[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 130 (Monday, July 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36570-36572]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14733]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2020-0040; FXES11130200000-201-FF02ENEH00]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Revised
Recovery Plan for Gila Trout
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 Gila trout,
listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This fish
species is endemic to mountain streams within the upper Gila River
basin in New Mexico and Arizona. 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 September 10,
2021.
ADDRESSES:
Reviewing Documents: You may obtain a copy of the draft revised
recovery plan and recovery implementation strategy in Docket No. FWS-
R2-ES-2020-0040 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-2020-0040.
U.S.: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No. FWS-R2-
ES-2019-0040; 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: Shawn Sartorius, Field Supervisor, New
Mexico Ecological Services Field Office, by phone at 505-761-4781, by
email at nmesfo@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 Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae), listed as threatened under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.). Gila trout are endemic to mountain streams in the Gila, San
Francisco, Agua Fria, and Verde River drainages in New Mexico and
Arizona. The draft revised recovery plan includes site-specific
management actions and objective, measurable criteria that, when met,
will enable us to remove the Gila trout 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 Gila trout
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 Gila trout on January 12, 1979 (Service
1979), with subsequent revisions approved on January 3, 1984 (Service
1984), December 8, 1993 (Service 1993), and August 19, 2003 (Service
2003).
This draft revised recovery plan for the Gila trout represents the
fourth revision and considers updated information on genetics,
population status, and threats (principally wildfire effects and
hybridization) in the development of revised recovery objectives,
criteria, and actions. We used a streamlined approach to recovery
planning and implementation for the Gila trout by preparing separate
recovery plan and recovery implementation strategy documents. The
information in the draft recovery plan provides the biological
background, a threats assessment, a strategy for recovery of the Gila
trout, quantitative delisting criteria, a list of prioritized recovery
actions, and the estimated time and cost to recovery (Service 2020a).
The separate recovery implementation strategy document further
describes in detail the specific activities needed to implement the
recovery actions (Service 2020b).
Summary of Species Information
Gila trout are endemic to mountain streams within the Gila, San
Francisco, Agua Fria, and Verde River drainages in New Mexico and
Arizona. Although Gila trout were documented to occur in the upper Gila
River basin since at least 1885, the species was not described until
1950, by which time its distribution had been dramatically reduced. On
March 11, 1967, we listed the Gila trout as endangered under the
Federal Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (32 FR 4001). The
Gila trout's endangered status was continued under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, and we reclassified it as a threatened species on
July 18, 2006, with a special rule under section 4(d) of the ESA (71 FR
40657).
Gila trout are readily identified by their iridescent gold sides,
which blend to a darker shade of copper on the opercles (bony plates
surrounding the gills). Spots on the body are small and profuse,
generally occurring above the lateral line and extending onto the head,
dorsal fin, and caudal fin. These spots are irregularly shaped on the
sides and increase in size dorsally. A few scattered spots are
sometimes present on the anal fin, and the adipose fin is typically
large and well spotted. Dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins have a white to
yellowish tip that may extend along the leading edge of the pelvic
fins. A yellow cutthroat mark is present on most mature specimens. Parr
marks (vertical bars present when trout are less than a year old) are
commonly retained by adults, and a faint, salmon-pink band is also
present on adults, particularly during spawning season, when the
normally white belly may be streaked with yellow or reddish orange.
Spawning of Gila trout occurs mainly in April and begins when water
temperatures reach about 8 [deg]C (46 [deg]F), but day length may also
be an important cue. Gila trout fry [20 to 25 millimeters (mm), or 0.8
to 1.0 inches (in) total length] emerge in 56 to 70 days. Females reach
maturity between two to four years after hatching, and males typically
reach maturity at two or three years. Most individuals are mature at a
length of 150 mm (6 in) or greater, and live five years. Thus, the
majority of adult female Gila trout spawn only twice before
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dying, and most adult males only spawn three or four times before
dying.
Gila trout require perennial streamflow and coldwater aquatic
habitats with unimpaired water quality to maintain persistent, viable
populations. Flow regimes vary depending on the site-specific
characteristics of stream reaches (e.g., stream gradient, seepage,
substrate composition, channel dimensions, and watershed hydrology).
Suitable water temperature regimes are characterized by maximum water
temperatures that do not exceed approximately 20 [deg]C (68 [deg]F) for
six or more consecutive hours in a 24-hour period on more than three
consecutive days, and maximum temperature that do not exceed 24 [deg]C
(77 [deg]F). Suitable water quality for Gila trout is characterized by
high dissolved oxygen concentration, low turbidity and conductivity,
low levels of total dissolved solids, near-neutral pH, and low
conductivity. In addition to perennial stream flow and suitable water
temperature and water quality, Gila trout require a diversity of
habitats sufficient to sustain all life stages of the species (i.e.,
eggs, fry, juveniles, and adults). This includes suitable spawning
habitat, habitat where fry can find shelter and food, and areas
suitable for occupancy by juvenile and adult Gila trout. Sufficient
pool habitat and spawning habitat are likely the two most important
habitat features with respect to Gila trout population persistence.
Fragmentation of the historical distribution of Gila trout has
resulted in several populations confined to small, isolated habitats
throughout the range of the species. Collections from streams in the
upper Gila River Basin and San Francisco River Basin, along with
genetic analyses, indicate that five lineages of Gila trout exist: Main
Diamond Creek, South Diamond Creek, Whiskey Creek, Spruce Creek, and
Iron Creek. The distribution of these lineages has fluctuated since
1975, when only five remnant populations (i.e., a self-sustaining group
of Gila trout inhabiting a single stream) were known. Currently, there
are 17 extant populations of Gila trout inhabiting approximately 137.5
km (85.2 mi) of stream habitat. These include five populations of the
Main Diamond Creek lineage, four populations of the South Diamond Creek
lineage, three populations of the Whiskey Creek lineage, two
populations of the Spruce Creek lineage, two populations of the Iron
Creek lineage, and one population (Dude Creek), which is considered a
mixed-lineage population (i.e., a stream or metapopulation that
contains multiple lineages of Gila trout, instead of a single lineage).
Recently, the Spruce Creek and Whiskey Creek lineages each lost a
population following large-scale, high-severity wildfires in 2011 and
2012, respectively.
For Gila trout to be able to sustain populations in the wild over
time (viability), the species requires combinations of sufficiently
large, healthy populations that, where possible, have connectivity to
dendritic stream networks to maintain adequate population sizes and
genetic variation. Dendritic stream networks provide Gila trout with
access to suitable habitat enabling the species to respond to changes
in their biological and physical environment (representation),
environmental stochasticity (resiliency), and catastrophic events
(redundancy). Few, if any, extant populations of Gila trout are large
enough to survive extremes in environmental conditions, and the
existing genetic diversity of the species is limited to five remnant
lineages. Recovery actions implemented to date have increased the
number of populations of Gila trout; however, the spatial distribution
of populations is constrained by the patchy distribution and geographic
isolation of cold-water streams, many of which are single-stream
systems that are relatively small. Significant factors affecting the
viability of Gila trout include habitat loss and fragmentation (Factor
A) that result from large-scale, high-severity wildfire and the effects
of climate change; unregulated angling (Factor B); predation and
competition from nonnative fish that are naturalized throughout the
Gila trout's historical range (Factor C); and hybridization with
rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and small, isolated population
sizes (Factor E).
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.
In this revised recovery plan, we transition from a strategy of
crisis-management focused on preventing extinction to an approach of
establishing sustainable populations throughout the historical range of
the Gila trout, populations that contain the breadth of genetic
diversity of the species. The recovery strategy for the Gila trout will
entail incremental replacement of nonnative salmonids with Gila trout
in suitable habitat throughout a significant portion of the historical
range of the species. This strategy will be implemented by conducting
actions to substantially improve redundancy, representation, and
resiliency to the point that the species is no longer at risk for
extinction and may be delisted. Recovery objectives include securing
the existing genetic diversity of Gila trout, increasing the geographic
distribution of the species, and increasing the size, dendritic
population structure, and interconnectedness of populations. 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 area of occupied habitat within the
Gila trout's presumed historical range, the conservation of genetically
distinct Gila trout lineages, the establishment of dendritic
metapopulations, and the absence and management of nonnative salmonids
within Gila trout habitat. The site-specific management actions needed
to address the threats to Gila trout viability and achieve the recovery
criteria involve: (1) Repatriation of Gila trout to streams within its
presumed historical range; (2) establishment and maintenance of captive
propagation and hatchery facilities; (3) management of nonnative
salmonids; (4) monitoring of Gila trout populations; (5) conducting
public education and outreach; and (6) developing and implementing
regulations to maintain sustainable Gila trout populations in streams
open to sport fishing.
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
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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. 2021-14733 Filed 7-9-21; 8:45 am]
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