Draft Post-Delisting Monitoring Plan for the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

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.