[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 221 (Friday, November 15, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 69177-69179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29048]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018--AH01


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of 
Critical Habitat for the Kauai Cave Wolf Spider and Kauai Cave Amphipod

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period and notice of 
availability of draft economic analysis.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the 
availability of the draft economic analysis for the proposed 
designations of critical habitat for the Kauai cave wolf spider and 
Kauai cave amphipod from the island of Kauai, Hawaii. We are now 
providing notice of extending the comment period to allow peer 
reviewers and all interested parties to comment simultaneously on the 
proposed rule and the associated draft economic analysis. The draft 
economic analysis shows a range likely costs from the proposed critical 
habitat designation of between $743 million to $1.955 billion over the 
18 year period from 2003 to 2020. Comments previously submitted need 
not be resubmitted as they will be incorporated into the public record 
as part of this extended comment period and will be fully considered in 
preparation of the final rule.

DATES: We will accept public comments until December 16, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and information should be submitted to 
Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

[[Page 69178]]

Service, Pacific Islands Office, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., P.O. Box 50088, 
Honolulu, HI 96850-0001. Copies of the draft economic analysis are 
available on the Internet at http://pacificislands.fws.gov or by 
request from the Field Supervisor at the above address and 808/541-
3441. For further instructions on commenting, refer to Public Comments 
Solicited section of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Henson, Field Supervisor, Pacific 
Islands Office, at the above address (telephone: 808/541-3441; 
facsimile: 808/541-3470).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 16, 1978, we published in the Federal Register a proposal 
to list the Kauai cave wolf spider (Adelocosa anops) as an endangered 
species and the Kauai cave amphipod (Spelaeorchestia koloana) as 
threatened (43 FR 26084). That proposal was withdrawn on September 2, 
1980 (45 FR 58171) as a result of a provision in the 1978 Amendments to 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 that required withdrawal of all 
pending proposals that were not made final within 2 years of the 
proposal or within one year after passage of the Amendments, which ever 
period was longer. An initial comprehensive Notice of Review for 
invertebrate animals was published on May 22, 1984 (49 FR 21664), in 
which the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave amphipod were treated 
as category 2 candidates for Federal listing. Category 2 taxa were 
those for which conclusive data on biological vulnerability and threats 
were not currently available to support proposed rules.
    We published an updated Notice of Review for animals on January 6, 
1989 (54 FR 554). In this notice, the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai 
cave amphipod were treated as category 1 candidates for Federal 
listing. Category 1 taxa were those for which we had on file 
substantial information on biological vulnerability and threats to 
support preparation of listing proposals. However, in the Notice of 
Review for all animal taxa published on November 21, 1991 (56 FR 
58804), the two Kauai cave arthropods were listed as category 2 
candidates. In the November 15, 1994, Notice of Review for all animal 
taxa (59 FR 58982), the two Kauai cave arthropods were again elevated 
to category 1 candidates. Upon publication of the February 28, 1996, 
Notice of Review (61 FR 7596), we ceased using candidate category 
designations and included the two cave arthropods as candidate species. 
Candidate species are those for which we have on file sufficient 
information on biological vulnerability and threats to support 
proposals to list the species as threatened or endangered. The two cave 
arthropods were included as candidate species in the September 19, 1997 
(62 FR 49398), Notice of Review.
    A proposed rule to list these two species as endangered was 
published on December 5, 1997 (62 FR 64340), and the final rule to list 
them was published on January 14, 2000 (65 FR 2348). In the proposed 
listing rule, we indicated that designation of critical habitat for the 
Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave amphipod was not prudent. Our 
concern was that publication of precise maps and descriptions of 
critical habitat in the Federal Register could increase human 
visitation to these highly sensitive cave habitats, which could lead to 
incidents of vandalism, destruction of habitat, and unintentional cases 
of take. Also, we believed that critical habitat designation would not 
provide any additional benefit to these species beyond that provided 
through listing as endangered.
    However, in the final rule, we determined that critical habitat 
designation was prudent as at the time we did not find specific 
evidence of taking, vandalism, collection, or trade of these species or 
any other similarly situated species. Also, we did find that there may 
also be some educational or informational benefit to designating 
critical habitat. Therefore, we found that the benefits of designating 
critical habitat for these two species outweighed the benefits of not 
designating critical habitat. In that final rule, we determined that 
critical habitat designation would be prudent, and we also indicated 
that we were not able to develop a proposed critical habitat 
designation for both species at that time due to budgetary and workload 
constraints.
    On June 2, 2000, we were ordered by the U.S. District Court for the 
District of Hawaii (in Center for Biological Diversity v. Babbitt and 
Clark, Civ. No. 99-00603 (D. Haw.) to publish the final critical 
habitat designation for both cave animals by February 1, 2002. The 
plaintiffs and the Service entered into a consent decree in a separate 
action agreeing to jointly seek an extension of this deadline (Center 
for Biological Diversity v. Norton, Civ. No. 01-2063 D.D.C. October 2, 
2001).
    On January 30, 2002, the U.S. District Court in Hawaii approved a 
joint stipulation to modify the terms of the June 2 order to extend the 
deadline to August 10, 2002. Subsequently, the Service determined that 
an additional extension of time was needed to complete this designation 
making process. On August 21, 2002, the U.S. District Court in Hawaii 
approved another joint stipulation extending the date for the final 
rule designating critical habitat for this species to March 31, 2003.
    We proposed critical habitat designations for the Kauai cave wolf 
spider and the Kauai cave amphipod on March 27, 2002, totaling 
approximately 1,697 hectares (ha) (4,193 acres (ac)) on the island of 
Kauai, Hawaii (67 FR 14671).
    Critical habitat receives protection from destruction or adverse 
modification through required consultation under section 7 of the Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) with regard to actions carried out, funded, or 
authorized by a Federal agency. Section 4(b)(2) of the Act requires 
that the Secretary shall designate or revise critical habitat based 
upon the best scientific and commercial data available, and after 
taking into consideration the economic impact of specifying any 
particular area as critical habitat. We have prepared a draft economic 
analysis of the proposed critical habitat designation. The draft 
economic analysis is available on the Internet and from the mailing 
address in the Public Comments Solicited section below.
    The public comment period for the March 27, 2002, proposal 
originally closed on May 28, 2002. We are now announcing the 
availability of the draft economic analysis and the extension of the 
comment period for the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave amphipod. 
We will accept public comments on the proposal and the associated draft 
economic analysis for the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave 
amphipod until the close of this comment period (see DATES). The 
extension of the comment period gives all interested parties the 
opportunity to comment on the proposal and the associated draft 
economic analysis for the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave 
amphipod. Comments already submitted on the proposed designation of 
critical habitat for the Kauai cave wolf spider and Kauai cave amphipod 
need not be resubmitted as they will be fully considered in the final 
determinations.

Public Comments Solicited

    We will accept written comments and information during this re-
opened comment period. If you wish to comment, you may submit your 
comments and materials concerning this proposal by any of several 
methods:

[[Page 69179]]

    (1) You may submit written comments and information to the Field 
Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands Office, 300 
Ala Moana Blvd., P.O. Box 50088, Honolulu, HI 96850-0001. Or by 
facsimile at 808/541-3470.
    (2) You may hand-deliver comments to our Honolulu Fish and Wildlife 
Office at the address given above.
    Comments and materials received, as well as supporting 
documentation used in preparation of the proposal to designate critical 
habitat, will be available for inspection, by appointment, during 
normal business hours at the address under (1) above. Copies of the 
draft economic analysis are available on the Internet at http://pacificislands.fws.gov or by request from the Field Supervisor at the 
address and phone number under (1 and 2) above.

Author(s)

    The primary author of this notice is Lorena Wada (see ADDRESSES).

Authority

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

    Dated: November 5, 2002.
Paul Hoffman,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 02-29048 Filed 11-12-02; 3:04 pm]
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