[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 212 (Friday, November 1, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58734-58736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23894]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R6-ES-2019-N125; FXES11130600000-190-FF06E00000]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery
Plan for the Gunnison Sage-Grouse
AGENCY: 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, announce the
availability of a draft recovery plan for Gunnison sage-grouse, a bird
species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. We are
requesting review and comment from the public on this draft plan. The
draft recovery plan includes objective, measurable criteria, and site-
specific management actions as may be necessary to remove the species
from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.
DATES: We must receive any comments on the draft recovery plan on or
before December 31, 2019.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Copies of the draft recovery plan are
available at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/recovery-plans.html.
Alternatively, you may request a copy by U.S. mail from the Colorado
Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 445
West Gunnison Avenue, #240, Grand Junction, CO 81501-5711; or via
telephone at 970-628-7181.
Submitting comments: If you wish to comment on the draft recovery
plan, you may submit your comments in writing by email to
gusgrecoveryplan@fws.gov, or by U.S. mail or hand-delivery to the Field
Supervisor at the address above.
Viewing public comments: Comments and materials the Service
receives will be available for public inspection by appointment during
normal business hours at the address above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ann Timberman, Field Supervisor,
Colorado Ecological Services Field Office, Grand Junction, at the above
U.S. mail address or telephone number (see ADDRESSES).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce the availability of a draft recovery plan for
Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus; hereafter, GUSG), a bird
species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973,
as amended (Act; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). We are requesting review and
comment from the public on this draft recovery plan.
Background
Restoring an endangered or threatened animal or plant to the point
where it is again a secure, self-sustaining member of its ecosystem is
a primary goal of the Service's endangered species program. Recovery
means improving the status of a listed species to the point at which
listing is no longer necessary according to the
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criteria specified under section 4(a)(1) of the Act. The Act requires
recovery plans for listed species unless such a plan would not promote
the conservation of a particular species. To help guide recovery
efforts, we prepare recovery plans to promote the conservation of the
species.
The purpose of a recovery plan is to provide a recommended
framework for the recovery of a species so that protection of the Act
is no longer necessary. Pursuant to section 4(f) of the Act, a recovery
plan must, to the maximum extent possible, include: (1) A description
of site-specific management actions as may be necessary to achieve the
plan's goal for the conservation and survival of the species; (2)
objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would support a
determination under section 4(a)(1) of the Act that the species should
be removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Species; and (3)
estimates of time and costs required to carry out those measures needed
to achieve the plan's goal and to achieve intermediate steps toward
that goal.
We used our new recovery planning and implementation (RPI) process
to develop the draft recovery plan for Gunnison sage-grouse. The RPI
process helps reduce the time needed to develop and implement recovery
plans, increases the relevancy of the recovery plan over longer
timeframes, and adds flexibility so that the recovery plan can be more
easily adjusted to new information and circumstances. Under our RPI
process, a recovery plan will include the three statutorily required
elements for recovery plans--objective and measurable criteria, site-
specific management actions, and estimates of time and cost--along with
a concise introduction and our strategy for how we plan to achieve
species recovery. The RPI recovery plan is supported by a separate
species status assessment (SSA) report, which provides the scientific
background information and threat assessment for the species, which are
key to the development of the recovery plan. A third, separate working
document, called the recovery implementation strategy (RIS), steps down
the more general descriptions of actions in the recovery plan to detail
the specifics needed to implement the recovery plan, which improves the
flexibility of the recovery plan. The RIS will be adaptable, with new
information on actions incorporated, as needed, without requiring a
concurrent revision to the recovery plan, unless changes to the three
statutory elements are required.
On November 20, 2014, we listed GUSG as a threated species (79 FR
69192) and concurrently designated critical habitat for the species (79
FR 69312). On April 25, 2018, we agreed to complete a recovery plan in
order to receive a stay of litigation. We conducted a SSA for the
species and documented our analysis in an SSA report (Service 2019),
which is an in-depth, scientific review of the species' biology and
threats, an evaluation of its biological status, and an assessment of
the resources and conditions needed to support populations over time.
The SSA report provides the scientific background and threats
assessment for our draft recovery plan.
In accordance with our July 1, 1994, peer review policy (59 FR
34270; July 1, 1994); our August 22, 2016, Director's Memo on the Peer
Review Process; and the Office of Management and Budget's December 16,
2004, Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review (revised June
2012), we solicited independent scientific reviews of the information
contained in the SSA report. Results of this structured peer review
process can be found at https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/science/peerReview.php. We also submitted our SSA report to our Federal, State,
and Tribal partners for their scientific review. We incorporated the
results of the peer and partner review in the SSA report, as
appropriate. The SSA report is the scientific foundation for the draft
recovery plan.
This notice opens the public review and comment period for our
draft recovery plan for the GUSG. Section 4(f) of the Act requires that
we notify the public and provide an opportunity for public review and
comment during the development of recovery plans. We will consider all
information we receive during a public comment period when preparing
the recovery plan for approval, and particularly look for comments that
provide scientific rationale or background. The Service and other
Federal agencies will take these comments into consideration in the
course of implementing an approved final recovery plan.
Species Information
Gunnison sage-grouse (or GUSG) is a small bird in the grouse family
that lives exclusively in sagebrush steppe ecosystems of southwestern
Colorado and southeastern Utah. GUSG are closely associated with
sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in North America (Young et al.
2015, p. 1). GUSG rely on ecosystems with relatively contiguous and
healthy sagebrush stands for food and shelter year round, while grasses
and forbs in the understory provide cover and food during the nesting
and early brood-rearing periods (Connelly et al. 2000, p. 971).
Since the 1900s, the GUSG's occupied range has contracted, due
largely to habitat loss associated with the conversion of sagebrush
habitats to agriculture and residential and commercial development.
GUSG now occupies an estimated 10 percent of its historical range
(Schroeder et al. 2004, p. 370). Currently, GUSG are found in eight
small populations distributed across eight counties in Colorado and one
county in Utah, with seven populations located in Colorado (Gunnison
Basin, Poncha Pass, Crawford, Cerro Summit-Cimarron-Sims Mesa (CSCSM),
Pi[ntilde]on Mesa, San Miguel, and Dove Creek) and one population in
Utah (Monticello). These eight populations occupy six different
ecoregions, or areas delineated by common geology, landforms, soils,
vegetation, climate, land use, wildlife, and hydrology (EPA 2018),
which represent distinct ecological differences in habitat between the
populations.
A number of threats continue to affect GUSG populations, including:
Habitat loss due to commercial and residential development; improperly
managed grazing; encroachment by pi[ntilde]on-juniper; the effects of
small population size; and regulatory mechanisms are inadequate to
protect the species from these threats.
Recovery Strategy
Below, we summarize components from our draft recovery plan for
GUSG. Please reference the draft recovery plan for full details (see
ADDRESSSES above).
The draft recovery plan describes the recovery goal as the survival
and conservation of GUSG. In general, GUSG need a sufficient number of
resilient populations distributed across the overall range to maximize
ecological and genetic diversity to withstand environmental
stochasticity and catastrophes, and to adapt to environmental change.
Recovery for GUSG will be signified by at least five resilient
populations (Gunnison Basin, San Miguel Basin, Pi[ntilde]on Mesa,
Crawford, and Monticello) and improved habitat in two populations (Dove
Creek and CSCSM). These conditions provide sufficient representation
and redundancy across the species' range through the occupancy of
multiple ecoregions, the number of populations, and a broad
distribution.
Recovery criteria in the draft plan include: (1) Maintaining
sufficiently
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high male counts (HMCs) for at least 7 out of 9 years (specific targets
are described in the draft recovery plan); and (2) reducing or
ameliorating threats associated with habitat loss and degradation in
all populations, via regulatory mechanisms or other conservation plans
or programs. To help meet these criteria, the draft recovery plan
identifies recovery actions from the following general categories:
Translocating GUSG to augment populations; conserving and restoring
habitat; managing motorized routes on Federal lands; and continued
research and monitoring.
Request for Public Comments
The Service solicits public comments on the draft recovery plan.
All comments we receive by the date specified (see DATES) will be
considered prior to approval of the plan. Written comments and
materials regarding the plan should be sent via the means in the
ADDRESSES section.
We are specifically seeking comments and suggestions on the
following questions:
Understanding that the time and cost presented in the
draft recovery plan will be fine-tuned when localized recovery
implementation strategies are developed, are the estimated time and
cost to recovery realistic? Is the estimate reflective of the time and
cost of actions that may have already been implemented by Federal,
State, county, or other agencies? Please provide suggestions or methods
for determining a more accurate estimation.
Do the draft recovery criteria provide clear direction to
State partners on what is needed to recover the species? How could they
be improved for clarity?
Are the draft recovery criteria both objective and
measurable given the information available for this species now and
into the future? Please provide suggestions.
Understanding that specific, detailed, and area-specific
recovery actions will be developed in the RIS, do the draft recovery
actions presented in the draft recovery plan generally cover the types
of actions necessary to meet the recovery criteria? If not, what
general actions are missing? And, are any of the draft recovery actions
unnecessary for achieving recovery? Have we prioritized the actions
appropriately?
Public Availability of Comments
We will summarize and respond to the issues raised by the public in
an appendix to the approved final recovery plan. Before including your
address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
publicly available at any time. You may request at the top of your
comment that we withhold this information from public review; however,
we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority
The authority for this action is section 4(f) of the Endangered
Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).
Dated: September 20, 2019.
Noreen Walsh,
Regional Director, Lakewood, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2019-23894 Filed 10-31-19; 8:45 am]
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