[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45532-45533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17070]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Second Extension of the Comment Period for the Draft Recovery 
Plan for Coastal Plants of the Northern San Francisco Peninsula

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Second extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a second 
extension of the comment period for public review of the Draft Recovery 
Plan for Coastal Plants of the Northern San Francisco Peninsula for an 
additional 60 days. The first extended comment period closed on May 6, 
2002. We are extending the comment period for a second time in response 
to a specific request from the National Park Service, Golden Gate 
National Recreation Area (GGNRA), to allow additional time for public 
review of this draft recovery plan that includes the endangered San 
Francisco lessingia (Lessingia germanorum; lessingia) and the Raven's 
manzanita (Arctostaphylos hookeri ssp. ravenii; manzanita). The portion 
of the plan dealing with the 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 the lessingia and manzanita.

DATES: Comments on the draft recovery plan must be received on or 
before September 9, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft recovery plan are available for 
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the 
following location: 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Nagano or Kyle Merriam, 
Endangered Species Division, at the above address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The comment period for the public review of the Draft Recovery Plan 
for Coastal Plants of the Northern San Francisco Peninsula has 
previously been extended for 60 days to address public concern that the 
plan had been difficult to obtain as a result of the government-wide 
restriction of internet access. This extended comment period closed on 
May 6, 2002. On April 19, 2002, we received a request from the GGNRA, 
to extend the comment period for an additional 60 days. GGNRA asserted 
they required additional time to review the plan due to its complexity, 
and to the relevance of the plan to activities within the GGNRA. Based 
on this request, we determined to extend the comment period a second 
time for public review of the draft recovery plan.
    Recovery of endangered or threatened animals and plants is a 
primary goal of our endangered species program. A species is considered 
recovered when the species' ecosystem is restored and/or threats to the 
species are removed so that self-sustaining and self-regulating 
populations of the species can be supported as persistent members of 
native biotic communities. Recovery plans describe actions considered 
necessary for conservation of the species, establish recovery criteria 
for downlisting or delisting species, and estimate time and cost for 
implementing the measures needed for recovery.
    The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended in 1988 (Act) (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), 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 requires that public 
notice and an opportunity for public review and comment be provided 
during recovery plan development. We will consider all information 
presented during the public comment period prior to approval of each 
new or revised recovery plan. Substantive technical comments may 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 
implementing recovery actions.
    The lessingia and manzanita are restricted to the San Francisco 
peninsula in San Francisco County, California. The lessingia, an annual 
herb in the aster family, is restricted to coastal sand deposits. The 
manzanita, a rare evergreen creeping shrub in the heath family, was 
historically restricted to a few scattered serpentine outcrops. Habitat 
loss, adverse alteration of ecological processes, and the invasion of 
non-native plant species threatens the lessingia. The manzanita has 
also been threatened by habitat loss, and the primary current threats 
include the invasion of non-native vegetation and fungal pathogens. The 
draft recovery plan also makes reference to several other federally 
listed species which are ecologically associated with the lessingia and 
manzanita, but which are treated comprehensively in other recovery 
plans. These species are the beach layia (Layia carnosa), the Presidio 
clarkia (Clarkia franciscana), the Marin dwarf-flax (Hesperolinon 
congestum), the Myrtle's silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene 
myrtleae), and the 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 the lessingia and manzanita within plant communities 
which have been restored to as ``self-sustaining'' as possible within 
urban wildland reserves. Specific recovery actions for the 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 the manzanita may include, but may 
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 recommends re-establishing 
multiple sexually reproducing populations of manzanita in association 
with its historically associated species of local serpentine outcrops. 
The objectives of this recovery plan are to delist the lessingia and to 
downlist the 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 the lessingia 
and 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.

[[Page 45533]]

Authority

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

Steve Thompson,
Manager, California/Nevada Operations Office, Region 1, Fish and 
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 02-17070 Filed 7-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P