Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designations of Critical Habitat for Plant Species From the Island of Hawaii, HI

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the draft economic analysis for the proposed designations of critical habitat for 47 plant species from the island of Hawaii. The comment period for the proposed critical habitat designations originally closed on July 29, 2002. On August 26, 2002, we reopened the comment period and provided notice that the comment period would close on September 30, 2002. On September 24, 2002, we announced two public hearings and extended the comment period to allow all interested parties to submit oral or written comments on the proposal until November 30, 2002. We are now providing notice of another extension of the comment period to allow peer reviewers and all interested parties to comment simultaneously on the proposed rule and the associated draft economic analysis. Over a 10-year period, the draft economic analysis shows a range of total direct costs for both the plant species listings and critical habitat to be estimated at $53.1 million to $71.8 million and some of the indirect costs could be substantially larger. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted as they will be incorporated into the public record as part of this extended comment period and will be fully considered in preparation of the final rule.