[Federal Register: April 2, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 63)] [Proposed Rules] [Page 16218-16220] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02ap98-42] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: New 12-month Finding for a Petition to List the Utah Wasatch Front and West Desert Populations of Spotted Frog AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice of new 12-month petition finding. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a new 12- month finding for a petition to list the Wasatch Front population (Utah) and West Desert population (Utah) of the spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After review of all available scientific and commercial information, the Service finds that listing these two distinct vertebrate populations of spotted frog is not warranted at this time. This finding supersedes the previous 12-month petition finding that found the listing of these two populations to be warranted but precluded by higher priority listing actions. Prior and subsequent to publication of the warranted but precluded finding, the State of Utah and other cooperating agencies began implementing significant recovery actions to reduce or remove species' threats. More recently the State of Utah and other agencies developed the Spotted Frog Conservation Agreement to ensure that additional conservation measures and recovery actions needed for the frog's continued existence and recovery are initiated and carried out. The Service finds that a mechanism has been put in place that sufficiently protects the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations of spotted frog and that ongoing actions, including those identified in the Conservation Agreement, have substantially reduced threats to the spotted frog populations in Utah such that they will not become endangered within the foreseeable future and, therefore, do not warrant listing pursuant to the Act at this time. DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on March 27, 1998. ADDRESSES: Data, information, comments, or questions concerning this notice should be sent to the Field Supervisor, Utah Field Office, Ecological Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 145 East 1300 South, Suite 404, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115. The complete administrative file for this finding is available for inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the above address. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet A. Mizzi, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Utah Field Office (see ADDRESSES above), telephone (801) 524-5001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that the Service make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist or reclassify a species presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action is: (a) Not warranted; (b) warranted; or (c) warranted but precluded from immediate proposal by other pending listing proposals of higher priority. On May 1, 1989, the Service received a petition from the Board of Directors of the Utah Nature Study Society requesting the Service add the spotted frog (then referred to as Rana pretiosa) to the List of Threatened and Endangered Species and to specifically consider the status of the Wasatch, Utah, population. The Service subsequently published a notice of a 90-day finding in the Federal Register (54 FR 42529) on October 17, 1989, and a notice of the 12-month petition finding in the Federal Register (58 FR 27260) on May 7, 1993. In the 12-month petition finding the Service found that listing of the spotted frog as threatened in some portions of its range was warranted but precluded by other higher priority listing actions. The Service found, based on geographic and climatic separation and supported by genetic separation, five distinct vertebrate populations of spotted frog. Listing of both the populations occurring in Utah, the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations, was found to be warranted but precluded and both populations were designated as candidates for listing. The Wasatch Front population was assigned a listing priority number of 3 because the magnitude of the threats were high and imminent, while the West Desert population was assigned a listing priority of 9 because of moderate to low threats. The spotted frog belongs to the family of true frogs, the Ranidae. Adult frogs have large, dark spots on their backs and pigmentation on their abdomens ranging from yellow to red (Turner 1957). Spotted frogs along the Wasatch Front generally possess a salmon color ventrally, while West Desert and Sanpete County, Utah, populations [[Page 16219]] generally have a yellow to yellow-orange color ventrally. Spotted frogs in Utah are reported to have fewer and lighter colored spots (Colburn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pers. comm. 1992) than other populations. The spotted frog is closely associated with water (Dumas 1966, Nussbaum et al. 1983). Habitat includes the marshy edges of ponds, lakes, slow-moving cool water streams and springs (Licht 1974; Nussbaum et al. 1983; Morris and Tanner 1969; Hovingh 1987). The present distribution of the spotted frog includes a main population in southeast Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, northern and central Idaho, and western Montana and Wyoming. Additional disjunct populations occur in northeastern California, southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and western Washington and Oregon. The Services' warranted but precluded finding identified that habitat loss and modification from reservoir construction and from urban and agricultural developments was a primary cause of the decline in the Wasatch Front population (Dennis Shirley, pers. comm. 1992). The petition finding further identified that, while less habitat loss has occurred with the West Desert population of Utah than with the other southern and western populations, habitat availability is limited. Degradation of spring habitats and water quality from cattle grazing and other agricultural activities in these limited habitats were identified as potential threats to the spotted frog of the West Desert population (Hovingh 1987; Peter Hovingh, pers. comm. 1992; Dennis Shirley, pers. comm. 1992). On November 28, 1997, the Service announced the availability of a Draft Conservation Agreement for the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations (Utah) of spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) for review and comment (62 FR 63375). The Service received a request to extend the comment period, and on December 24, 1997, announced that the comment period on the Draft Conservation Agreement had been extended until January 16, 1998 (62 FR 67398). The Service subsequently signed the Conservation Agreement on February 13, 1998. The goal of this agreement developed by the Utah Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Federation, and the Service, is to ensure the long-term conservation of spotted frog within its historical range in Utah. Two objectives have been identified as necessary to attain the goal of the Agreement. These are: (1) to eliminate or significantly reduce threats to the spotted frog and its habitat to the extent necessary to prevent the danger that populations will become extinct throughout all or a part of their range in Utah, or the likelihood that these populations will become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a part of their range in Utah; and (2) to restore and maintain a sufficient number of populations of spotted frog and the habitat to support these populations throughout its historical range in Utah to ensure the continued existence of the species. The Conservation Agreement puts in place a mechanism for the recovery of spotted frog by establishing a framework for interagency cooperation and coordination of conservation efforts and setting recovery priorities. In addition to the Conservation Agreement, the Utah Department of Natural Resources has provided the Service with a letter outlining specific actions and approximate time lines for implementation and/or completion of conservation actions that will occur in the next 18 months. These actions include: (1) Habitat acquisition (990 acres total to benefit spotted frog in the Wasatch Front population); (2) habitat enhancement in the West Desert and Wasatch Front, including protective fencing, springhead re-openings, reseeding of native plants; and (3) range expansion, including reestablishment of spotted frog populations within historic habitat in the Wasatch Front and surveys to assess the distribution of spotted frog in the Bear River drainage. The Bureau of Reclamation has provided the Service with a letter outlining their funding commitment for fiscal year 1998 for use on a spotted frog translocation project in the Wasatch Front. The Bureau will also continue to monitor and maintain ponds adjacent to the Jordanelle wetland for the spotted frog. Actions taken to date to alleviate the threat of habitat loss to the species have focused on both habitat enhancement and maintenance as well as habitat protection. Since the Service's 1993 warranted but precluded finding numerous habitat enhancement, maintenance and protection activities have occurred. In the West Desert these include: (1) Construction of a cattle exclosure on part of the Gandy Salt Marsh Complex to protect occupied springs; and (2) communications with a private landowner to install cattle exclosures at two additional spring sites. In Wasatch Front these include: (1) Acquisition of 126.1 acres of riverine/riparian habitat by Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission along the Provo River between Jordanelle Dam and Deer Creek Reservoir as part of the environmental mitigation of the Central Utah Project; (2) acquisition by the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission of an additional 184 acres of river corridor is currently in progress as part of the environmental mitigation for the Central Utah Project; (3) acquisition of another 681 acres of riparian corridor is being pursued by the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission between Jordanelle Dam and Deer Creek Reservoir; (4) minimum flows of 50 cubic feet per second were maintained in the Provo River between Jordanelle Dam and Deer Creek Reservoir from 1993 through July 1996 in an interim agreement; (5) a minimum of 125 cfs has been maintained in the Provo River between Jordanelle Dam and Deer Creek Reservoir since 1996; (6) a draft cooperative agreement has been developed for the acquisition of approximately 125 acres of spotted frog occupied wetland habitat to protect the Mona population; and (7) year-long water has been provided to the Jordanelle mitigation ponds to provide habitat for over- wintering spotted frogs. Numerous additional activities and studies are ongoing and/or are planned pursuant to the Conservation Agreement. The Service believes that the status of the species in Utah has improved. A mechanism has been put in place that sufficiently protects the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations of spotted frog. Completed and ongoing actions, including those identified in the Conservation Agreement, have substantially reduced threats to the spotted frog populations in Utah through control of nonnative species, increased regulatory control, and habitat acquisition, such that the species will not become endangered within the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the Service believes that completed and ongoing conservation actions have resulted in increased habitat enhancement and maintenance, and an increase in the known occupied range, distribution and population size of the species, in both the West Desert and Wasatch Front populations. The regulatory and management agencies with oversight for the conservation of spotted frog in Utah have worked closely to conserve the species and obtain the goals and objectives outlined in the Conservation [[Page 16220]] Agreement. The objectives for the West Desert population (one population with an effective population size of 1000 individuals in three out of every five years in each of three subunits, with any and all additional populations maintained with an effective population size of 50 individuals each) are close to being met. In 1997, only one population in the West Desert had an effective population size of less than 50 individuals. Three to five years of monitoring will be required to determine if the objectives have been met. The objectives for the Wasatch Front population are more complex involving three separate management units. However, conservation activities have been completed in each of these management units that has resulted in improved status for the Wasatch Front population, particularly in the Heber Valley population, the largest along the Wasatch Front. Continued implementation of the Conservation Agreement will be monitored closely to ensure improvement in the status of the Wasatch Front population. The Service has considered the current status of the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations, including evaluating the five listing factors identified in the Act, and has taken into account those efforts being made to protect the species including development of the Conservation Agreement, the extent of implementation of the Conservation Agreement to date, Federal efforts to protect and conserve the species, and the time commitments made by the principal action agencies for completion of conservation actions. The Service believes that a mechanism has been put in place that sufficiently protects the Wasatch Front and West Desert populations of spotted frog and that ongoing actions, including those identified in the Conservation Agreement, have substantially reduced threats to the spotted frog populations in Utah such that they will not become endangered within the foreseeable future and, therefore, no longer warrant listing pursuant to the Act. Furthermore, because the definition of a candidate species, one for which the Service has on file sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threats to support issuance of a proposed rule, no longer applies to the West Desert and Wasatch Front populations of spotted frog, the Service removes these two populations from the candidate species list. Endangered Species Act Oversight The Service will continue to monitor these populations of spotted frog throughout the term of the Conservation Agreement and will maintain oversight. Should the Service deem necessary, an emergency listing of the Wasatch Front and/or West Desert population of spotted frog would not be precluded by the sixty (60) day written notice required to withdraw from the Conservation Agreement. The process for listing the Wasatch Front and/or West Desert populations of spotted frog will be reinitiated if: 1. An emergency which poses a significant threat to the spotted frog is identified and not immediately and adequately addressed; 2. The biological status of the spotted frog is such that it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range; or 3. The biological status of the spotted frog is such that it is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. References Cited A complete list of all references cited is available upon request from the Utah Field Office (see ADDRESSES above). Authors The primary author of this document is Janet A. Mizzi (see ADDRESSES above). Authority The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Dated: March 27, 1998. Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director, Fish and Wildlife Service. [FR Doc. 98-8611 Filed 3-31-98; 9:04 am] BILLING CODE 4310-55-P