Fish and Wildlife Service January 2025 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the City of Imperial Beach propose to act in partnership to prepare a joint draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to evaluate the impacts on the environment related to the repurposing of a 1.2-mile segment of the Bayshore Bikeway corridor and adjacent pathways into a multi-benefit coastal resilience corridor. This corridor runs through the southwestern portion of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent Bayside neighborhood of the City of Imperial Beach. The purpose of the coastal resilience corridor is to improve flood protection for the adjacent community, which is vulnerable to coastal flooding, by converting the existing circulation corridor into a nature-based coastal flood resilience system; provide safe land-based public access along San Diego Bay; and strengthen ecosystem resilience by providing transitional habitat areas along the San Diego Bay's edge. The unique identification number for this project is 2025-0003688-NEPA- 001. The Service is providing this notice to open a public scoping period in accordance with the requirements of NEPA and its implementing regulations. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is affirming as final the 2016 interim rule that added all species of salamanders from 20 genera to the list of injurious amphibians. Under the injurious wildlife prohibitions of the Lacey Act, this final rule prohibits the importation into the United States and shipment between the continental United States, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or possession of the United States of any live or dead specimen, including hybrids and parts, of those 20 genera of salamanders, except by permit for certain purposes or by Federal agencies solely for their own use. In addition to finalizing the listing of those 20 genera, we are publishing a new interim rule to add to the injurious amphibian list 16 genera that recent studies determined are also carriers of the fungus and to clarify some provisions from the final rule. This interim rule includes any live or dead specimen, hybrid, or parts of the 16 genera and opens a public comment period. We take these actions to protect U.S. ecosystems from the introduction, establishment, and spread of the lethal chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, which infects and is carried by salamanders, and which is not yet known to be found in the United States.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the bleached sandhill skipper (Polites sabuleti sinemaculata), an insect subspecies from Humboldt County, Nevada, as an endangered 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 bleached sandhill skipper. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the subspecies is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the bleached sandhill skipper as an endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, the final rule would add this subspecies to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the subspecies. We find that a designation of critical habitat for the bleached sandhill skipper is not determinable at this time.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Angie Harbin, DirectorNatural Resources, Rincon Consultants, Inc., on behalf of Comstock Homes (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) incidental to residential development in the City of Moorpark, in Ventura County, California. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a low-effect screening form. The HCP and low-effect screening form are available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to remove Ute ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants. This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to delist Ute ladies'- tresses. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that delisting the species is warranted. Our review indicates that the threats to Ute ladies'-tresses have been eliminated or reduced to the point that the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Accordingly, we propose to delist Ute ladies'-tresses. 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 Ute ladies'-tresses. We request information and comments from the public regarding this proposed rule and the draft post-delisting monitoring (PDM) plan for Ute ladies'-tresses.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are initiating 5-year status reviews under the Endangered Species Act, for 4 plant and 10 animal species. A 5-year status review is based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review; therefore, we are requesting submission of any such information that has become available since the last review for the species. We invite comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended, and its implementing regulations, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), have developed draft revised marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) for the Chukchi/Bering Seas and Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear (Ursus maritimus) stocks in Alaska. We invite comments on the two draft revised SARs from the public and from Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.