Public Hearings Scheduled
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today it is reopening a 60-day comment period and scheduling public hearings on its reinstatement of the 1993 proposal to list the flat-tailed horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Hearings are scheduled on June 19, 2002, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., and from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the Southwest High School Performing Arts Theatre, 2001 Ocotillo Drive, El Centro, California.
The Service published a notice in the Federal Register on December 26, 2001, reinstating the 1993 proposal to list the species pursuant to the Act and opening a 120-day comment period. During the comment period, the Service received several requests to conduct hearings on the proposed rule to list the flat-tailed horned lizard.
The flat-tailed horned lizard is a small desert reptile that inhabits portions of the Sonoran Desert in southern California, Arizona, and northern Mexico. A typical flat-tailed horned lizard measures approximately 3.3 inches from snout to vent, and has two rows of fringed scales on either side of the body with a dark stripe along its backbone. Flat-tailed horned lizards feed primarily on native harvester ants, consuming 150-200 ants per day.
A proposed rule to list the species as threatened was published in the Federal Register on November 29, 1993. On July 15, 1997, the Service withdrew its proposal to list the flat-tailed horned lizard as threatened based on three primary factors: 1) population trend data did not conclusively demonstrate significant population declines; 2) some of the threats to the species
