovery
actions.
We request written comments on the six draft RUIPs and the proposed
modified recovery criteria. We will consider all comments we receive by
the date specified in DATES prior to final approval of the plan. If you
previously submitted comments or information on the revised draft
recovery plan during the initial comment period from September 4, 2014,
to December 3, 2014 (79 FR 52741), you need not resubmit them. We have
incorporated them into our files for the original comment period, and
we will fully consider them in development of the final recovery plan.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority
The authority for this action is section 4(f) of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: May 12, 2015.
Richard R. Hannan,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-13624 Filed 6-3-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P