[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 242 (Monday, December 17, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74688-74689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30348]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R2-ES-2012-N182; 20124-1113-0000-C2]
Final Recovery Plan, First Revision; Mexican Spotted Owl
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of document availability.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability
of our final recovery plan, first revision, for the Mexican Spotted
Owl, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (Act). This species occurs in the States of Arizona,
Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, and south through the Sierra
Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico. The recovery plan
includes specific recovery objectives and criteria to be met in order
to enable us to remove this species from the list of endangered and
threatened wildlife and plants.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to view the recovery plan, you may obtain a copy
by any one of the following methods:
Internet: http://endangered.fws.gov/recovery/index.html#plans (type
``Mexican spotted owl'' in the document title search field);
[[Page 74689]]
U.S. mail: Arizona Ecological Services Office, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 2321 West Royal Palm Road, Phoenix, AZ 85021-4951; or
Telephone: 602-242-0210.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Spangle, Field Supervisor, at
the above address and phone number, or by email at
incomingazcorr@fws.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We announce the availability of our final
recovery plan, first revision, for the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix
occidentalis lucida). The revised recovery plan was prepared by a team
of experts from both the United States and Mexico; team members were
appointed by the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwest
Region. We made the draft plan available via a Federal Register notice
published on June 24, 2011 (76 FR 37141); this notice opened a comment
period that ran through August 23, 2011, and requested comments from
local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public. We
considered information we received from these entities, as well as that
obtained from three independent peer reviewers, in finalizing this
revised recovery plan.
Background
Recovery of endangered or threatened animals and plants to the
point where they are again secure, self-sustaining members of their
ecosystems is a primary goal of our endangered species program and the
Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Recovery means improvement of the status
of listed species to the point at which listing is no longer
appropriate under the criteria set out in section 4(a)(1) of the Act.
The Act requires the development of recovery plans for listed species,
unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a particular
species.
Species' History
We listed the Mexican spotted owl as a threatened species under the
Act on March 16, 1993 (58 FR 14248). We designated critical habitat on
August 31, 2004 (69 FR 53182). We originally completed a recovery plan
for the Mexican spotted owl on October 16, 1995. However, updates on
status information and experience in implementing the original recovery
plan led to our determination that revision was warranted.
The Mexican spotted owl nests and roosts in forested areas
exhibiting multilayered, unevenly aged tree structure, and in steep,
rocky canyonlands. Forested habitats used by the owl vary throughout
the species' range and by activity (nesting, roosting, foraging,
dispersal/migration). However, the forest types believed most important
to Mexican spotted owls are mixed conifer, pine-oak, and riparian
habitats.
At the time of the species' listing, chief threats to the owl's
population in the United States were commercial-based timber harvest;
however, at this time, the risk of stand-replacing wildfire has come
into prominence. The revised recovery plan recommends protection of
currently occupied home ranges, plus development of replacement
nesting/roosting habitat over time. The plan recognizes the need to
manage these forest landscapes to minimize the effects of large, stand-
replacing wildfires, believed to be the greatest current threat to the
species.
Recovery Plan Goals
The objective of an agency recovery plan is to provide a framework
for the recovery of a species so that protection under the Act is no
longer necessary. A recovery plan includes scientific information about
the species and provides criteria and actions necessary for us to be
able to remove it from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife and Plants (List). Recovery plans help guide our recovery
efforts by describing actions we consider necessary for the species'
conservation, and by estimating time and costs for implementing needed
recovery measures. To achieve its goals, this recovery plan identifies
the following objectives:
Support the population of the Mexican spotted owl for the
foreseeable future.
Maintain habitat conditions necessary to provide roosting
and nesting habitat for the Mexican spotted owl through time.
The revised recovery plan contains recovery criteria based on
maintaining and/or increasing population numbers and habitat quality
and quantity. The revised recovery plan focuses on protecting
populations, managing threats, maintaining habitat, monitoring
progress, and building partnerships to facilitate recovery.
As the subspecies meets recovery criteria, we will review the
subspecies' status and consider removal from the List.
Authority
We developed our recovery plan under the authority of section 4(f)
of the Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f). We publish this notice under section
4(f) Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.).
Dated: September 5, 2012.
Joy E. Nicholopoulos,
Acting Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-30348 Filed 12-14-12; 8:45 am]
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