[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 107 (Thursday, June 4, 1998)] [Proposed Rules] [Pages 30453-30455] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 98-14974] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Finding on Petitions To Change the Status of Grizzly Bear Populations in the North Cascades Area of Washington and the Cabinet-Yaak Area of Montana and Idaho From Threatened to Endangered AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice of 12-month petition finding. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a recycled 12-month petition finding for two petitions to amend the List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife. The Service finds that reclassification of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the North Cascades Recovery Zone of Washington and Cabinet-Yaak Recovery Zone of Montana and Idaho from threatened to endangered status remains warranted but precluded. DATES: The finding announced in this document was approved on June 1, 1998. ADDRESSES: Questions or comments concerning this finding should be sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator, University Hall 309, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812. The petition, finding, and supporting data are available for public inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the above office. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Christopher Servheen, Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator (see ADDRESSES above) at telephone (406) 243-4903. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that for any petition to revise the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants that contains substantial scientific and commercial information, the Service make a finding within 12 months of the date of the receipt of the petition on whether the petitioned action is (a) not warranted, (b) warranted, or `` warranted, but precluded. Section 4(b)(3)(C) requires that petitions for which the requested action is found to be warranted but precluded should be treated as though resubmitted on the date of such finding, i.e., requiring a subsequent finding to be made within 12 months. The Service announces a new 12- month finding on two petitions requesting the reclassification of grizzly bears from threatened to endangered status. The Service received a petition dated March 13, 1990, from the Humane Society of the United States, Greater Ecosystem Alliance, North Cascades Audubon Society, Kittitas Audubon Society, Pilchuck Audubon Society, Skagit Alpine Club, North Cascades Conservation Council, and Carol Rae Smith. The petition requested the Service to reclassify the grizzly bear in the North Cascades area of Washington State from threatened to endangered. The Service made a 90-day finding that the petition presented substantial information indicating that the requested action may be warranted. The Service announced the 90-day finding in the Federal Register on August 7, 1990, (55 FR 32103) and initiated a status review. The Service issued a 12-month finding that the petitioned action was warranted but precluded on July 24, 1991 (56 FR 33892). A petition dated January 16, 1991, was received from Mr. D.C. Carlton on January 28, 1991. The petition requested the Service to reclassify the grizzly bear in the Selkirk ecosystem of Idaho and Washington; the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Montana and Idaho; and the North Cascades ecosystem of Washington from threatened to endangered. A petition dated February 4, 1991, was received from the Fund for Animals, Inc., on February 7, 1991. The petition requested the Service to reclassify the grizzly bear in the Selkirk ecosystem of Idaho and Washington; the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Montana and Idaho; the Yellowstone ecosystem of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho; and the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem of Montana from threatened to endangered. On April 20, 1992 (57 FR 14372) the Service issued a 90-day finding that there was not substantial information to warrant the reclassification of the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems, but there was substantial information to indicate that reclassification in the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems may be warranted. At the same time, the Service initiated a status review. On February 12, 1993 (58 FR 8250) the Service issued a 12-month finding that reclassification in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem was [[Page 30454]] warranted but precluded and that reclassification in the Selkirk ecosystem was not warranted. Section 4(b) of the Act states that the Service may make warranted but precluded findings only if it can demonstrate that (1) an immediate proposed rule is precluded by other pending proposals, and that (2) expeditious progress is being make on other listing actions. On September 21, 1983 (48 FR 43098), the Service published in the Federal Register its priority system for listing species under the Act. The system considers magnitude of threat, immediacy of threat, and taxonomic distinctiveness in assigning species numerical listing priorities on scale of one through twelve. The two grizzly bear populations discussed here have been assigned a listing priority of 6. The magnitude of the threat to the continued existence of the North Cascades and Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear populations remains high. The reasons for this are detailed in the Service's 12-month petition findings in 1991 for the North Cascades (56 FR 33892) and in 1993 for the Cabinet-Yaak (58 FR 8250). However, grizzly bear habitat protection in the North Cascades and the Cabinet-Yaak areas is facilitated by Federal ownership of most of the land within both recovery zones. In the North Cascades, large portions of the recovery zone are designated wilderness or lie within North Cascades National Park. In the Cabinet- Yaak there is some designated wilderness and additional proposed wilderness. All actions on Federal lands which may affect grizzly bears undergo consultation under section 7 of the Act. The Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan was revised in 1993 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993) and a supplemental chapter specific to the North Cascades was completed in 1997 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1997). These plans outline grizzly bear habitat and population management policies to be applied in the North Cascades and the Cabinet-Yaak. On private land, the northern portion of the planning area for the Plum Creek Timber Company Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is within the North Cascades grizzly bear recovery area. After approval of the HCP, an incidental take permit under Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Act was issued to Plum Creek Timber Company in June of 1996. At present, grizzly bears are not known to be present in the HCP planning area. Plum Creek HCP calls for implementation of a series of Best Management Practices that will address two major habitat-related concerns for grizzly bears: open road density and habitat diversity. Best Management Practices will include restriction of public use, reduction of open road density, maintenance of visual screening along open roads, and prohibition of firearms in company vehicles. Once the Service verifies that grizzly bears have recolonized the area, additional practices will be implemented to address road location, road closures, cover, size of openings, and timing of operations. Potential threats to the continued existence of the grizzly bear populations in both recovery zones include low numbers of individuals, alteration of habitat, and human intrusion into grizzly habitat. Cumulative impacts of recreation, timber harvest, mining, and other forest uses with associated road construction can reduce the amount of effective habitat for grizzly bears. Potential threats to grizzly bear habitat and the animals remaining in the North Cascades and the Cabinet-Yaak areas persist, but are nonimminent. Prior to this notice, the Service reviewed the status of the finding on the Cabinet-Yaak population in September 1992 and March 1996, and the status of the finding on the North Cascades population in March 1993. In these reviews, the Service determined that the threats to the grizzly bear populations in the North Cascades and the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems remain of high magnitude and of a nonimminent nature and that a listing priority of 6 for the petitioned reclassification remained appropriate. On December 6, 1996, the Service adopted a listing priority guidance for Fiscal Year 1997 (61 FR 64475) and this guidance was extended on October 23, 1997. Final listing priority guidance for Fiscal Year 1998 and Fiscal Year 1999 was published in the Federal Register on May 8, 1998 (63 FR 25502). Both the Fiscal Year 1997 and 1998/1999 guidance described a multi-tiered listing approach that assigns relative priorities to listing actions to be carried out under Section 4 of the Act. This guidance supplements, but does not replace the 1983 listing priority guidelines. Grizzly bear reclassification from threatened to endangered status in the North Cascades and Cabinet-Yaak recovery zones falls into Tier 3 under Fiscal Year 1997 guidance and under Tier 2 in the Fiscal Year 1998 guidance. In both guidance documents, determinations and processing of proposed listings to add new species to the lists of threatened and endangered species receives higher priority than reclassifications of already listed species. Because the Service must devote listing funds to addressing high priority candidate species, preparation of a proposed rule to reclassify the grizzly bear in the North Cascades or Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems remains warranted but precluded by higher listing priorities. Based on a review of the status and threats affecting the grizzly bear in the North Cascades and Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems, the Service finds that there is no information to indicate that a change in the listing priority of 6 is appropriate for either of these populations. The Notice of Review of Plant and Animal Taxa published in the Federal Register on September 19, 1997 (62 FR 49397), provided a discussion of the expeditious progress made in the past year on listing decisions and recycling of petition findings throughout all regions of the Service. In that publication, the Service provided notice of review of 18 recycled petitions and described its progress in completing final listing actions for 152 taxa, proposed listing actions for 23 taxa, and proposed delisting action for one taxa. Since publication of the 12-month finding on the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in 1993, the Service has made expeditious progress in making listing decisions on 14 candidate species in the Mountain-Prairie Region (Region 6). At the present time, there remain in Region 6 an additional 19 candidate species with listing priority numbers of 1-5. These listing priority numbers are higher than the listing priority number of 6 given to reclassification of the grizzly bear in the North Cascades and the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems. The Service reaffirms that both the North Cascades and Cabinet-Yaak populations of grizzly bears continue to face threats of high magnitude that are nonimminent, and therefore are assigned listing priorities of 6. Work on species with a listing priority of 6 is precluded by work on species of a higher priority. Author: The primary author of this document is Wayne Kasworm, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missoula, Montana (see ADDRESSES above). Authority: The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) References Cited U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1993. Grizzly bear recovery plan. Missoula, Montana. 181 pp. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1997. Grizzly bear recovery plan supplement: North Cascades Ecosystem Recovery Plan Chapter. Missoula, Montana. 28 pp. [[Page 30455]] Dated: June 1, 1998. Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director, Fish and Wildlife Service. [FR Doc. 98-14974 Filed 6-3-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-55-P