[Federal Register: September 30, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 188)]
[Notices]
[Page 50236-50237]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30se09-88]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R8-ES-2009-N163; 80221-1113-0000-D3]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Post-
Delisting Monitoring Plan for the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus
occidentalis)
AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of document availability for review and comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of the draft post-delisting monitoring plan for the brown
pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) (draft PDM Plan, Draft Monitoring
Plan). The Endangered Species Act (Act) requires that we 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 the protection afforded by the Act (i.e. delisted). The
brown pelican has been proposed to be removed from the Federal List of
Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants due to recovery. If the
brown pelican is removed from the list, we propose to monitor the
status of the brown pelican over a 10-year period from 2010 through
2020, through annual evaluation of information collected by the States
of California, Texas, and Louisiana; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the West Indies; Mexico; other partners;
and the Service.
DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by
October 30, 2009.
ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the Draft Monitoring Plan will be
available on the Internet at http://www.fws.gov/Ventura. Requests for
copies of the Draft Monitoring Plan and submission of written comments
or materials regarding the plan should be addressed to Field
Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura Fish and Wildlife
Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003. The Draft
Monitoring Plan, reference materials, and submitted comments regarding
the Draft Monitoring Plan will also be available for inspection, by
appointment, during normal business hours at the above address. You may
also submit electronic comments on the Draft Monitoring Plan to:
FW8pelicanmonitoring@fws.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael McCrary, Listing and Recovery
Coordinator, at the above address or at telephone 805-644-1766,
extension 372. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD), call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-
8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On February 20, 2008, we published a proposed rule to remove the
brown pelican from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife (List) due to recovery (73 FR 9408), with a 60-day comment
period that closed on April 21, 2008. Our proposed rule concluded that
the primary reason for severe declines in the brown pelican population
in the United States, and for designating the species as endangered,
was DDT contamination in the 1960s and early 1970s. Banning of DDT,
along with other recovery actions, has resulted in increased population
numbers and reproductive success, and information now indicates that
major threats to brown pelicans have been reduced, managed, or
eliminated. We are currently reviewing comments we received on the
proposed rule and preparing responses as appropriate.
Section 4(g) of the Act requires the Secretary of the Interior to
implement a system in cooperation with the States to monitor
effectively for not less than 5 years the status of any species that is
delisted due to recovery. The intent of this monitoring is to determine
whether the species should be proposed for relisting under the normal
listing procedures, relisted under the emergency listing authority of
the Act, or kept off of the List because it remains neither threatened
nor endangered.
Brown pelican populations currently listed under the Act breed
along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Mississippi to Texas; along
the Pacific Coast from southern California, south through Mexico into
Central and South America; and in the West Indies (Shields 2002, pp. 2-
4). Additional information about the brown pelican's biology and life
history can be found in the Birds of North America, No. 609 (Shields
2002, pp. 1-36).
The brown pelican draft PDM Plan was developed in cooperation with
the State resources agencies of California, Louisiana, and Texas and
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. If the brown pelican is removed from
the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants, our
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office will be the lead office responsible
for this monitoring effort, and will coordinate all phases of
implementation of the plan and ensure that monitoring
[[Page 50237]]
requirements outlined within the plan are accomplished. The draft PDM
Plan proposes to conduct monitoring annually for at least 10 years.
Post-delisting monitoring of the brown pelican will consist primarily
of annual collection of information on colony occupancy and number of
nesting pairs. Information on contaminants will also be collected at 5-
year intervals beginning with the first year.
Post-delisting monitoring of the brown pelican will be focused
along the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas; the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the West Indies; the Pacific coast
of southern California and Baja California, Mexico; and the Gulf of
California. We will be monitoring these areas because: (1) Existing
population data are available for these areas for comparison with data
to be collected during post-delisting monitoring; (2) these populations
were among some of the largest (outside of those in Peru) prior to
listing (73 FR 9408); and (3) these populations suffered the greatest
declines in productivity and abundance that led to the listing of the
species. Additionally, we have no evidence that brown pelicans outside
these areas ever suffered declines in response to persistent organic
pesticides. We are also interested in any information that may suggest
a new or increasing threat that may impact the brown pelican in other
parts of its range proposed for delisting under the Act but not covered
by this Draft Monitoring Plan.
Request for Public Comments
We solicit written comments on the Draft Monitoring Plan described
in this notice. All comments received by the date specified above will
be considered in development of a final post-delisting monitoring plan
for the brown pelican. We will take into consideration the relevant
comments, suggestions, or objections that we receive by the comment due
date indicated above in the DATES section. These comments, suggestions,
or objections, and any additional information we receive, may lead us
to adopt a final PDM Plan that differs from this draft PDM Plan.
Comments merely stating support or opposition to the draft PDM Plan
without providing supporting data are not as helpful. We particularly
seek comments concerning:
(1) Information and data on contaminants from brown pelicans or
other seabirds near pelican nesting colonies throughout the range of
the brown pelican that may affect our selection of the areas to be
monitored;
(2) The appropriateness of assaying contaminants in brown pelicans
and/or their eggs every 5 years and reasons, if any, for increasing or
decreasing the frequency of analysis; and
(3) The appropriateness of the areas selected for monitoring and
reasons, if any, for modifying the survey areas, including information
related to the number of nesting pairs and population trends of brown
pelicans outside the survey areas in the Draft Monitoring Plan.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, electronic mail
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you
should be aware that your entire document--including your personal
identifying information--may be publicly available at any time. While
you can ask us in your comments to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority: The authority for this action is the Act (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.).
Alexandra Pitts,
Acting Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Southwest
Region.
[FR Doc. E9-23557 Filed 9-29-09; 8:45 am]
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