[Federal Register: May 20, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 98)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 29096-29098]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20my08-21]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
[FWS-R2-ES-2008-0059; 1111 FY07 MO-B2]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Initiation of
Status Review for the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the
Sonoran Desert Area of Central Arizona and Northwestern Mexico
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice; initiation of status review and solicitation of new
information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
initiation of a status review for the bald eagle (Haliaeetus
leucocephalus) in the Sonoran Desert area of central Arizona and
northwestern Mexico, hereafter referred to as the ``Sonoran Desert area
bald eagle.'' Through this action, we encourage all interested parties
to provide us with information regarding the status of, and any
potential threats to, the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle.
DATES: To allow us adequate time to conduct this review, we request
that information be submitted on or before July 7, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit information by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public Comments Processing,
Attn: FWS-R2-ES-2008-0059; Division of Policy and Directives
Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive,
Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203.
We will not accept e-mail or faxes. We will post all information
received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we
will post any personal information you provide us (see the Information
Solicited section below for more information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Spangle, Field Supervisor,
Arizona Ecological Services Office, 2321 West Royal Palm Road, Suite
103, Phoenix, AZ 85021-4951; telephone 602-242-0210; facsimile 602-242-
2513. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Information Solicited
To ensure that the status review is complete and based on the best
available scientific and commercial information, we are soliciting
information concerning the status of the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle
(Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Information gained during this process will
be used to evaluate whether the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle is a
Distinct Population Segment (DPS) as described in our policy on
determining a DPS (61 FR 4722, February 7, 1996) (DPS), and if listing
as threatened or endangered is warranted under the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (Act). If we determine that listing the Sonoran
Desert area bald eagle is warranted, we intend to propose critical
habitat to the maximum extent prudent and determinable at the time we
prepare a proposed listing rule.
At this time, we request any additional information from the
public, other concerned governmental agencies, Native American Tribes,
the scientific community, industry, or any other interested parties on
the status of the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle, including:
(1) Information regarding Sonoran Desert area bald eagles'
historical and current population status, distribution, and trends;
biology and ecology; and habitat selection. We also solicit information
of this type on adjacent populations and geographic areas for use in
evaluating discreteness and significance of the Sonoran Desert area
bald eagle.
(2) Information that supports or refutes the appropriateness of
[[Page 29097]]
considering the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle to be discrete, as
defined in the Policy Regarding the Recognition of Distinct Vertebrate
Population Segments Under the Endangered Species Act (61 FR 4722,
February 7, 1996), including, but not limited to:
(a) Information indicating that Sonoran Desert area bald eagles are
markedly separated from other populations of bald eagles due to
physical, physiological, ecological, or behavioral factors. This may
include information regarding bald eagles of Sonoran Desert area natal
origin breeding with bald eagles from populations of different natal
origin, and information regarding the Sonoran Desert area bald eagles'
isolation from other breeding populations of eagles.
(b) Information indicating whether or not the Sonoran Desert area
bald eagle is delimited by international governmental boundaries within
which significant differences in control of exploitation, management of
habitat, conservation status, or regulatory mechanisms exist.
(3) Information that supports or refutes the appropriateness of
considering the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle to be significant, as
defined in the Policy Regarding the Recognition of Distinct Vertebrate
Population Segments Under the Endangered Species Act (61 FR 4722,
February 7, 1996) including, but not limited to:
(a) Information indicating that the ecological setting, including
such factors as temperature, moisture, weather patterns, plant
communities, etc., in which the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle persists
is unusual or unique when compared to that of bald eagles found
elsewhere in the United States or Mexico. This may also include
information indicating that the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle has or
has not developed adaptations to that unique environment, such as
breeding behavior, morphological characteristics, egg development and
characteristics, or nest types.
(b) Information indicating that loss of Sonoran Desert area bald
eagle would or would not result in a significant gap in the range of
the taxon.
(c) Information indicating that the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle
differs markedly from other populations of bald eagles in its genetic
characteristics.
(4) Information regarding the availability of suitable, but
unoccupied, breeding habitat that might allow for expansion of the
Sonoran Desert area bald eagle populations. This may include
information on areas outside of the boundaries delineated for the
Sonoran Desert area bald eagle in our May 1, 2008, final listing rule
(73 FR 23966).
(5) Information on the effects of potential threat factors that are
the basis for a listing determination under section 4(a) of the Act,
which are:
(a) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or
curtailment of the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle's breeding habitat or
range, including but not limited to the effects on habitat from: Water
management (river diversions, dams, dam operations, surface and
groundwater withdrawals); human population growth and accompanying
increases in water demands; human recreation; reduced riparian health
and regrowth of streamside trees for nesting, foraging, and roosting;
urban development; and climate change;
(b) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or
educational purposes;
(c) Disease or predation, including but not limited to the effects
of avian pox or West Nile virus, Mexican chicken bugs, or ticks;
(d) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, including but
not limited to adequacy or inadequacy of funding for ongoing
management; appropriateness and effect of incidental take permitted for
Sonoran Desert area bald eagles while listed under the Act; impacts of
low-flying aircraft and effectiveness of flight advisories; and the
adequacy or inadequacy of protections under the Bald and Golden Eagle
Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; and
(e) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued
existence, including but not limited to information on: Productivity,
survival, and mortality rates of this population; the occurrence and
effect of inbreeding; effects to Sonoran Desert area bald eagles while
outside the Sonoran Desert area; effects to Sonoran Desert area bald
eagles' prey base and productivity, including effects of nonnative
predatory fish and native fish restoration; the presence and abundance
of pesticides and contaminants such as lead, mercury, or
dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE); the effects of climate change;
and the effects from eggshell thinning.
(6) Information supporting the existing boundary developed in our
May 1, 2008, final listing rule (73 FR 23966) for Sonoran Desert area
bald eagles under consideration in this status review, or information
indicating that the boundary should be modified to include other areas.
Please note that submissions merely stating support for or
opposition to the action under consideration without providing
supporting information, although noted, will not be considered in
making a determination, because section 4(b)(1)(A) of the Act (16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) directs that determinations as to whether any
species is a threatened or endangered species shall be made ``solely on
the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available.'' At
the conclusion of the status review, we will determine whether listing
is warranted, not warranted, or warranted but precluded.
You may submit your information concerning this status review by
one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section. We will not
consider submissions sent by e-mail or fax or to an address not listed
in the ADDRESSES section.
If you submit information via http://www.regulations.gov, your
entire submission--including any personal identifying information--will
be posted on the Web site. If your submission is made via a hardcopy
that includes personal identifying information, you may request at the
top of your document that we withhold this personal identifying
information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so. We will post all hardcopy submissions on http://
www.regulations.gov.
Information and materials we receive will be available for public
inspection on http://www.regulations.gov, or by appointment, during
normal business hours, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona
Ecological Services Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Background
Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that we 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 may be warranted. We are to base this finding on
information provided in the petition, supporting information submitted
with the petition, and information otherwise available in our files at
the time we make the determination. To the maximum extent practicable,
we are to make this finding within 90 days of our receipt of the
petition and publish our notice of the finding promptly in the Federal
Register. Section 4(b)(3)(B) also requires that, for any petition to
revise the Lists of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants that
contains substantial scientific or commercial information that the
action may be warranted, we make a finding within 12
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months of the date of the receipt of the petition on whether the
petitioned action is: (a) Not warranted, (b) warranted, or (c)
warranted but precluded by other pending proposals. Such 12-month
findings are to be published promptly in the Federal Register.
On October 6, 2004, we received a petition, dated October 6, 2004,
from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Maricopa Audubon
Society, and the Arizona Audubon Council requesting that the
``Southwestern desert nesting bald eagle population'' be classified as
a DPS, that this DPS be reclassified from a threatened species to an
endangered species, and that we concurrently designate critical habitat
for the DPS under the Act.
On March 27, 2006, the CBD and the Maricopa Audubon Society filed a
lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Service for
failing to make a timely finding on the petition. The parties reached a
settlement, and the Service agreed to complete its petition finding by
August 2006. On August 30, 2006 (71 FR 51549), we announced our 90-day
finding that the petition did not present substantial scientific or
commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be
warranted.
On January 5, 2007, the CBD and the Maricopa Audubon Society filed
a lawsuit challenging the Service's 90-day finding that the ``Sonoran
Desert population'' of the bald eagle did not qualify as a DPS, and
further challenging the Service's 90-day finding that the population
should not be up-listed to endangered status.
On July 9, 2007 (72 FR 37346), we published the final delisting
rule for bald eagles in the lower 48 States. In that final delisting
rule, we stated that our findings on the status of the Sonoran Desert
population of bald eagles superseded our 90-day petition finding
because the final delisting rule constituted a final decision on
whether the Sonoran Desert population of bald eagles qualified for
listing as a DPS under the Act.
On March 5, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of
Arizona ruled in favor of the CBD and the Maricopa Audubon Society. The
court order (Center for Biological Diversity v. Kempthorne, CV 07-0038-
PHX-MHM (D. Ariz)) was filed on March 6, 2008.
The court ruled for the plaintiffs and ordered the Service to:
(1) Conduct a status review of the Sonoran Desert area bald eagle
population pursuant to the Act to determine whether listing that
population as a DPS is warranted, and if so, whether listing that DPS
as threatened or endangered pursuant to the Act is warranted;
(2) Issue a 12-month finding on whether listing the Sonoran Desert
area bald eagle population as a DPS is warranted, and if so, whether
listing that DPS as threatened or endangered is warranted; and
(3) Issue the 12-month finding within 9 months of the court order
pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(3)(B), which translates to on or before
December 5, 2008.
Further, the court enjoined the Service's application of the July
9, 2007 (72 FR 37346), final delisting rule to the Sonoran Desert
population of bald eagles pending the outcome of our status review and
12-month petition finding. The court order was effective as of March 6,
2008, the date it was filed. On May 1, 2008, we published a final rule
(73 FR 23966) listing the potential Sonoran Desert area bald eagle DPS
as threatened under the Act in response to the court order. Please
refer to the map and final rule published on May 1, 2008 (73 FR 23966)
for details of the geographic area affected by this action.
At this time, we are soliciting new information on the status of
and potential threats to the Sonoran Desert population of bald eagles.
We will base our new determination as to whether listing is warranted
on a review of the best scientific and commercial information
available, including all such information received as a result of this
notice. For more information on the biology, habitat, and range of the
Sonoran Desert population of bald eagles, please refer to our previous
90-day finding published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2006 (71
FR 51549), and our final delisting rule for the bald eagle published in
the Federal Register on July 9, 2007 (72 FR 37346).
Author
The primary author of this notice is the staff of the Arizona
Ecological Services Office.
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: May 8, 2008.
Kenneth Stansell,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. E8-11052 Filed 5-19-08; 8:45 am]
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