ETWP; Proposed Rule to List Three Aquatic Snails as Endangered, and Three Aquatic Snails as Threatened in the Mobile River Basin of Alabama

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) proposes to list the cylindrical lioplax (Lioplax cyclostomaformis), flat pebblesnail (Lepyrium showalteri), and plicate rocksnail (Leptoxis plicata) as endangered; and the painted rocksnail (Leptoxis taeniata), round rocksnail (Leptoxis ampla), and lacy elimia (Elimia crenatella) as threatened species under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). These aquatic snails are found in localized portions of the Black Warrior, Cahaba, Alabama, and Coosa rivers or their tributaries in Alabama. Impoundment and water quality degradation have eliminated the six snails from 90 percent or more of their historic habitat. Surviving populations are currently threatened by pollutants such as sediments and nutrients that wash into streams from the land surface. This proposed rule, if made final, would extend the Act's protection to these six snail species.