[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 232 (Monday, December 3, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60217-60218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29824]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Availability of Draft Recovery Plan for Coastal Plants of the 
Northern San Francisco Peninsula for Review and Comment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of document availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces the 
availability for public review of the Draft Recovery Plan for Coastal 
Plants of the Northern San Francisco Peninsula. This recovery plan 
includes the endangered San Francisco lessingia (Lessingia germanorum) 
and Raven's manzanita (Arctostaphylos hookeri ssp. ravenii). The 
portion of the plan dealing with Raven's manzanita is a revision of the 
1984 Raven's Manzanita Recovery Plan. Additional species of concern 
that will benefit from recovery actions taken for these plants are also 
discussed in the draft recovery plan. The draft plan includes recovery 
criteria and measures for San Francisco lessingia and Raven's 
manzanita.

DATES: Comments on the draft recovery plan must be received on or 
before March 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft recovery plan are available for 
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the 
following location: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and 
Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, W-2605, Sacramento, California 
(telephone (916) 414-6600). Requests for copies of the draft recovery 
plan and written comments and materials regarding this plan should be 
addressed to Wayne S. White, Field Supervisor, Ecological Services, at 
the above Sacramento address. The draft recovery plan is also available 
on the World Wide Web at http://www.r1.fws.gov/es/endsp.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmen Thomas, Fish and Wildlife 
Biologist, at the above Sacramento address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Restoring endangered or threatened animals and plants to the point 
where they are again secure, self-sustaining members of their 
ecosystems is a primary goal of the Service's endangered species 
program. To help guide the recovery effort, the Service is working to 
prepare recovery plans for most of the listed species native to the 
United States. Recovery plans describe actions considered necessary for 
the conservation of the species, establish criteria for downlisting or 
delisting listed species, and estimate time and cost for implementing 
the recovery measures needed.
    The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.) (Act), requires the development of recovery plans for listed 
species unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a 
particular species. Section 4(f) of the Act as amended in 1988 requires 
that public notice and an opportunity for public review and comment be 
provided during recovery plan development. The Service will consider 
all information presented during the public comment period prior to 
approval of each new or revised recovery plan. Substantive technical 
comments will result in changes to the plan. Substantive comments 
regarding recovery plan implementation may not necessarily result in 
changes to the recovery plan, but will be forwarded to appropriate 
Federal or other entities so that they can take these comments into 
account during the course of

[[Page 60218]]

implementing recovery actions. Individual responses to comments will 
not be provided.
    San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita are restricted to the 
San Francisco peninsula in San Francisco County, California. San 
Francisco lessingia, an annual herb in the aster family, is restricted 
to coastal sand deposits. Raven's manzanita is a rare evergreen 
creeping shrub in the heath family which was historically restricted to 
few scattered serpentine outcrops. Habitat loss, adverse alteration of 
ecological processes, and invasion of non-native plant species threaten 
San Francisco lessingia. Raven's manzanita has also been threatened by 
habitat loss; at present it is threatened primarily by invasion of non-
native vegetation and secondarily by disease organisms and poor 
reproductive success. The draft plan also makes reference to several 
other federally listed species which are ecologically associated with 
San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita, but which are treated 
comprehensively in other recovery plans. These species are beach layia 
(Layia carnosa), Presidio clarkia (Clarkia franciscana), Marin dwarf-
flax (Hesperolinon congestum), Myrtle's silverspot butterfly (Speyere 
zerene myrtleae), and bay checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha 
bayensis). In addition, 16 plant species of concern and 17 plant 
species of local or regional conservation significance are considered 
in this recovery plan.
    The draft recovery plan stresses re-establishing dynamic, 
persistent populations of San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita 
within plant communities which have been restored to be as ``self-
sustaining'' as possible within urban wildland reserves. Specific 
recovery actions for San Francisco lessingia focus on the restoration 
and management of large, dynamic mosaics of coastal dune areas 
supporting shifting populations within the species' narrow historic 
range. Recovery of Raven's manzanita will include, but will not be 
limited to, the strategy of the 1984 Raven's Manzanita Recovery Plan, 
which emphasized the stabilization of the single remaining genetic 
individual. The draft plan also seeks to re-establish multiple sexually 
reproducing populations of Raven's manzanita in association with its 
historically associated species of local serpentine outcrops. The 
objectives of this recovery plan are to delist San Francisco lessingia 
and to downlist Raven's manzanita through implementation of a variety 
of recovery measures including: (1) Protection and restoration of a 
series of ecological reserves (often with mixed recreational and 
conservation park land uses); (2) promotion of population increases of 
San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita within these sites, or 
reintroduction of them to restored sites; (3) management of protected 
sites, especially the extensive eradication or suppression of invasive 
dominant non-native vegetation; (4) research; and (5) public 
participation, outreach, and education.

Public Comments Solicited

    The Service solicits written comments on the recovery plan 
described. All comments received by the date specified above will be 
considered prior to approval of this plan.

Authority

    The authority for this action is section 4(f) of the Endangered 
Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).

    Dated: November 20, 2001.
Steve Thompson,
Acting California/Nevada Operations Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 01-29824 Filed 11-30-01; 8:45 am]
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