Fish and Wildlife Service February 5, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the public comment period on the proposed designation of critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis californiana) and proposed taxonomic revision under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We also announce the availability of the draft economic analysis (DEA) of the proposed critical habitat designation, and an amended required determinations section of the proposal. The DEA provides information about the pre- designation costs and forecasts post-designation costs associated with conservation efforts for Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. The DEA estimates potential future costs due to conservation efforts (baseline costs) to be approximately $26.7 million and costs associated solely with the designation of critical habitat (incremental costs) to be approximately $135,000 in undiscounted dollars over a 20-year period in areas proposed as critical habitat. The amended required determinations section provides our determination concerning compliance with applicable statutes and Executive Orders that we have deferred until the information from the DEA of the proposal was available. We are reopening the comment period to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment simultaneously on the proposed rule, the associated DEA, and the amended required determinations section. Comments submitted during the initial comment period from July 25 to September 24, 2007, on the proposed rule (72 FR 40956), or from October 9 to November 23, 2007, during the reopened comment period on the proposed rule (72 FR 57276) have been incorporated into the supporting for this rulemaking and need not be resubmitted. We will incorporate all comments into the supporting record as part of this comment period, and we will fully consider them when preparing our final determination.