Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Post-Delisting Monitoring Plan for the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Proposed Information Collection

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the draft post-delisting monitoring plan (draft PDM Plan) for the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the Service implement a system, in cooperation with the States, to monitor effectively for at least 5 years, the status of all species that have been recovered and no longer need protection of the ESA. The bald eagle in the contiguous 48 states will be removed from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants (delisted) due to recovery. We are publishing the final rule for the delisting simultaneously with this notice elsewhere in today's Federal Register. We will also ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) for the draft PDM Plan described below.