Fish and Wildlife Service November 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States, as a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), will attend the sixteenth regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP16) in Bangkok, Thailand, during March 3 to 15, 2013. Currently, the United States is developing its negotiating positions on proposed resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals), as well as other agenda items that have been submitted by other Party countries, the permanent CITES committees, and the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP16. In a notice published on November 9, 2012, we announced a public meeting to be held on December 5, 2012, to discuss the items on the provisional agenda for CoP16. This notice revises the previously announced date of the public meeting.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the opening of an information collection period regarding the status of the ashy storm-petrel (Oceanodroma homochroa) throughout its range in the United States. The status review will include analysis of whether the ashy storm-petrel may be an endangered or threatened species due to threats in any significant portion of the range of the ashy storm- petrel. Through this action, we encourage all interested parties to provide us information regarding the status of, and any potential threats to, the ashy storm-petrel throughout its range, or any significant portion of its range.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, designate critical habitat for the southern Selkirk Mountains population of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) under the Endangered Species Act. In total, approximately 30,010 acres (12,145 hectares) is being designated as critical habitat. The critical habitat is located in Boundary County, Idaho, and Pend Oreille County, Washington. We are finalizing this action in compliance with our obligation under the Act and in compliance with a court-approved settlement agreement. The effect of this regulation is to conserve the habitat essential to the southern Selkirk Mountains population of woodland caribou.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the African lion (Panthera leo leo) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing this subspecies may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a review of the status of the subspecies to determine if listing the African lion is warranted. To ensure that this status review is comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding this subspecies. Based on the status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on the petition, which will address whether the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), announce the initiation of a status review of the Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei) (Preble's) throughout its range. We conduct status reviews to determine whether a species should be listed as endangered or threatened under the Act. Following this status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on two petitions to delist Preble's. Because a status review also is required for the 5- year review of listed species under section 4(c)(2)(A) of the Act, we are electing to prepare these reviews simultaneously. At the conclusion of these simultaneous reviews, we will issue the 12-month finding on the petitions, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act, and make the requisite determination under section 4(c)(2)(B) of the Act based on the results of the 5-year review. Through this notice, we encourage all interested parties to provide us information regarding the Preble's. We also announce the availability of new information relevant to our consideration of the status of the Preble's.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following application to conduct certain activities with endangered or threatened species. The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), prohibits activities with endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act also requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (Act) prohibits activities with endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

This notice informs the public that the Bristol Bay Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (Council) will hold a public meeting by teleconference on December 3, 2012. The public is invited to participate and to provide oral testimony. The purpose of the Council is to provide recommendations and information to the Federal Subsistence Board, to review policies and management plans, and to provide a public forum for subsistence issues.

In this Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), present an updated list of plant and animal species native to the United States that we regard as candidates for or have proposed for addition to the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Identification of candidate species can assist environmental planning efforts by providing advance notice of potential listings, allowing landowners and resource managers to alleviate threats and thereby possibly remove the need to list species as endangered or threatened. Even if we subsequently list a candidate species, the early notice provided here could result in more options for species management and recovery by prompting candidate conservation measures to alleviate threats to the species. The CNOR summarizes the status and threats that we evaluated in order to determine that species qualify as candidates and to assign a listing priority number (LPN) to each species or to determine that species should be removed from candidate status. Additional material that we relied on is available in the Species Assessment and Listing Priority Assignment Forms (species assessment forms) for each candidate species. Overall, this CNOR recognizes two new candidates, changes the LPN for nine candidates, and removes three species from candidate status. Combined with other decisions for individual species that were published separately from this CNOR in the past year, the current number of species that are candidates for listing is 192. This document also includes our findings on resubmitted petitions and describes our progress in revising the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants (Lists) during the period October 1, 2011, through September 30, 2012. We request additional status information that may be available for the 192 candidate species identified in this CNOR.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following application for a permit to conduct activities with the purpose of enhancing the survival of endangered species. The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), prohibits certain activities with respect to endangered species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act also requires that we invite public comment before issuing such permits.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a record of decision (ROD) for the final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and final environmental impact statement (EIS) for Charles M. Russell and UL Bend National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs, Refuges).

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and associated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents for Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Bibb County, Alabama. We provide this notice in compliance with our CCP policy to advise other Federal and State agencies, Native-American tribes, and the public of our intentions, and to obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues to consider in the planning process.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Translocation of Southern Sea Otters (final SEIS). The final SEIS evaluates options for continuing, revising, or terminating the southern sea otter translocation program, which was initiated in 1987. The purpose of the program was to achieve a primary recovery action for the southern sea otter: to create an established population at San Nicolas Island sufficient to repopulate other areas of the range should a catastrophic event affect the mainland population. The document describes the proposed action and alternatives under consideration and discloses the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of each of the alternatives.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) prohibit activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is acquired that allows such activities.