Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Nine Bexar County, Texas, Invertebrate Species; Proposed Rule

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose designation of critical habitat for nine endangered karst-dwelling invertebrate species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The proposed critical habitat consists of 25 units (a total of approximately 9,516 acres) in Bexar County, Texas, each encompassing one or more caves or other karst features known to contain one or more of the listed species. "Karst" is a type of terrain that is formed by the slow dissolution of calcium carbonate from limestone bedrock by mildly acidic groundwater. This process creates numerous cave openings, cracks, fissures, fractures, and sinkholes and the bedrock resembles a honeycomb (USFWS 1994). Critical habitat identifies areas that are essential to the conservation of a listed species and that may require special management considerations or protection. If this proposal is made final, section 7 of the Act requires Federal agencies to ensure that actions they fund, authorize, or carry out do not destroy or adversely modify critical habitat to the extent that the action appreciably diminishes the value of the critical habitat for the conservation of the species. 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 economic and other impacts of the designation.