NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF FIVE INCIDENTAL TAKE PERMIT APPLICATIONS AND HABITAT CONSERVATION PLANS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA October 3, 2008
The Fish and Wildlife Service announced the availability of five Incidental Take Permit applications and Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The applicants collectively anticipate removing a total of approximately 2.04 acres of Mount Hermon June beetle (Polyphylla barbata) occupied habitat, and one HCP also includes the federally endangered Ben Lomond spineflower (Chorizanthe pungens var. hartwegiana) as a covered species.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE PROPOSES 300% INCREASE IN CALIFORNIA RED-LEGGED FROG CRITICAL HABITAT September 16, 2008
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened a 60-day comment period on a new plan to designate 1.8 million acres as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii), an area that is 300 per cent larger than a 2006 designation for the species.
SERVICE RECOMMENDS DOWNLISTING ONE SPECIES; NO CHANGE RECOMMENDED FOR FIFTEEN OTHERS September 10, 2008
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the completion of 5-year reviews for 16 species in California. Of the reviews being announced today, the Service has recommended downlisting the Lane Mountain milk-vetch from endangered to threatened. The Service has recommended no change in status for the 15 other species reviewed.
U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REPROPOSES CRITICAL HABITAT FOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COASTAL PLANT August 5, 2008
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced it has proposed 38,447 acres of critical habitat for La Graciosa thistle in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The federally-endangered native California plant grows in coastal dunes and wetland areas.
TAXONOMIC REVISION AND CRITICAL HABITAT DESIGNATED FOR SIERRA NEVADA BIGHORN SHEEP August 4, 2008
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), will publish a final rule designating approximately 417,577 acres of land in portions of Tuolumne, Mono, Fresno, Inyo, and Tulare counties in California, for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis californiana), a federally listed endangered species in the Federal Register on August 5, 2008. The Service will also announce the final revision of taxonomy for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep from a distinct population segment of California bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis californiana) to a subspecies, (Ovis canadensis sierrae), based on recent published information.
PUBLIC COMMENTS INVITED ON DRAFT REVISED RECOVERY PLAN FOR THE MOJAVE POPULATION OF DESERT TORTOISE August 1, 2008
Strategies for recovering the threatened desert tortoise are the subject of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Draft Revised Recovery Plan for the Mojave population of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Notice of availability of the Draft Recovery Plan will publish in the August 4, 2008, Federal Register and opens a 90-day public comment period that will end on November 3, 2008.
New plan to designate 1.8 million acres as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) (closes 11/17/08)