[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 102 (Friday, May 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28884-28886]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11382]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2020-0119; FXES11130200000-212-FF02ENEH00]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Revised
Recovery Plan for Houston Toad
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the
availability of our draft revised recovery plan for the Houston toad,
listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Houston toad
is a semi-aquatic species endemic to pine and oak forests within
Austin, Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Milam, and
Robinson Counties, Texas. We provide this notice to seek comments from
the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.
DATES: We must receive written comments on or before July 27, 2021.
ADDRESSES:
Reviewing documents: You may obtain a copy of the draft revised
recovery plan in Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2020-0119 at http://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments by one of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R2-
ES-2020-0119.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R2-ES-2020-0119; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
For additional information about submitting comments, see Request
for Public Comments and Public Availability of Comments under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Zerrenner, Field Supervisor,
Austin Ecological Services Field Office, by phone at 512-490-0057, by
email at adam_zerrenner@fws.gov, or via the Federal Relay Service at
800-877-8339 for TTY service.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce the availability of our draft revised recovery plan
for the Houston toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis; formerly Bufo
houstonensis), listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Houston toads are
endemic to aquatic and terrestrial habitats within pine and oak forests
in Austin, Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Milam, and
Robinson Counties, Texas. The draft revised recovery plan includes
site-specific management actions and objective, measurable criteria
that, when met, will enable us to remove the Houston toad from the list
of endangered and threatened wildlife. We request review and comment on
this plan from local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the
public. We will also accept any new information on the status of the
Houston toad throughout its range to assist in finalizing the 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
ESA. 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 ESA. The ESA requires the development of
recovery plans for listed species, unless such a plan would not promote
the conservation of a particular species.
The Service approved the original recovery plan for the Houston
toad on September 17, 1984 (Service 1984). This draft recovery plan
represents the first
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revision of the 1984 plan and considers updated information on Houston
toad biology, population status, and threats. The revised recovery plan
focuses primarily on a strategy for recovery of the Houston toad,
objective, measurable recovery criteria, a list of prioritized recovery
actions, and the estimated time and cost to recovery.
Summary of Species Information
Historically, the Houston toad was documented to occur in the
following 12 Texas counties: Austin, Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, Fort
Bend, Harris, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Milam, and Robertson. In
recent decades, the Houston toad has experienced rapid habitat loss and
population declines due to urbanization and drought, and the species'
distribution has become widely scattered, with small and disconnected
occurrences documented throughout portions of Austin, Bastrop,
Burleson, Colorado, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Milam, and Robertson Counties.
On October 13, 1970, we listed the Houston toad (then under the
scientific name Bufo houstonensis) as an endangered species under the
Federal Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (35 FR 16047), and
the Houston toad's endangered status was continued under the ESA of
1973. On January 31, 1978, the Service designated critical habitat for
the Houston toad in portions of Bastrop and Burleson Counties, Texas
(43 FR 4022). We currently recognize this species as Anaxyrus
houstonensis based on the most recent taxonomic evaluation.
The Houston toad is a small to medium-sized (5 to 8 centimeters [2
to 3 inches] in length) amphibian covered with raised patches of skin
that resemble warts. The Houston toad is generally brown and speckled,
with a pale underside that has small, dark spots. The toad's legs are
banded, and two dark bands extend from each eye down to the mouth. A
white stripe that can vary in pigmentation density extends down the
middle of the back, but it can also be absent in some individuals.
Houston toads are ectotherms (dependent on external sources of body
heat), and their skin is highly vulnerable to desiccation. They become
dormant during harsh weather conditions, such as winter cold
(hibernation) and summer heat and drought (estivation). The Houston
toad is an explosive breeder, aggregating in large numbers at breeding
ponds over a period of a few nights throughout the breeding season in
late January through June. Females produce large numbers (hundreds or
thousands) of eggs, which hatch into tadpoles and then metamorphose
into juvenile toadlets approximately 60 to 65 days after egg
deposition.
Habitat for the Houston toad is generally defined as rolling
uplands covered with pine and/or oak forests underlain by deep sandy
soils. Houston toads spend most of their lives in terrestrial habitats
feeding, sheltering, and dispersing. Important components of
terrestrial Houston toad habitat include forested patches with abundant
canopy cover and herbaceous vegetation on the forest floor. Because the
toad is semi-aquatic, water is also an essential component of the
Houston toad's habitat, and they are known to breed in small pools of
water or ephemeral ponds. Houston toad populations exhibit a
metapopulation structure (an assemblage of local subpopulations that
are interconnected through gene flow, local extirpations, and
recolonizations), and networks of ponds and individuals dispersing
among these ponds are essential to maintaining Houston toad viability.
Habitat loss in the form of destruction, modification, and
fragmentation (Factor A) has long been considered the most significant
and immediate threat facing the Houston toad. Within the Houston toad's
range, such habitat loss has been the result of the conversion to
housing, agricultural pastures, or other unsuitable landscapes. Fire
suppression, wildfire, and livestock grazing have altered and degraded
Houston toad habitat so that its ecosystem function has been adversely
affected. Habitat fragmentation has also diminished habitat sizes and
connectivity, resulting in a reduction in or elimination of the genetic
exchange of individuals, edge effects, barriers to movement, and
isolation, with subsequent changes in demographic parameters such as
decreased survivorship and loss of genetic diversity. To a lesser
extent, predation (Factor C), small population size (Factor E), and the
effects of climate change (Factor E) are also significant threats to
Houston toad viability. Known predators of the Houston toad include
water snakes (Nerodia sp.), bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana), raccoons
(Procyon lotor), and other carnivores; however, red imported fire ants
(Solenopsis invicta) are believed to be the most detrimental to Houston
toad viability, because they are known to prey on newly metamorphosed
toadlets and compete with juvenile and adult Houston toads for their
invertebrate food base. Stochastic events from either environmental
factors or demographic factors are also heightened threats to the
Houston toad because of its limited range and small population sizes.
Small populations that are largely isolated from one another provide
little, if any, opportunity for natural recolonization in the event of
a local extirpation event. Historically, the species persisted in the
face of extremely intense drought such as occurred in the 1950s;
however, resilience to drought has likely decreased as a consequence of
small and isolated populations. Within Texas, change models project up
to 20 percent less precipitation, and most regions in Texas are
predicted to become drier as temperatures increase.
Recovery Plan Goals
The objective of a recovery plan is to provide a framework for the
recovery of a species so that protection under the ESA 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 reclassify the species to threatened status or remove it from the
lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. 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.
Our recovery strategy for the Houston toad is to address the
threats to the species and reduce them to a point such that the
viability of the Houston toad can be maintained in the wild over time.
We use the conservation principles of redundancy (i.e., the ability of
a species to withstand catastrophic events; spreading risk among
multiple populations to minimize the potential loss of the species from
catastrophic events), representation (i.e., the ability of a species to
adapt to changing environmental conditions over time, via the range of
genetic and ecological variation found within the species), and
resiliency (i.e., the ability of a population to withstand
environmental and demographic stochasticity and disturbance) to better
inform our view of what contributes to the Houston toad's viability and
how best to conserve the species. The primary objectives of the
recovery effort for the Houston toad involve acquiring, protecting,
enhancing, restoring, and managing habitat within multiple recovery
units, and implementing population restoration efforts such that
multiple, resilient metapopulations with the appropriate genetic and
ecological diversity are distributed throughout the species' range. We
have identified six recovery units across the Houston toad's current
range that are essential to the survival and recovery of the species.
These recovery units encompass
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portions of all six Texas counties where the Houston toad is extant,
and represent the areas most likely to encapsulate at least one
metapopulation. The revised recovery plan provides recovery criteria
aimed at managing or eliminating threats to meet the goal of delisting
the species. These recovery criteria are based on the conservation of
undisturbed forested areas that are protected from future development,
and the establishment of multiple Houston toad metapopulations composed
of interconnected subpopulations. The site-specific management actions
needed to address threats to Houston toad viability and achieve the
recovery criteria involve: (1) Conserving, restoring, and protecting
habitat; (2) captive propagation and supplementation; (3) establishing
a monitoring program; (4) conducting research; (5) expanding monitoring
into new areas; (6) conducting public education and outreach; (7)
identifying effective habitat management strategies; and (8)
effectively planning and coordinating recovery implementation.
Request for Public Comments
Section 4(f) of the ESA requires us to provide public notice and an
opportunity for public review and comment during recovery plan
development. It is also our policy to request peer review of recovery
plans (July 1, 1994; 59 FR 34270). In an appendix to the approved
recovery plan, we will summarize and respond to the issues raised by
the public and peer reviewers. Substantive comments may or may not
result in changes to the recovery plan; comments regarding recovery
plan implementation will be forwarded as appropriate to Federal or
other entities so that they can be taken into account during the course
of implementing recovery actions. Responses to individual commenters
will not be provided, but we will provide a summary of how we addressed
substantive comments in an appendix to the approved recovery plan.
We invite written comments on the draft recovery plan. In
particular, we are interested in additional information regarding the
current threats to the species and the implementation of the
recommended recovery actions.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments received, including names and addresses, will become
part of the administrative record and will be available to the public.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware
that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available. If you submit a hardcopy
comment that includes personal identifying information, you may request
at the top of your document that we withhold this information from
public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do
so.
Authority
We developed our draft recovery plan and publish this notice under
the authority of section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Amy L. Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-11382 Filed 5-27-21; 8:45 am]
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