Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Threatened Species Status With Section 4(d) Rule for the Northwestern Pond Turtle and Southwestern Pond Turtle

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the northwestern pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata), a species from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and northern and central California, and the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida), a species from central and southern California and Baja California, Mexico, as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the western pond turtle, which is now recognized as two separate species (northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle). After a review of the best scientific and commercial information available, we find that listing the northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle as threatened species with rules issued under section 4(d) of the Act (``4(d) rule'') for each species. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add the northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the two species. Due to the current lack of data sufficient to perform required analyses, we conclude that the designation of critical habitat for the northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle is not determinable at this time.