Fish and Wildlife Service April 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on these applications. Before issuing any of the requested permits, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct activities intended to enhance the propagation and 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.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on an application to conduct certain activities with a foreign species that is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). With some exceptions, the ESA prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is issued that allows such activity. The ESA also requires that we invite public comment before issuing permits for any activity otherwise prohibited by the ESA with respect to any endangered species.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the lake sturgeon as an endangered or threatened species is not warranted at this time. However, we ask the public to submit to us at any time any new information relevant to the status of the lake sturgeon or its habitat.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing a new information collection.

We, the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service (Service), revise the regulations concerning the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The purposes of these revisions are to: clarify the appropriate use of enhancement of survival permits and incidental take permits; clarify our authority to issue these permits for non-listed species without also including a listed species; simplify the requirements for enhancement of survival permits by combining safe harbor agreements and candidate conservation agreements with assurances into one agreement type; and incorporate portions of our five-point policies for safe harbor agreements, candidate conservation agreements with assurances, and habitat conservation plans into the regulations to reduce uncertainty. We also made technical and administrative revisions to the regulations. The regulatory changes are intended to reduce costs and time associated with negotiating and developing the required documents to support the applications. We anticipate that these improvements will encourage more individuals and companies to engage in these voluntary programs, thereby generating greater conservation results overall.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the comment period on our December 21, 2023, proposed rule to list the coal darter (Percina brevicauda), a benthic freshwater fish native to the Mobile River Basin in Alabama, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are reopening the proposed rule's comment period for 30 days to give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule. Comments previously submitted will be fully considered in our final determination and do not need to be resubmitted.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on applications to conduct certain activities with foreign species that are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). With some exceptions, the ESA prohibits activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is issued that allows such activities. The ESA also requires that we invite public comment before issuing permits for any activity otherwise prohibited by the ESA with respect to any endangered species.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), revise our regulations concerning protections of endangered species and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (Act or ESA). We reinstate the general application of the "blanket rule" option for protecting newly listed threatened species pursuant to section 4(d) of the Act, with the continued option to promulgate species-specific section 4(d) rules. We also extend to federally recognized Tribes the exceptions to prohibitions for threatened species that the regulations currently provide to the employees or agents of the Service and other Federal and State agencies to aid, salvage, or dispose of threatened species. We also make minor changes to clarify or correct the existing regulations for endangered species and threatened species; these minor changes do not alter the substance or scope of the regulations.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the public comment period on our October 3, 2023, proposed rule to list the northwestern pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata), a species from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and northern and central California, and the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida), a species from central and southern California and Baja California, Mexico, as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are taking this action to allow all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed listing of the two species and the proposed rule issued under section 4(d) of the Act ("4(d) rule") for the species. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted and will be fully considered in our final determinations.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives notice of a public meeting of the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task Force, in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The ANS Task Force's purpose is to develop and implement a program for U.S. waters to prevent introduction and dispersal of aquatic invasive species; to monitor, control, and study such species; and to disseminate related information.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to remove the Roanoke logperch (Percina rex) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife due to recovery. The species is currently listed as endangered. Our review of the best available scientific and commercial data indicates that the threats to the Roanoke logperch have been eliminated or reduced to the point that the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Populations of Roanoke logperch are shown to be stable or expanding and reproducing (as evidenced by sustained recruitment) since the time of listing in each of the following river systems: Upper Roanoke River, Pigg River, Smith River, and Nottoway River. The number of streams where the Roanoke logperch has been observed has increased from 14 streams from the time of listing in 1989 to 31 streams in 2019. Accordingly, we propose to delist the Roanoke logperch throughout all of its range, which is in Virginia and North Carolina. If we finalize this rule as proposed, the prohibitions and conservation measures provided by the Act, particularly through sections 7 and 9, would no longer apply to the Roanoke logperch.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority propose to act in partnership to prepare a joint draft environmental impact statement/environmental impact report to evaluate the impacts on the environment related to placing excavated or other fill material into several former salt production ponds on, and adjacent to, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge to raise the pond bottoms for the purpose of accelerating the timeline for tidal marsh habitat restoration. The Service is providing this notice to open a public scoping period in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and its implementing regulations. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are revising the rule for the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) promulgated under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The purposes are threefold: To increase protection for African elephants in light of the recent rise in international trade of live African elephants by establishing ESA enhancement permit requirements for international trade in live elephants and specific enhancement requirements for the import of wild-sourced elephants, as well as requirements to ensure that all proposed recipients of live African elephants are suitably equipped to house and care for them; to clarify the existing enhancement requirement during our evaluation of an application for a permit to import African elephant sport-hunted trophies; and to incorporate a Party's designation under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) National Legislation Project into the decision-making process for the import of live African elephants, African elephant sport-hunted trophies, and African elephant parts and products other than ivory and sport-hunted trophies. Amendments to the section 4(d) regulations in 2016 prohibited the import and export of African elephant ivory with limited exceptions. This final rule does not affect the regulations pertaining to African elephant ivory.