[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 193 (Monday, October 6, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57703-57704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25238]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Recovery Plan for Coastal Plants of the Northern San Francisco 
Peninsula

AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of document availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (``we'') announces the 
availability of the 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 
recovery plan. This recovery plan includes recovery criteria and 
measures for the San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita.

ADDRESSES: Hard copies of the final recovery plan will be available in 
4 to 6 weeks by written request addressed to the Field Supervisor, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 
Cottage Way, Room W-2605, Sacramento, California 95825-1888. This final 
recovery plan is currently available on the World Wide Web at http://endangered.fws.gov/recovery/index.html#plans.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Host or Kirsten Tarp, Fish and 
Wildlife Biologists, at the above Sacramento address (telephone 916-
414-6600).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Recovery of endangered or threatened animals and plants is a 
primary goal of our endangered species program and the Endangered 
Species Act (Act) (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Recovery means improvement 
of the status of listed species to the point at which listing is no 
longer appropriate under the criteria set out in section 4(a)(1) of the 
Act. 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 measures needed for recovery.
    The 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 requires that public notice 
and an opportunity for public review and comment be provided during 
recovery plan development. The Draft Recovery Plan for Coastal Plants 
of the Northern San Francisco Peninsula was available for comment from 
December 4, 2001, through September 9, 2002. We sent 1,574 copies of 
the draft plan to affected or interested parties. About 430 comment 
letters were received and reviewed by us, including 5 responses from 
peer reviewers.
    Substantive technical comments resulted in several changes to the 
plan. Many of these came from the National Park Service and the 
Presidio Trust who have been working to recover the two focus species 
for several years. Their comments provided helpful information about 
the costs and time needs for several of the actions recommended in the 
plan. Substantive comments regarding implementation of the plan did not 
necessarily result in changes to the recovery plan, but will be used to 
assist the work of participating Federal and other entities during the 
course of implementing recovery actions.
    San Francisco lessingia and Raven's manzanita are restricted to the 
San Francisco peninsula in San Francisco County and the northern part 
of San Mateo County, California. San Francisco lessingia, an annual 
herb in the aster family, is restricted to coastal sand deposits. 
Raven's 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 invasion 
of non-native plant species threaten San Francisco lessingia. Raven's 
manzanita has also been threatened by habitat loss. The primary current 
threats to Raven's manzanita include invasion of non-native vegetation; 
fungal pathogens; and tussock moth caterpillars, the larvae of moths 
from the family Lymantriidae, that eat the plants' leaves.
    The 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 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. Because the species has 
been reduced to small remnant areas of habitat, specific recovery 
actions for San Francisco lessingia focus on the restoration and 
management of larger, 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 plan also seeks to re-establish

[[Page 57704]]

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, and 
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 information.

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

    Dated: August 8, 2003.
Steve Thompson,
Manager, California/Nevada Operations Office, Region 1, Fish and 
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 03-25238 Filed 10-3-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P