Fish and Wildlife Service December 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or USFWS) are revising the 1978 listing of the Minnesota population of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to conform to current statutory and policy requirements. We rename what was previously listed as the Minnesota population of the gray wolf as the Western Great Lakes (WGL) Distinct Population Segment (DPS), and delineate the boundaries of the expanded Minnesota population segment to include all of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan and portions of the adjacent states. We are removing the WGL DPS from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We are taking this action because the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that the WGL DPS does not meet the definitions of threatened or endangered under the Act. This final rule also removes the designated critical habitat for the wolf in Minnesota and Michigan and the special regulations under section 4(d) of the Act for wolves in Minnesota. We are separating our determination on the delisting of the Western Great Lakes DPS from the determination on our proposal regarding all or portions of the 29 eastern States we considered to be outside the historical range of the gray wolf. This rule finalizes our determination for the WGL DPS. A subsequent decision will be made for the rest of the eastern United States.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, intend to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) for Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge. We will also prepare an environmental assessment (EA) to evaluate the potential effects of various CCP alternatives. We provide this notice in compliance with our CCP policy to advise the public, Federal and State agencies, and Tribes of our intentions, and to obtain public comments, suggestions, and information on the scope of issues to consider during the planning process.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and a finding of no significant impact for the environmental assessment for the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge (refuge). In this final CCP, we describe how we will manage this refuge for the next 15 years.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to conduct a wilderness review (WR) to evaluate lands and waters within the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex (Refuge Complex), to identify Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and to determine if the WSAs are suitable for recommending Congressional designation as wilderness. We will also prepare a legislative environmental impact statement (LEIS), to evaluate the effects of various WR/LEIS alternatives. We provide this notice to advise the public, other agencies, and organizations of our intent, and to obtain public comments, suggestions, and information on the scope of issues to consider during development of the WR/LEIS.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the record of decision (ROD) for the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge and Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White- tailed Deer (Refuges). We completed a thorough analysis of the environmental, social, and economic considerations and presented it in our final EIS, which we released to the public on August 13, 2010.

We, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the Services), announce a draft policy to provide our interpretation of the phrase ``significant portion of its range'' in the Endangered Species Act's (Act's) definitions of ``endangered species'' and ``threatened species.'' The purpose of this notice is to provide a draft interpretation and application of ``significant portion of its range'' that reflects a permissible reading of the law and its legislative history and minimizes undesirable policy outcomes, while fulfilling the conservation purposes of the Act. We seek public comments on this draft policy. It is our intent to publish a final policy that will provide a consistent standard for interpretation of the phrase and its role in listing determinations that will be accorded deference by the federal courts.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, intend to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and environmental assessment (EA) for the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge, NWR). We provide this notice in compliance with our CCP policy to advise other Federal and State agencies, Tribes, and the public of our intentions, and to obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues to consider in the planning process. In addition, we will use special mailings, newspaper articles, Internet postings, and other media announcements to inform people of opportunities for input.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to designate critical habitat for the Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In total, we are proposing as critical habitat approximately 146 miles (234 kilometers) of streams and 117,848 acres (47,691 hectares) of lakes and reservoirs for Lost River sucker and approximately 128 miles (207 kilometers) of streams and 123,590 acres (50,015 hectares) of lakes and reservoirs for shortnose sucker. The proposed critical habitat is located in Klamath and Lake Counties, Oregon, and Modoc County, California. On December 1, 1994, we published proposed critical habitat for Lost River sucker and shortnose sucker. This new proposed rule uses updated information concerning Lost River sucker's and shortnose sucker's ecology, as well as the technological advancements made available since preparing the 1994 proposed rule, to inform our proposed critical habitat designation for Lost River sucker and shortnose sucker.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 6-month extension of the final determination of whether to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus) (lizard) as endangered and reopen the comment period on the proposed rule to list the species. We are taking this action because there is substantial disagreement regarding the sufficiency or accuracy of the available data relevant to the proposed listing rule, making it necessary to solicit additional information by reopening the comment period for 45 days.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a public teleconference of the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council (Council).