The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will assess the status of four wildlife species found in the Midwest to determine whether protection under the Endangered Species Act is warranted. The Service is seeking input as it conducts in-depth studies of the northern bog lemming, wood turtle, rusty-patched bumble bee and regal fritillary, a butterfly.
The Service is initiating status reviews in response to a variety of petitions seeking to protect 25 species under the Endangered Species Act.
The northern bog lemming is found in sphagnum bogs, wet subalpine meadows and mossy forests in northern states including Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Wood turtles occur in Minnesota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia. They inhabit streams, woodland bogs and marshy pastures.
The rusty-patched bumble bee is found in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. This pollinator needs a supply of flowers that bloom from April to September. A large orange and black butterfly, the regal fritillary is sometimes mistaken for a monarch butterfly if seen from a distance. It is found in grasslands and prairies from eastern Colorado to the East Coast, including the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. As a caterpillar, the fritillary eats only violets.
Once the Service has completed its assessment of these species, the agency will determine whether to propose any as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. For each species, the Service must determine that listing is warranted or not warranted, and may determine that listing is warranted but currently precluded due to needs of higher priority species.
The notice of the initiation of status reviews appears in the September 18, 2015, Federal Register. The Service is seeking information about these species; information may be submitted beginning September 18, 2015, through November 17, 2015.
- Electronically at regulations.gov:
Use the specified docket number:
Species
Docket Number
Link
Northern bog lemming
FWS-R5-ES-2015-0103
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FWS-R5-ES-2015-0103
Wood turtle
FWS-R5-ES-2015-0122
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FWS-R5-ES-2015-0122
Rusty-patched bumble bee
FWS-R3-ES-2015-0112
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FWS-R3-ES-2015-0112
Regal fritillary
FWS-R6-ES-2015-0078
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FWS-R6-ES-2015-0078
- U.S. mail or hand-delivery:
Public Comments Processing Attn: Docket No. [Insert appropriate docket number; see table above]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife, MS: BPHC
5275 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041-3803
The Service will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that the Service will post any personal information that is provided.
For more information on these and other Midwest species of concern, visit www.fws.gov/midwest/es/soc.
