[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5493-5495]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02040]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-HQ-MB-2020-0138; FF09M27000-212-FXMB123109EAGLE]
Eagle Permits; Updated Bald Eagle Population Estimates and Take
Limits
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
[[Page 5494]]
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In December 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service,
or we) completed a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)
wherein we evaluated biological data to establish maximum take limits
for permits to take bald eagles in each of six eagle management units
in the United States. In the PEIS, we committed to reevaluate
biological data and reassess the take limits no less than once every 6
years. This notice is to inform the public that we have reviewed recent
data and, using updated population and demographic models, are revising
take limits for bald eagles effective immediately.
DATES: The maximum allowable take limits set forth in this document are
effective February 1, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Supplementary documents for this notice may be obtained from
http://www.regulations.gov in Docket No. FWS-HQ-MB-2020-0138.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian A. Millsap, National Raptor
Coordinator, Division of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, at 505-559-3963.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Our authority to authorize take of eagles is derived from the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-712) and the Bald and Golden
Eagle Protection Act (hereafter Eagle Act; 16 U.S.C. 668-668d). The
Eagle Act further specifies that take of eagles may only be authorized
after a finding that the take is compatible with the preservation of
the bald eagle or the golden eagle. Through regulations in part 22 of
title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the Service issues
eagle take permits for several specific purposes, including scientific
or Tribal religious purposes and preventing depredations on livestock
and collisions with airplanes near airports. However, the majority of
permits the Service issues to authorize take of eagles are for
incidental take; that is, take that is associated with, but not the
purpose of, a human activity (50 CFR 22.26). The definition of ``take''
under the Eagle Act includes ``pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound,
kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy, molest, or disturb'' (16 U.S.C.
668c; 50 CFR 22.3).
In 2016, we revised the permit regulations governing eagle
incidental take (81 FR 91494, December 16, 2016). As part of that
rulemaking action, we completed a biological status assessment for both
bald and golden eagles and a Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement. These documents and other supporting information for the
2016 rule are available in Docket No. FWS-R9-MB-2011-0094 at http://www.regulations.gov. The 2016 rulemaking action and supplementary
documents implemented the following actions:
(1) Established six eagle management units (EMUs) for bald eagles--
the Atlantic Flyway, Mississippi Flyway, Central Flyway, Pacific Flyway
north of 40[deg] north latitude, Pacific Flyway south of 40[deg] north
latitude, and Alaska;
(2) Established a bald eagle management objective of maintaining
stable or increasing breeding populations in all EMUs, and the
persistence of local populations throughout the geographic range;
(3) Used the 20th quantiles of the bald eagle population size
estimates for each EMU for permitting purposes and presented those
values (use of the 20th quantile of the probability distributions for
the population size estimates was a policy decision made by the Service
in the 2016 PEIS to conservatively addresses the uncertainty in the
population size estimates to ensure the take limits are compatible with
the management objective for bald eagles);
(4) Established a specific take rate for bald eagles in the Pacific
Flyway South EMU and a general take rate across the other EMUs that was
consistent with the management objective;
(5) Set take limits in each EMU based on the appropriate take rate
and the 20th quantile of the EMU population size estimate; and
(6) Established a schedule for conducting eagle surveys and
committed to updating population size estimates and, if warranted, take
rates and take limits no less than once every 6 years.
The 2016 status report and PEIS used bald eagle count data from
2009 to arrive at a U.S. population estimate of 143,000 bald eagles
(20th quantile = 126,000). The schedule established in the PEIS called
for the Service to update bald-eagle-population size and take limits in
2022. However, as part of the 2019 settlement agreement for Energy and
Wildlife Action Coalition v. Department of the Interior et al. (a case
challenging aspects of our authority to issue eagle permits), the
Service agreed to expedite the next update of the bald-eagle-population
size and appropriate take rate. We completed one new survey of occupied
bald eagle nesting territories in the coterminous United States
(excluding the Pacific Flyway South EMU, for reasons explained below)
in 2019 and have since completed the necessary scientific analyses for
the expedited update.
Updated Data and Take Limits
Through this document, we are providing public notice of the
updated bald eagle population size, take rate, and take limits used to
guide issuance of bald eagle take permits for all but the Alaska and
Pacific Flyway South bald eagle EMUs. We did not implement surveys in
Alaska because we did not have the financial or logistical resources.
In the Pacific Flyway South EMU bald eagles are relatively scarce and
patchily distributed, making aerial surveys impractical. Take limits
for these two EMUs will remain as reported in the 2016 PEIS until we
are able to acquire and conduct separate analyses of new information
from these populations.
For this update, we implemented several improvements to the data
and models we use to generate the relevant demographic, population
size, and take rate estimates. These changes are discussed in detail in
a technical report that can be obtained from http://www.regulations.gov
in Docket No. FWS-HQ-MB-2020-0138. In brief, we:
(1) Collaborated with the Cornell University Laboratory of
Ornithology to use eBird citizen-science information to improve our
estimates of the number of occupied bald eagle nesting territories. The
Service's aerial bald eagle nesting territory survey covers areas of
the coterminous United States that have high densities of nesting bald
eagles, but these surveys are not efficient in, and thus are not
conducted in, areas where nests are sparse. However, eBird bald eagle
relative abundance estimates are available for nearly all areas in the
coterminous United States. For the 2009 bald eagle population size
estimate, we used counts of known bald eagle nests provided by State
fish and wildlife agencies as a conservative estimate of the number of
occupied bald eagle nesting territories outside of the areas covered by
the aerial survey. Many States no longer track bald eagle nests,
however, so this process was not a viable option for this update.
Instead, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Service scientists used
aerial survey and eBird relative abundance data from areas where both
data types were available to develop a model that accurately predicted
bald eagle nest density from eBird relative abundance values. We then
used this model to estimate the number of occupied bald eagle nesting
territories in 2019 in the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific
Flyway North EMUs.
[[Page 5495]]
(2) Developed an integrated population model (IPM) to improve the
precision of our estimates of demographic rates. IPMs integrate count
data (our estimates of the number of occupied nesting territories) and
data on survival rates and reproductive rates to produce more precise
estimates of population size, survival, and fecundity than would
otherwise be possible. These rates are used to estimate the take rate
consistent with our management objective and to translate the estimate
of the number of occupied nesting territories into a total population
size estimate. IPMs also allow for the estimation of demographic
parameters for which no explicit data are available in some cases. For
bald eagles, one such parameter is the proportion of adults that breed,
and we were able to obtain credible estimates of this parameter from
our IPM. This change is important because it allowed us to account for
adult ``floaters'' (i.e., adults not settled on a nesting territory)
and thus accurately estimate the total number of adult bald eagles in
the population. The IPM provided information on the proportion of the
bald eagle population that was in each age class, and so knowing the
number of adults allowed us to estimate numbers for the other age
classes and thus total population size. In our 2016 eagle status
assessment we independently modeled each relevant demographic rate, and
thus did not take advantage of the ability to leverage the information
that comes with IPMs.
(3) We updated the bald eagle banding data used to estimate
survival rates in the IPM to include band recoveries through 2018.
(4) We updated our model for determining take rates and limits for
bald eagles based on the new estimates of relevant demographic
parameters from the IPM. We also added flexibility to the model to
accommodate the type of density dependence that likely regulates bald
eagle population size.
Our 2019 estimate of bald eagle population size in the four EMUs is
316,708. However, consistent with the Service's decision in the 2016
PEIS, we use the 20th quantile of the probability distribution as the
relevant value for management purposes, which is 273,327 bald eagles.
Although some of the increase in the estimates of population size from
2009 to 2019 can be attributed to improvements in methods, the majority
of the increase is likely due to population growth, estimated to be
around 10 percent per year. In the 2016 PEIS, we determined that a take
rate of 0.06 was consistent with our management objective for bald
eagles. Based on updated demographic information and using a more
appropriate form of the take-limit model, we have updated our estimate
of the appropriate take rate to 0.09. The changes in population size
and the take rate result in an annual maximum take limit in the four
EMUs of 15,832 bald eagles (see table below). Actual permitted bald
eagle take was 490 in 2020, and the higher updated take limits will not
in themselves lead to increased take.
Table--Former and New Bald Eagle Population Size and Take Limits by Bald Eagle Management Unit
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2009 Population size 2019 Population size
Bald eagle management unit (20th quantile) 2009 Take limit (20th quantile) New take limits
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Atlantic Flyway................................................. 20,387 1,223 72,990 4,223
Mississippi Flyway.............................................. 27,334 1,640 137,917 7,986
Central Flyway.................................................. 1,163 70 26,253 1,521
Pacific Flyway North............................................ 13,296 798 36,302 2,102
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Total....................................................... 62,180 3,731 273,327 15,832
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Despite the improvements we made in our models and approach, we
have not altered the analytical framework of the 2016 PEIS.
Additionally, our update does not alter any of the policy decisions
made in the PEIS, and there are no regulatory changes necessary to
implement these new take limits. In the 2016 PEIS we specifically
anticipated these kinds of periodic updates to the technical
information underlying our analytical framework to account for changes
in population size and demographic rates that might occur over time.
Thus, these updates represent a recalibration of the take limits by
applying the same concepts and policy decisions in the 2016 PEIS to
updated information on the size and demographic rates of bald eagles in
the relevant EMUs. Because this new information constitutes only a
technical update of the scientific information in our 2016 PEIS, we
have determined that the PEIS itself does not need to be updated or
supplemented, nor are any regulatory changes required to implement the
update. Consequently, these updated maximum allowable take limits are
effective upon publication of this notice.
Martha Williams,
Principal Deputy Director, Exercising the Delegated Authority of the
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-02040 Filed 1-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P