Partial 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List 404 Species in the Southeastern United States as Endangered or Threatened With Critical Habitat

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a partial 90-day finding on a petition to list 404 species in the southeastern United States as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that for 374 of the 404 species, the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a status review of the 374 species to determine if listing is warranted. To ensure that the review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information regarding these 374 species. Based on the status reviews, we will issue 12-month findings on the petition, which will address whether the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act. Of the 30 other species in the petition, 1 species--Alabama shad--has had a 90-day finding published by the National Marine Fisheries Service, and 18 species are already on the Service's list of candidate species or are presently the subject of proposed rules to list. We have not yet made a finding on the remaining 11 species, but anticipate doing so no later than September 30, 2011.