Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse, 1774-1776 [2022-00362]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 12, 2022 / Notices
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[FR Doc. 2022–00386 Filed 1–11–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–05–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R2–ES–2021–0136;
FXES11130200000–212–FF02ENEH00]
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for the
New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comments.
AGENCY:
We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, announce the
SUMMARY:
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17:04 Jan 11, 2022
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availability of our draft recovery plan
for the New Mexico meadow jumping
mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus). This
subspecies occurs in riparian habitats in
New Mexico, Arizona, and southern
Colorado, and was listed as endangered
in 2014 under the Endangered Species
Act. We request review and comment on
this draft recovery plan from local,
State, and Federal agencies; Tribes;
nongovernmental organizations; and the
public.
DATES: We must receive any comments
on or before March 14, 2022. Comments
submitted online at https://
www.regulations.gov (see ADDRESSES)
must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern
Time on March 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may
obtain a copy of the draft recovery plan
and species status assessment by the
following methods:
• Internet: Go to one of the following
sites:
Æ https://www.regulations.gov in
Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2021–0136;
Æ https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/
7965; or
Æ https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/
NewMexico/.
• U.S. mail: Send a request to U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico
Ecological Services Field Office
(NMESFO), 2105 Osuna NE,
Albuquerque, NM 87113.
• Telephone: 505–346–2525 or 800–
299–0196.
Submitting Comments: Submit your
comments in writing by one of the
following methods:
• Internet: https://
www.regulations.gov. Search for and
submit comments on Docket No. FWS–
R2–ES–2021–0136.
• U.S. mail: Public Comments
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R2–
ES–2021–0136; U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Headquarters, MS: PRB/3W,
5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA
22041–3803.
For additional information about
submitting comments, see Request for
Public Comments and Public
Availability of Comments under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Shawn Sartorius, Field Supervisor, at
505–346–2525, or by email at nmesfo@
fws.gov. Individuals who are hearing or
speech impaired may call the Federal
Relay Service at 1–800–877–8339 for
TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), announce the availability of
our draft recovery plan for New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse (Zapus
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
hudsonius luteus), which we listed as
endangered in 2014 (79 FR 33119)
under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.). The subspecies is endemic to
New Mexico, Arizona, and a small area
of southern Colorado. It nests in dry
soils and uses dense riparian vegetation
up to an elevation of about 9,500 feet.
The draft recovery plan includes
specific goals, objectives, and criteria
that may help to inform our
consideration of whether to reclassify
the species as threatened (i.e.,
‘‘downlist’’) or remove the subspecies
from the Federal List of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife (i.e., ‘‘delist’’). We
request review of and comment on the
draft recovery plan from local, State,
and Federal agencies; Tribes;
nongovernmental organizations; and the
public.
Recovery Planning and Implementation
Section 4(f) of the ESA requires the
development of recovery plans for listed
species, unless such a plan would not
promote the conservation of a particular
species. Also pursuant to section 4(f) of
the ESA, a recovery plan must, to the
maximum extent practicable, include:
(1) A description of site-specific
management actions as may be
necessary to achieve the plan’s goals for
the conservation and survival of the
species;
(2) Objective, measurable criteria that,
when met, would support a
determination under section 4(a)(1) that
the species should be removed from the
List of Endangered and Threatened
Species; and
(3) Estimates of the time and costs
required to carry out those measures
needed to achieve the plan’s goal and to
achieve intermediate steps toward that
goal.
In 2016 the USFWS revised its
approach to recovery planning, and is
now using a process termed recovery
planning and implementation (RPI) (see
https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esalibrary/pdf/RPI.pdf). The RPI approach
is intended to reduce the time needed
to develop and implement recovery
plans, increase recovery plan relevance
over a longer timeframe, and add
flexibility to recovery plans so they can
be adjusted to new information or
circumstances. Under RPI, a recovery
plan addresses the statutorily required
elements under section 4(f) of the Act,
including site-specific management
actions, objective and measurable
recovery criteria, and the estimated time
and cost to recovery. The RPI recovery
plan is supported by two supplementary
documents: A species status assessment
(SSA), which describes the best
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available scientific information related
to the biological needs of the species
and assessment of threats, and a
recovery implementation strategy,
which details the particular near-term
activities needed to implement the
recovery actions identified in the
recovery plan. Under this approach, we
can more nimbly incorporate new
information on species biology or
details of recovery implementation by
updating these supplementary
documents without concurrent revision
of the entire recovery plan, unless
changes to statutorily required elements
are necessary.
Species Background
On June 10, 2014, we published a
final rule (79 FR 33119) to list the New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse as
endangered. On March 16, 2016, we
published a final rule (81 FR 14264)
designating critical habitat for the
subspecies. The New Mexico meadow
jumping mouse is a small (181 to 233
millimeters (mm); 7.1 to 9.2 inches (in)
in total length) dark brown rodent with
an extremely long, bicolored tail (125.1
mm; 4.9 in), with a white underside and
yellowish-brown sides. It is a true
hibernator, hibernating from October
through May, and is active from late
May or early June into early October.
The subspecies occurs within elevations
ranging from approximately 1,372 m
(4,500 ft) up to approximately 2,896 m
(9,500 ft). It is a habitat specialist that
requires dense riparian herbaceous
vegetation with a minimum height of 61
cm (24 in) associated with seasonally
available or perennial (persistent)
flowing water, moist soils, and adjacent
uplands that can support the vegetation
characteristics needed for jumping
mouse foraging, breeding, and
hibernating.
Past and current habitat loss has
resulted in the extirpation of historical
populations and has reduced the size
and increased the isolation of existing
populations. The primary sources of
current and anticipated future habitat
loss include (1) livestock, elk, and feral
horse grazing pressure that is
incompatible with maintaining needed
vegetation structure and diversity (i.e.,
contributes to riparian herbaceous
vegetation loss); (2) incompatible water
management and use (e.g., dams and
water diversion and mowing along
irrigation ditches); (3) lack of water due
to drought (exacerbated by climate
change); and (4) severe wildland fires
that cause changes to riparian habitat
(also exacerbated by climate change).
Additional sources of habitat loss are
likely to occur from post-fire scouring
floods, stream incision resulting in
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17:04 Jan 11, 2022
Jkt 256001
disconnection of the floodplain from the
stream channel, loss of beaver ponds,
highway construction and maintenance,
residential and commercial
development, coalbed methane
development, and unregulated
recreation.
Recovery Criteria
The draft recovery criteria are
summarized below. For a complete
description of the rationale behind the
objective, measurable criteria, the
recovery strategy, site-specific
management actions, and estimated
time and costs associated with recovery,
refer to the draft recovery plan for New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse (see
ADDRESSES for document availability).
The ultimate recovery goal is to delist
the subspecies by ensuring the longterm viability in the wild. The New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse
currently is known to occur within
thirteen 8th hydrological unit code
(HUC8) subunits distributed across the
subspecies’ historical range in eastern
Arizona, southern Colorado, and New
Mexico. The thirteen HUC8s are within
six geographical units (GUs) that
contain the currently known
populations. In the recovery plan, we
define the following criteria for
downlisting and delisting.
Downlisting Criteria
Criterion 1: Occupied riparian and
adjacent upland New Mexico meadow
jumping mouse habitat within each of
13 HUC8s are protected, maintained,
and/or restored.
Criterion 2: Within an occupied
HUC8, an overall stable or increasing
New Mexico meadow jumping mouse
estimate population trend is
documented over an 8-year period.
Criterion 3: Threats to New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse are decreasing
or abated when the protection and
expansion of occupied New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse riparian
functionally connected habitat and
adjacent upland habitat meet Criteria 1
and 2.
Criterion 4: At least one HUC8 in each
of the GUs has functional habitat and
population(s) maintained as to meet
criteria 1 and 2 above, to ensure genetic
and ecological representation.
Delisting Criteria
Criterion 1: Occupied riparian and
adjacent upland New Mexico meadow
jumping mouse habitat within each of
16 HUC8s are protected, maintained,
and/or restored.
Criterion 2: Within an occupied
HUC8, an overall stable or increasing
New Mexico meadow jumping mouse
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Sfmt 4703
1775
estimated population trend is
documented over a 12-year period.
Criterion 3: Threats to New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse are decreasing
or abated when the protection and
expansion of occupied New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse riparian
functionally connected habitat and
adjacent upland habitat meet Criteria 1
and 2, and significant threats that
include excessive grazing, ineffective
water management and/or water
diversions, stream degradation, and
stream incision with flood plain
disconnection are controlled or
managed to the extent that they do not
pose imminent or chronic downward
pressures on the New Mexico meadow
jumping mouse and its habitat.
Criterion 4: At least two HUC8s in
each of the GUs have functional habitat
and populations maintained as to meet
criteria 1 and 2 above to ensure genetic
and ecological representation.
Request for Public Comments
Section 4(f) of the ESA requires us to
provide public notice and an
opportunity for public review and
comment during recovery plan
development. It is also our policy to
request peer review of recovery plans
(59 FR 34270; July 1, 1994). In an
appendix to the final recovery plan, we
will summarize and respond to the
issues raised during public comment
and peer review. 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
agencies or other entities so that they
can be taken into account during the
course of implementation of recovery
actions.
We invite written comments on this
draft recovery plan. In particular, we are
interested in additional information
regarding the current threats to the
species, ongoing beneficial management
efforts, and the costs associated with
implementing the recommended
recovery actions. The species status
assessment is accessible as a supporting
document for the draft recovery plan,
but we are not seeking comments on
that document. We will consider all
comments we receive by the date
specified in DATES, above, prior to final
approval of the plan.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments we receive, including
names and addresses, will become part
of the administrative record and will be
available to the public. Before including
your address, phone number, email
address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 12, 2022 / Notices
should be aware that your entire
comment—including your personal
identifying information—will be
publicly available. While you may
request in your comment that we
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Authority
We developed our draft recovery plan
and publish this notice under the
authority of section 4(f) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Amy L. Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022–00362 Filed 1–11–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R5–ES–2021–N198;
FXES11130500000–212–FF05E00000]
Endangered Species; Receipt of
Recovery Permit Applications
AGENCY:
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
Notice of receipt of permit
applications; request for comments.
ACTION:
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
The requested permits would allow the
applicants to conduct activities
intended to promote recovery of species
that are listed as endangered under the
ESA.
Background
With some exceptions, the ESA
prohibits activities that constitute take
of listed species unless a Federal permit
is issued that allows such activity. The
ESA’s definition of ‘‘take’’ includes such
activities as pursuing, harassing,
trapping, capturing, or collecting, in
addition to hunting, shooting, harming,
wounding, or killing.
A recovery permit issued by us under
section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA
authorizes the permittee to conduct
activities with endangered or threatened
species for scientific purposes that
promote recovery or for enhancement of
propagation or survival of the species.
Our regulations implementing section
10(a)(1)(A) for these permits are found
at 50 CFR 17.22 for endangered wildlife
species, 50 CFR 17.32 for threatened
wildlife species, 50 CFR 17.62 for
endangered plant species, and 50 CFR
17.72 for threatened plant species.
Permit Applications Available for
Review and Comment
We invite local, State, and Federal
agencies; Tribes; and the public to
comment on the following applications.
Permit
action
Application No.
Applicant
Species
Location
Activity
Type of take
PER0002181 ...
Paul L. Angermeier, dba
USGS/Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA.
State University of New
York—ESF, Syracuse,
NY.
Candy darter
(Etheostoma osburni).
Add: West Virginia .........
Electrofish, survey ..........
Capture, collect ..............
Amend.
Piping plover
(Charadrius melodus).
New York .......................
Survey, band, biological
samples, propagate.
Capture, collect, wound
New.
PER0027548 ...
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We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, have received
applications for permits to conduct
activities intended to enhance the
propagation or survival of endangered
species under the Endangered Species
Act. We invite the public and local,
State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to
comment on these applications. Before
issuing the requested permits, we will
take into consideration any information
that we receive during the public
comment period.
DATES: We must receive your written
comments on or before March 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Use one of the following
methods to request documents or
submit comments. Requests and
comments should specify the applicant
name and application number (e.g.,
PER0001234):
• Email: permitsR5ES@fws.gov.
• U.S. Mail: Abby Gelb, Ecological
Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
300 Westgate Center Dr., Hadley, MA
01035.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Abby Gelb, 413–253–8212 (phone), or
permitsR5ES@fws.gov (email).
Individuals who are hearing or speech
impaired may call the Federal Relay
Service at 1–800–877–8339 for TTY
assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite
the public to comment on applications
for permits under section 10(a)(1)(A) of
SUMMARY:
Public Availability of Comments
Written comments we receive become
part of the administrative record
associated with this action. 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 request in your comment
that we withhold your personal
identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so. Moreover, all
submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of
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17:04 Jan 11, 2022
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organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public disclosure in
their entirety.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Next Steps
[222A2100DD/AAKC001030/
A0A51010.999900]
If we decide to issue permits to the
applicants listed in this notice, we will
publish a notice in the Federal Register.
Authority
Section 10(c) of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Martin Miller,
Manager, Division of Endangered Species,
Ecological Services, North AtlanticAppalachian Region.
[FR Doc. 2022–00363 Filed 1–11–22; 8:45 am]
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Bureau of Indian Affairs
Notice of Deadline for Submitting
Completed Applications To Begin
Participation in the Tribal SelfGovernance Program in Fiscal Year
2023 or Calendar Year 2023
Office of Self-Governance,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of application deadline.
AGENCY:
In this notice, the Office of
Self-Governance (OSG) establishes a
March 1, 2022, deadline for Indian
tribes/consortia to submit completed
applications to begin participation in
SUMMARY:
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1774-1776]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00362]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136; FXES11130200000-212-FF02ENEH00]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery
Plan for the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the
availability of our draft recovery plan for the New Mexico meadow
jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus). This subspecies occurs in
riparian habitats in New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado, and
was listed as endangered in 2014 under the Endangered Species Act. We
request review and comment on this draft recovery plan from local,
State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; nongovernmental organizations; and
the public.
DATES: We must receive any comments on or before March 14, 2022.
Comments submitted online at https://www.regulations.gov (see ADDRESSES)
must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may obtain a copy of the draft recovery
plan and species status assessment by the following methods:
Internet: Go to one of the following sites:
[cir] https://www.regulations.gov in Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136;
[cir] https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/7965; or
[cir] https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/NewMexico/.
U.S. mail: Send a request to U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office (NMESFO), 2105
Osuna NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
Telephone: 505-346-2525 or 800-299-0196.
Submitting Comments: Submit your comments in writing by one of the
following methods:
Internet: https://www.regulations.gov. Search for and
submit comments on Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R2-ES-2021-0136; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
For additional information about submitting comments, see Request
for Public Comments and Public Availability of Comments under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shawn Sartorius, Field Supervisor, at
505-346-2525, or by email at [email protected]. Individuals who are
hearing or speech impaired may call the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-
877-8339 for TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), announce the availability of our draft recovery plan for New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus), which we listed
as endangered in 2014 (79 FR 33119) under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The subspecies is
endemic to New Mexico, Arizona, and a small area of southern Colorado.
It nests in dry soils and uses dense riparian vegetation up to an
elevation of about 9,500 feet. The draft recovery plan includes
specific goals, objectives, and criteria that may help to inform our
consideration of whether to reclassify the species as threatened (i.e.,
``downlist'') or remove the subspecies from the Federal List of
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (i.e., ``delist''). We request
review of and comment on the draft recovery plan from local, State, and
Federal agencies; Tribes; nongovernmental organizations; and the
public.
Recovery Planning and Implementation
Section 4(f) of the ESA requires the development of recovery plans
for listed species, unless such a plan would not promote the
conservation of a particular species. Also pursuant to section 4(f) of
the ESA, a recovery plan must, to the maximum extent practicable,
include:
(1) A description of site-specific management actions as may be
necessary to achieve the plan's goals for the conservation and survival
of the species;
(2) Objective, measurable criteria that, when met, would support a
determination under section 4(a)(1) that the species should be removed
from the List of Endangered and Threatened Species; and
(3) Estimates of the time and costs required to carry out those
measures needed to achieve the plan's goal and to achieve intermediate
steps toward that goal.
In 2016 the USFWS revised its approach to recovery planning, and is
now using a process termed recovery planning and implementation (RPI)
(see https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/RPI.pdf). The RPI
approach is intended to reduce the time needed to develop and implement
recovery plans, increase recovery plan relevance over a longer
timeframe, and add flexibility to recovery plans so they can be
adjusted to new information or circumstances. Under RPI, a recovery
plan addresses the statutorily required elements under section 4(f) of
the Act, including site-specific management actions, objective and
measurable recovery criteria, and the estimated time and cost to
recovery. The RPI recovery plan is supported by two supplementary
documents: A species status assessment (SSA), which describes the best
[[Page 1775]]
available scientific information related to the biological needs of the
species and assessment of threats, and a recovery implementation
strategy, which details the particular near-term activities needed to
implement the recovery actions identified in the recovery plan. Under
this approach, we can more nimbly incorporate new information on
species biology or details of recovery implementation by updating these
supplementary documents without concurrent revision of the entire
recovery plan, unless changes to statutorily required elements are
necessary.
Species Background
On June 10, 2014, we published a final rule (79 FR 33119) to list
the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse as endangered. On March 16, 2016,
we published a final rule (81 FR 14264) designating critical habitat
for the subspecies. The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse is a small (181
to 233 millimeters (mm); 7.1 to 9.2 inches (in) in total length) dark
brown rodent with an extremely long, bicolored tail (125.1 mm; 4.9 in),
with a white underside and yellowish-brown sides. It is a true
hibernator, hibernating from October through May, and is active from
late May or early June into early October. The subspecies occurs within
elevations ranging from approximately 1,372 m (4,500 ft) up to
approximately 2,896 m (9,500 ft). It is a habitat specialist that
requires dense riparian herbaceous vegetation with a minimum height of
61 cm (24 in) associated with seasonally available or perennial
(persistent) flowing water, moist soils, and adjacent uplands that can
support the vegetation characteristics needed for jumping mouse
foraging, breeding, and hibernating.
Past and current habitat loss has resulted in the extirpation of
historical populations and has reduced the size and increased the
isolation of existing populations. The primary sources of current and
anticipated future habitat loss include (1) livestock, elk, and feral
horse grazing pressure that is incompatible with maintaining needed
vegetation structure and diversity (i.e., contributes to riparian
herbaceous vegetation loss); (2) incompatible water management and use
(e.g., dams and water diversion and mowing along irrigation ditches);
(3) lack of water due to drought (exacerbated by climate change); and
(4) severe wildland fires that cause changes to riparian habitat (also
exacerbated by climate change). Additional sources of habitat loss are
likely to occur from post-fire scouring floods, stream incision
resulting in disconnection of the floodplain from the stream channel,
loss of beaver ponds, highway construction and maintenance, residential
and commercial development, coalbed methane development, and
unregulated recreation.
Recovery Criteria
The draft recovery criteria are summarized below. For a complete
description of the rationale behind the objective, measurable criteria,
the recovery strategy, site-specific management actions, and estimated
time and costs associated with recovery, refer to the draft recovery
plan for New Mexico meadow jumping mouse (see ADDRESSES for document
availability).
The ultimate recovery goal is to delist the subspecies by ensuring
the long-term viability in the wild. The New Mexico meadow jumping
mouse currently is known to occur within thirteen 8th hydrological unit
code (HUC8) subunits distributed across the subspecies' historical
range in eastern Arizona, southern Colorado, and New Mexico. The
thirteen HUC8s are within six geographical units (GUs) that contain the
currently known populations. In the recovery plan, we define the
following criteria for downlisting and delisting.
Downlisting Criteria
Criterion 1: Occupied riparian and adjacent upland New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse habitat within each of 13 HUC8s are protected,
maintained, and/or restored.
Criterion 2: Within an occupied HUC8, an overall stable or
increasing New Mexico meadow jumping mouse estimate population trend is
documented over an 8-year period.
Criterion 3: Threats to New Mexico meadow jumping mouse are
decreasing or abated when the protection and expansion of occupied New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse riparian functionally connected habitat and
adjacent upland habitat meet Criteria 1 and 2.
Criterion 4: At least one HUC8 in each of the GUs has functional
habitat and population(s) maintained as to meet criteria 1 and 2 above,
to ensure genetic and ecological representation.
Delisting Criteria
Criterion 1: Occupied riparian and adjacent upland New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse habitat within each of 16 HUC8s are protected,
maintained, and/or restored.
Criterion 2: Within an occupied HUC8, an overall stable or
increasing New Mexico meadow jumping mouse estimated population trend
is documented over a 12-year period.
Criterion 3: Threats to New Mexico meadow jumping mouse are
decreasing or abated when the protection and expansion of occupied New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse riparian functionally connected habitat and
adjacent upland habitat meet Criteria 1 and 2, and significant threats
that include excessive grazing, ineffective water management and/or
water diversions, stream degradation, and stream incision with flood
plain disconnection are controlled or managed to the extent that they
do not pose imminent or chronic downward pressures on the New Mexico
meadow jumping mouse and its habitat.
Criterion 4: At least two HUC8s in each of the GUs have functional
habitat and populations maintained as to meet criteria 1 and 2 above to
ensure genetic and ecological representation.
Request for Public Comments
Section 4(f) of the ESA requires us to provide public notice and an
opportunity for public review and comment during recovery plan
development. It is also our policy to request peer review of recovery
plans (59 FR 34270; July 1, 1994). In an appendix to the final recovery
plan, we will summarize and respond to the issues raised during public
comment and peer review. 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 agencies or
other entities so that they can be taken into account during the course
of implementation of recovery actions.
We invite written comments on this draft recovery plan. In
particular, we are interested in additional information regarding the
current threats to the species, ongoing beneficial management efforts,
and the costs associated with implementing the recommended recovery
actions. The species status assessment is accessible as a supporting
document for the draft recovery plan, but we are not seeking comments
on that document. We will consider all comments we receive by the date
specified in DATES, above, prior to final approval of the plan.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments we receive, including names and addresses, will become
part of the administrative record and will be available to the public.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your comment, you
[[Page 1776]]
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal
identifying information--will be publicly available. While you may
request in your comment that we withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority
We developed our draft recovery plan and publish this notice under
the authority of section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Amy L. Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-00362 Filed 1-11-22; 8:45 am]
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