The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a draft report on the potential economic impacts of a proposed designation of critical habitat for 11 federally listed freshwater mussels in the Mobile River Basin. The public is invited to either submit written comments on the proposed designation or draft economic analysis report by October 14, 2003, or to present their opinion in person at a public hearing scheduled for October 1, 2003, from 7 to 10 p.m. in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Service proposed critical habitat for these mussels on March 26, 2003. Three of the 11 with proposed critical habitat designation, the , and , , , , and Endangered Species Act requires the Service to consider economic and other relevant impacts of the designation. If the benefits of excluding an area outweigh the benefits of including it, the Service may exclude an area from critical habitat, unless such action would result in the extinction of any of the species in question.
Critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species which may require special management and protection. A critical habitat designation does not establish a preserve or refuge, nor does it affect individual citizens, organizations, states, local governments, or other non-federal entities that do not require federal permits or funding.
Proposed critical habitat for the 11 mussels encompasses about 1,100 miles of river and stream channels in the following areas:
- Tombigbee River drainage in Itawamba, Monroe and Lowndes counties in Mississippi and Lamar, Pickens, Greene, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties in Alabama;
- Black Warrior River drainage in Tuscaloosa, Fayette, Winston, Lawrence, Blount and Jefferson counties in Alabama;
- Alabama River drainage in Dallas, Lowndes and Autauga counties in Alabama;
- Cahaba River drainage in Bibb, Jefferson and Shelby counties in Alabama;
- Tallapoosa River drainage in Macon and Cleburne counties in Alabama plus Haralson and Paulding counties in Georgia;
- Coosa River drainage in Coosa, Clay, Shelby, Talladega, Calhoun, Cherokee, St. Clair and Cleburne counties in Alabama and Murray, Whitfield, Gordon and Floyd counties in Georgia plus Bradley and Polk counties in Tennessee.
Copies of the draft economic analysis for the critical habitat designation or the proposed designation of critical habitat for the 11 mussels can be obtained from the Service website at: http://southeast.fws.gov/hotissues/ or by contacting Connie Light Dickard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi 39213; phone 601-321-1121.
The public hearing will be held at the Brock Forum, located in Dwight Beeson Hall on the campus of Samford University, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, Alabama, on October 1, 2003, from 7 to 10 p.m. All comments presented at the public hearing will be recorded by a court reporter for consideration in the Service
