Fish and Wildlife Service April 2, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This information collection is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2012. We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB regulations, we may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the San Francisco Bay-Delta distinct population segment (Bay Delta DPS) of longfin smelt as endangered or threatened and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the longfin smelt rangewide is not warranted at this time, but that listing the Bay-Delta DPS of longfin smelt is warranted. Currently, however, listing the Bay-Delta DPS of longfin smelt is precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Upon publication of this 12-month finding, we will add the Bay-Delta DPS of longfin smelt to our candidate species list. We will develop a proposed rule to list the Bay-Delta DPS of longfin smelt as our priorities allow. We will make any determinations on critical habitat during the development of the proposed listing rule. During any interim period, we will address the status of the candidate taxon through our annual Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR).