Fish and Wildlife Service August 13, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Santa Ana speckled dace (Rhinichthys gabrielino), a fish species native to California, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the Santa Ana speckled dace. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the species is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the Santa Ana speckled dace as a threatened species with protective regulations issued under section 4(d) of the Act ("4(d) rule"). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the species. Due to the current lack of data sufficient to perform required analyses, we conclude that the designation of critical habitat for the species is not determinable at this time.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an application from the Four Lakes Task Force (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. If approved, the permit would be for a 30-year period and would authorize the incidental take of one endangered species, the snuffbox mussel. The applicant has prepared the Edenville Dam Restoration Project Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to cover activities associated with refilling and maintaining a court-ordered legal lake limit for Wixom Lake, directly upstream of the dam, located in Gladwin and Midland Counties, Michigan. We make available for public comment the applicant's HCP and announce the availability of a draft environmental assessment, which has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on these documents.