Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Status Review of Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus, 55524-55525 [E9-25990]

Agencies

• Fish and Wildlife Service
• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 28, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55524-55525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25990]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

[FWS-R6-ES-2009-0065]
[MO 9221050083-B2]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Status Review of 
Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in the Upper Missouri River System

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to conduct status review.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), under the 
authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), give 
notice of our intent to conduct a status review of Arctic grayling 
(Thymallus arcticus) in the upper Missouri River system. We conduct 
status reviews to determine whether the entity should be listed as 
endangered or threatened under the Act. Through this notice, we 
encourage all interested parties to provide us information regarding 
Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River basin.

DATES: We must receive information no later than November 27, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit information by one of the following methods:
     Via e-mail to: fw6_arcticgrayling@fws.gov
     U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Arctic Grayling Status Review, 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Field Office, 585 Shepard Way, 
Helena, Montana 59601.
    We will not accept faxes.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Wilson, Montana Field Office; 
telephone (406) 449-5225. Individuals who are hearing-impaired or 
speech-impaired may call the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Information

    To ensure that the status review is based on the best available 
scientific and commercial information and to provide an opportunity to 
any interested parties to provide information for consideration during 
the status assessment, we are requesting information concerning Arctic 
grayling in the upper Missouri River system. We request information be 
provided within 30 days. We request information from the public, other 
concerned governmental agencies, Native American tribes, the scientific 
community, industry, and any other interested party. We are seeking:
    (1) General information concerning the taxonomy, biology, ecology, 
genetics, and status of the Arctic grayling of the upper Missouri River 
system;
    (2) Specific information relevant to the consideration of the 
potential distinct population segment (DPS) status of Arctic grayling 
in the upper Missouri River system in accordance with our Policy 
Regarding the Recognition of Distinct Vertebrate Population Segments 
(61 FR 4722, February 7, 1996) (known as the DPS Policy), which 
specifically considers two elements: (i) discreteness of the population 
segment in relation to the remainder of the species to which it 
belongs; and (ii) the significance of the population segment to the 
species to which it belongs. Per our recent settlement, we will 
consider various DPS designations that include different life histories 
of Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River system. Specifically, we 
may consider DPS configurations that include the fluvial (relating to, 
or inhabiting, a river or stream) and/or adfluvial (fish that live in 
lakes and migrate into streams to spawn) Arctic grayling in the upper 
Missouri River system;
    (3) Specific information on the conservation status of Arctic 
grayling in the upper Missouri River system, including information on 
distribution, abundance, and population trends;
    (4) Specific information on threats to Arctic grayling in the upper 
Missouri River, including: (i) the present or threatened destruction, 
modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (ii) 
overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or 
educational purposes; (iii) disease or predation; (iv) the inadequacy 
of existing regulatory mechanisms; and (v) other natural or manmade 
factors affecting its continued existence; and
    (5) Specific information on conservation actions designed to 
improve Arctic grayling habitat or reduce threats to grayling in the 
upper Missouri River system.
    If you submit information, we request you support it with 
documentation such as data, maps, bibliographic references, methods 
used to gather and analyze the data, or copies of any pertinent 
publications, reports, or letters by knowledgeable sources.
    Section 4(b)(1)(A) of the Act directs that determinations as to 
whether any species is an endangered or threatened species must be made 
``solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data 
available.''
    You may submit your information concerning this status review by 
one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section. If you submit 
information that includes personal identifying information, you may 
request at the top of your document that we withhold this personal 
identifying information from public review. However, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    Information and supporting documentation that we receive and use in 
preparing this finding will be available for you to review by 
appointment during normal business hours at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Montana Field Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Background

    The Arctic grayling is a fish belonging to the family Salmonidae 
(salmon, trout, charr, whitefishes), subfamily Thymallinae (graylings), 
and is represented by a single genus, Thymallus (Scott and Crossman 
1973, pp. 301-302; Behnke 2002, pp. 327-331). Arctic grayling have 
long, thin bodies with deeply forked tails, and adults typically 
average 254 to 330 millimeters (10 to 13 inches) in length. Coloration 
varies from silvery or iridescent blue and lavender, to dark blue 
(Behnke 2002, pp. 327-328). Arctic grayling have a prominent sail-like 
dorsal fin, which is large and vividly colored with rows of orange to 
bright green spots, and often has an orange border. Dark spots often 
appear on the body toward the head (Behnke 2002, pp. 327-328).
    Arctic grayling are native to Arctic Ocean drainages of 
northwestern Canada and Alaska; the Peace, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca 
River drainages in Alberta, eastward to Hudson Bay and westward to the 
Bering Straits; and eastern Siberia and northern Eurasia (Scott and 
Crossman 1973, pp. 301-302). Arctic grayling also are native to Pacific 
coast drainages of Alaska and Canada as far south as the Stikine River 
in British Columbia (Scott and

[[Page 55525]]

Crossman 1973, pp. 301-302; Nelson and Paetz 1991, pp. 253-256; Behnke 
2002, pp. 327-331).
    Pleistocene glaciations isolated two North American populations of 
Arctic grayling outside of Canada and Alaska (Vincent 1962, pp. 23-31). 
One population occurred in streams and rivers of the Great Lakes region 
of northern Michigan, but was extirpated in the 1930s (Hubbs and Lagler 
1949, p. 44; Scott and Crossman 1973, p. 301). The second population 
(Arctic grayling of the upper Missouri River) inhabits watersheds in 
the upper Missouri River basin upstream of Great Falls, Montana. This 
population is the subject of our status review.

Previous Federal Actions

    We have published a number of documents on Arctic grayling, and we 
describe our actions relevant to this notice below:
    We initiated a status review for the Montana Arctic grayling 
(Thymallus arcticus montanus) in a Federal Register notice on December 
30, 1982 (47 FR 58454). In that notice, we designated the purported 
subspecies Montana Arctic grayling as a Category 2 species. At that 
time, we designated a species as Category 2 if a listing as endangered 
or threatened was possibly appropriate, but we did not have sufficient 
data to support a proposed rule to list the species.
    On October 9, 1991, the Biodiversity Legal Foundation and George 
Wuerthner petitioned us to list the fluvial Arctic grayling in the 
upper Missouri River basin as an endangered species throughout its 
historical range in the coterminous United States.
    We published a notice of a 90-day finding in the January 19, 1993, 
Federal Register (58 FR 4975), concluding the petitioners presented 
substantial information indicating that listing the fluvial Arctic 
grayling of the upper Missouri River in Montana and northwestern 
Wyoming may be warranted. This finding noted that taxonomic recognition 
of the Montana Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus montanus) as a 
subspecies (previously designated as a category 2 species) was not 
widely accepted and that the scientific community generally considered 
this population a geographically isolated member of the wider species 
(T. arcticus).
    On July 25, 1994, we published a notice of a 12-month finding in 
the Federal Register (59 FR 37738) concluding that listing the DPS of 
fluvial Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River was warranted but 
precluded by other higher priority listing actions (it should be noted 
that this DPS determination predated our DPS policy (61 FR 4722, 
February 7, 1996), so it did not undergo a formal DPS analysis as 
required by the policy). This finding placed fluvial Arctic grayling of 
the upper Missouri River on the candidate list and assigned it a 
listing priority of 9. On May 4, 2004, we elevated the listing priority 
number of the fluvial Arctic grayling to 3 (69 FR 24881).
    On May 31, 2003, the Center for Biological Diversity and Western 
Watersheds Project (Plaintiffs) filed a complaint in U.S. District 
Court in Washington, D.C., challenging our ``warranted but precluded'' 
determinations. On July 22, 2004, the Plaintiffs amended their 
complaint to challenge our failure to emergency list this population. 
We settled with the Plaintiffs in August 2005, and we agreed to submit 
a final determination on whether this population warranted listing as 
endangered or threatened to the Federal Register on or before April 16, 
2007.
    On April 24, 2007, we published a revised 12-month finding on the 
petition to list the upper Missouri River DPS of fluvial Arctic 
grayling (72 FR 20305). In this finding, we determined that fluvial 
Arctic grayling of the upper Missouri River did not constitute a 
species, subspecies, or DPS under the Act. Therefore, we found that the 
upper Missouri River population of fluvial Arctic grayling was not a 
listable entity under the Act, and as a result listing was not 
warranted. With that notice, we withdrew the fluvial Arctic grayling 
from the candidate list.
    On November 15, 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a 
complaint to challenge our revised 12-month finding. We initiated a 
voluntary remand of our finding in May 2009. With this notice, we are 
initiating a new status review for Arctic grayling of the upper 
Missouri River system. Per our recent settlement, we will consider 
various DPS designations that include different life histories of 
Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River system. Specifically, we 
may consider DPS configurations that include the fluvial and/or 
adfluvial Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River system.
    For additional information on the biology or previous Federal 
actions on grayling, see the April 24, 2007, revised 12-month finding 
(72 FR 20305).

References Cited

    Behnke, R.J. 2002. Trout and salmon of North America. The Free 
Press, New York.
    Hubbs, C.L., and K.F. Lagler. 1949. Fishes of the Great Lakes 
Region. Cranbrook Institute of Science. Bulletin No. 26, Bloomfield 
Hills, Michigan.
    Nelson, J.S., and M.J. Paetz. 1991. The fishes of Alberta, second 
edition. University of Alberta Press, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
    Scott, W.B., and E.J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. 
Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184, Ottawa.
    Vincent, R.E. 1962. Biogeographical and ecological factors 
contributing to the decline of Arctic grayling, (Thymallus arcticus), 
in Michigan and Montana. PhD Dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann 
Arbor, Michigan. 169 pp.

Author

    The primary author of this document is Douglas Peterson, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Montana Field Office.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: October 20, 2009
Daniel M. Ashe,
Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
[FR Doc. E9-25990 Filed 10-27-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-S