[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-31747]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: December 27, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
50 CFR Part 17

 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reopening of 
Comment Period on Data Pertaining to the Subspecies Taxonomy of the 
California Gnatcatcher

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of reopening of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) gives notice that 
the comment period on the data pertaining to the subspecies taxonomy of 
the California gnatcatcher is reopened through January 26, 1995. The 
Service has reopened the comment period to ensure that the public may 
review and comment on significant comments and analyses received during 
the original public comment period, which was open from June 2, to 
December 1, 1994.

DATES: Comments and materials must be received by January 26, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments and materials concerning the original public 
comments and analyses should be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Carlsbad Field Office, 2730 Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad, 
California 92008. The data, original and subsequent public comments, 
and other materials received will be available for public inspection 
during normal business hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Gail Kobetich, Field Supervisor, at the address listed above (telephone 
619/431-9440, facsimile 619/431-9624).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 30, 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) 
published a final rule in the Federal Register determining the coastal 
California gnatcatcher to be a threatened species (58 FR 16741). In its 
decision to the list the gnatcatcher, the Service relied, in part, on 
taxonomic studies conducted by Dr. Jonathan Atwood of the Manomet Bird 
Observatory, Manomet, Massachusetts. As is the standard practice in the 
scientific community, the Service did not request, nor was it offered, 
the data collected and used by Dr. Atwood in reaching his conclusions. 
Instead, the Service depended upon the conclusions published by Dr. 
Atwood in a peer-reviewed scientific article on the subspecific 
taxonomy of the California gnatcatcher (Atwood 1991).
    In response to a suit filed by the Endangered Species Committee of 
the Building Industry Association of Southern California and other 
plaintiffs, the United States District Court of the District of 
Columbia vacated the listing of the coastal California gnatcatcher 
because the Service did not make available Atwood's data for public 
review and comment. In response to the court decision, Dr. Atwood 
released his data to the Service, which the agency made available to 
the public for review and comment on June 2, 1994 (59 FR 28508). On 
June 16, 1994, the court reinstated threatened status for the coastal 
California gnatcatcher until the Secretary of the Interior determines 
in a finding whether the listing should be revised or revoked in light 
of his review of the subject data and public comments received during 
the comment period. As a result of the court orders of July 27, 1994, 
and September 30, 1994, the Service extended the comment period to 
December 1, 1994, (59 FR 38426, 59 FR 44125, and 59 FR 53628).
    The Service received 11 substantive comments in response to the 
request for public comments on Dr. Atwood's data and analysis. Of 
particular note, Dr. William Link mathematician, and Grey Pendleton, 
biometrician, with the National Biological Survey (NBS) conducted new 
analyses of these data and presented it in a report (Link and Pendleton 
1994). Their four conclusions were:
    (1) That the morphological characters in Atwood's data set vary 
along the geographical gradient,
    (2) That the changes in characters are more reasonably represented 
by discrete groupings than by a gradual pattern of change, and are thus 
consistent with the existence of subgroups within the population,
    (3) That there is at least 1 break north of site 5 (Atwood's BG27) 
[approximately 30 deg. N latitude], and
    (4) That there is at least 1 break south of site 5.
    Moreover, the Service received two additional statistical analyses 
(Dr. Atwood; and Dr. Karen Messer, Department of Mathematics, 
California State University, Fullerton) that supported a southern 
terminus of 30 deg. N latitude for the coastal California gnatcatcher. 
However, the Service received three significant comments that, for 
various reasons, did not support such a southern terminus (Dr. George 
Barrowclough, ornithologist from New York; Dr. Lyman McDonald, 
consultant from Wyoming; and Dr. James MacMahon and other colleagues, 
College of Science, Utah State University).
    In light of the NBS report (Link and Pendleton 1994), the Service 
reopens the comment period to ensure that the public may review and 
comment on this and other significant comments and analyses received 
during the original public comment period. The comment period is opened 
through January 26, 1995.

References Cited

Atwood, J.L. 1991. Subspecies limits and geographic patterns of 
morphological variation in California gnatcatchers (Polioptila 
californica). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy Sciences 
90:118-133.
Link, W.A., and G.W. Pendleton. 1994. New analysis of Atwood's 
California gnatcatcher data. National Biological Survey unpublished 
report 28 pp.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 17

    Endangered and threatened species, Exports, Imports, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.

    Dated: December 19, 1994.
Thomas Dwyer,
Regional Director, Region 1, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 94-31747 Filed 12-23-94; 8:45 am]
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