Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Critical Habitat Designation for Four Vernal Pool Crustaceans and Eleven Vernal Pool Plants in California and Southern Oregon; Proposed Rule

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose designation of critical habitat for 4 vernal pool crustaceans and 11 vernal pool plants with a total area being proposed of approximately 672,920 hectares (ha) (1,662,762 acres (ac)). The proposed designation of critical habitat is for Conservancy fairy shrimp (Branchinecta conservatio) 165,820 ha (409,735 ac), longhorn fairy shrimp (Branchinecta longiantenna) 40,605 ha (100,333 ac), vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi) 457,556 ha (1,130,605 ac), and vernal pool tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus packardi) 291,370 ha (719,965 ac) (collectively referred to as "vernal pool crustaceans" in the remainder of this document), and Butte County meadowfoam (Limnanthes floccosa ssp. californica) 16,320 ha (40,326 ac), Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens) 14,499 ha (38,297 ac), Hoover's spurge (Chamaesyce hooveri) 81,744 ha (201,987 ac), succulent (or fleshy) owl's-clover (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulenta) 125,217 ha (309,407 ac), Colusa grass (Neostapfia colusana) 132,608 ha (327,670 ac), Greene's tuctoria (Tuctoria greenei) 142,984 ha (353,308 ac), hairy Orcutt grass (Orcuttia pilosa) 65,671 ha (162,272 ac), Sacramento Orcutt grass (Orcuttia viscida) 24,632 ha (60,865 ac), San Joaquin Valley Orcutt grass (Orcuttia inaequalis) 101,059 ha (249,714 ac), slender Orcutt grass (Orcuttia tenuis) 71,035 ha (175,524 ac), and Solano grass (Tuctoria mucronata) 7,345 ha (18,149 ac) (collectively referred to as "vernal pool plants" in the remainder of this document), pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Because many of the units proposed for different species overlap, the total critical habitat area we are proposing is much less than the sum of the areas for each species. The proposed units are in 39 counties in California and one county in southern Oregon. If this proposed rule is made final, section 7 of the Act would prohibit destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat by any activity funded, authorized, or carried out by any Federal agency. Section 4 of the Act requires us to consider economic and other impacts of specifying any particular area as critical habitat. We solicit data and comments from the public on all aspects of this proposal, including data on the economic and other impacts of the designation. We may revise or further refine critical habitat boundaries prior to final designation based on habitat and additional plant and animal surveys, public comments on the proposed critical habitat rule, the completion and approval of Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs), and new scientific and commercial information, and data concerning potential economic impacts from the proposed designation.