[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 81 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21988-21991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8488]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018--AT88


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed 
Designation of Critical Habitat for the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of availability of draft economic 
analysis and draft environmental assessment, and notice of public 
hearings.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability of the draft economic analysis and draft environmental 
assessment for the proposal to designate critical habitat for 
southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. The draft economic 
analysis considers the potential economic effects of efforts to protect 
the southwestern willow flycatcher and its habitat, collectively 
referred to as ``flycatcher conservation activities.'' In the case of 
habitat conservation, these costs would reflect the costs associated 
with the commitment of resources to comply with habitat protection 
measures. The analysis also addresses how potential economic impacts 
are likely to be distributed and looks retrospectively at costs that 
have been incurred since the date the species was listed. The draft 
economic analysis finds that over a 10-year time period costs 
associated with southwestern willow flycatcher conservation activities 
are forecast to range from $29.2 to $39.5 million per year. Comments 
previously submitted on the October 12, 2004, proposed rule (69 FR 
60706) and the extensions of comment period published December 13, 2004 
(69 FR 72161), or March 31, 2005 (70 FR 16474) need not be resubmitted 
as they have been

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incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in 
preparation of the final rule. We will hold eight public informational 
sessions and hearings (see DATES and ADDRESSES sections).

DATES: Comments must be submitted directly to the Service (see 
ADDRESSES section) on or before May 31, 2005, or at the public 
hearings.
    We will hold public informational sessions from 3:30 p.m. to 5 
p.m., followed by a public hearing from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., on the 
following dates:
    1. May 2, 2005: Escondido, CA.
    2. May 3, 2005: City of Chino, CA.
    3. May 9, 2005: Las Vegas, NV.
    4. May 10, 2005: Lake Isabella, CA.
    5. May 16, 2005: Mesa, AZ.
    6. May 17, 2005: Silver City, NM.
    7. May 18, 2005: Albuquerque, NM.
    8. May 19, 2005: Alamosa, CO.

ADDRESSES:

Meetings

    The public informational sessions and hearings will be held at the 
following locations:
    1. Escondido, CA: California Center for the Arts, 340 N. Escondido 
Blvd., Escondido, CA 92025.
    2. City of Chino, CA: El Prado Golf Course, 6555 Pine Ave., Chino, 
CA 91710.
    3. Las Vegas, NV: Cashman Center, 850 N. Las Vegas Blvd., Las 
Vegas, NV 89101.
    4. Lake Isabella, CA: Lake Isabella Senior Center, Room 1, 6405 
Lake Isabella Blvd., Lake Isabella, CA 93240.
    5. Mesa, AZ: Mesa Community and Conference Center, 263 N. Center 
St., Mesa, AZ 85211.
    6. Silver City, NM: Western New Mexico University, Global Resource 
Room, 1000 W. College, 12th and E St., Silver City, NM 88061.
    7. Albuquerque, NM: Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Special Events 
Center, 2401 12th St. NW., Albuquerque, NM 87104.
    8. Alamosa, CO: Adams State University, Student Union Bldg., Rooms 
308 & 309, First and Stadium Dr., Alamosa, CO 81102.
    Persons needing reasonable accommodations in order to attend and 
participate in the public hearing should contact Steve Spangle, Field 
Supervisor, Arizona Ecological Services Field Office at the phone 
number and address below as soon as possible. In order to allow 
sufficient time to process requests, please call no later than 1 week 
before the hearing. Information regarding this proposal is available in 
alternative formats upon requests.
    If you wish to comment on the proposed rule, draft economic 
analysis, or draft environmental assessment, you may submit your 
comments and materials by any one of several methods:
    1. You may submit written comments and information by mail or hand-
delivery to the Steve Spangle, Field Supervisor, Arizona Ecological 
Services Field Office, 2321 W. Royal Palm Road, Suite 103, Phoenix, 
Arizona 85021.
    2. Written comments may be sent by facsimile to (602) 242-2513.
    3. You may send your comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to 
[email protected]. For directions on how to submit electronic filing 
of comments, see the ``Public Comments Solicited'' section below.
    You may obtain copies of the draft economic analysis and draft 
environmental assessment by mail or by visiting our Web site at http://arizonaes.fws.gov/SWWF_PCH_Oct.htm. You may review comments and 
materials received, and review supporting documentation used in 
preparation of this proposed rule by appointment, during normal 
business hours, at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Spangle, Field Supervisor, 
Arizona Ecological Services Field Office (telephone 602-242-0210, 
facsimile 602-242-2513) or by electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Comments Solicited

    We intend that any final action resulting from this proposal will 
be as accurate and as effective as possible. Therefore, we solicit 
comments or suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental 
agencies, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested 
party concerning the proposed rule, the draft economic analysis, and 
the draft environmental assessment. On the basis of public comment, 
during the development of our final determination, we may find that 
areas proposed are not essential, are appropriate for exclusion under 
section 4(b)(2) of the Act, or not appropriate for exclusion. We 
particularly seek comments concerning:
    (1) The reasons why any habitat should or should not be determined 
to be critical habitat as provided by section 4 of the Act, including 
whether the benefits of designation will outweigh any threats to the 
species resulting from designation;
    (2) Specific information on the distribution of the southwestern 
willow flycatcher, the amount and distribution of the species' habitat, 
and which habitat is essential to the conservation of the species, and 
why;
    (3) Land-use designations and current or planned activities in the 
subject area and their possible impacts on the species or proposed 
critical habitat;
    (4) Whether our approach to listing or critical habitat designation 
could be improved or modified in any way to provide for greater public 
participation and understanding, or to assist us in accommodating 
public concerns and comments;
    (5) Any foreseeable economic, environmental, or other impacts 
resulting from the proposed designation of critical habitat or 
coextensively from the proposed listing, and in particular, any impacts 
on small entities or families;
    (6) Whether the economic analysis identifies all State and local 
costs. If not, what other costs should be included;
    (7) Whether the economic analysis makes appropriate assumptions 
regarding current practices and likely regulatory changes imposed as a 
result of the listing of the species or the designation of critical 
habitat;
    (8) Whether the economic analysis correctly assesses the effect on 
regional costs associated with land- and water-use controls that derive 
from the designation;
    (9) Whether the designation will result in disproportionate 
economic impacts to specific areas that should be evaluated for 
possible exclusion from the final designation; and
    (10) Whether the economic analysis appropriately identifies all 
costs that could result from the designation or coextensively from the 
listing.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home addresses from the rulemaking record, which we will honor to 
the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which 
we would withhold from the rulemaking record a respondent's identity, 
as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or 
address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your 
comment. However, we will not consider anonymous comments. We will make 
all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety. 
Comments and materials received will be available for public 
inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the above 
address.

[[Page 21990]]

    If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments and materials 
concerning this proposal by any one of several methods (see ADDRESSES 
section). Please submit electronic comments in ASCII file format and 
avoid the use of special characters or any form of encryption. Please 
also include your name and return address in the body of your message. 
If you do not receive a confirmation from the system that we have 
received your Internet message, contact us directly by calling our 
Arizona Ecological Services Field Office at (602) 242-0210.

Background

    We proposed to designate for the southwestern willow flycatcher 
376,095 acres (ac) (152,124 hectares (ha)) [including approximately 
1,556 stream miles (2,508 stream kilometers)] of critical habitat, 
which includes various stream segments and their associated riparian 
areas, not exceeding the 100-year floodplain or flood prone area, on 
Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands in southern California, 
southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, south-central Colorado, Arizona, 
and New Mexico. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register 
(69 FR 60706) on October 12, 2004, pursuant to a court order.
    On September 30, 2003, in response to a complaint brought by the 
Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. District Court of New Mexico 
ordered us to propose critical habitat on or by September 30, 2004, and 
complete a final designation by September 30, 2005. Additional 
background information is available in the October 12, 2004, proposal 
to designate critical habitat.
    Critical habitat identifies specific areas that are essential to 
the conservation of a listed species and that may require special 
management considerations or protection. If the proposed rule is made 
final, section 7 of the Act will prohibit adverse modification of 
critical habitat by any activity funded, authorized, or carried out by 
any Federal agency. Federal agencies proposing actions affecting areas 
designated as critical habitat must consult with us on the effects of 
their proposed actions, pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of the Act.
    Section 4 of the Act requires that we consider economic and other 
relevant impacts prior to making a final decision on what areas to 
designate as critical habitat. We are announcing the availability of a 
draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment for the 
proposal to designate certain areas as critical habitat for the 
southwestern willow flycatcher. We may revise the proposal, or its 
supporting documents, to incorporate or address new information 
received during the comment period. In particular, we may exclude an 
area from critical habitat if we determine that the benefits of 
excluding the area outweigh the benefits of including the area as 
critical habitat, provided such exclusion will not result in the 
extinction of the species.

Mapping Corrections for Proposed Units of Critical Habitat in Southern 
California and for the West Fork of the Little Colorado River

    Following the publication of the proposed rule on October 12, 2004, 
we discovered that the coordinates for river reaches in Riverside, 
Orange, and San Diego Counties, California, were not correctly 
projected, causing a shift in the proposed critical habitat polygons of 
approximately 262 feet (ft) (80 meters (m)) to the west. We have since 
corrected the data projections to accurately reflect what we are 
considering for designation or exclusion from proposed critical 
habitat, and we provide the corrected start- and end-point coordinates 
below. Corrected Geographic Information System layers will be available 
at http://crithab.fws.gov. The figures provided for the total amount of 
critical habitat being proposed [376,095 acres (ac) (152,124 hectares 
(ha)) [including approximately 1,556 stream miles (mi) (2,508 stream 
kilometers (km)] remain accurate.

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              River                 Start  latitude    Start  longitude      End  latitude      End  longitude
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(5) Santa Ynez Management Unit:
    Santa Ynez River............          34.5972867        -120.1744120          34.6596711        -120.4394929
(6) Santa Ana Management Unit:
    Bear Creak..................          34.1609651        -117.0151013          34.2422080        -116.9772861
    Mill Creek..................          34.0766521        -116.8443877          34.0911038        -117.1189177
    Oak Glen Creek..............          34.0386250        -117.0646375          34.0483423        -116.9394664
    San Timoteo Wash............          34.0044045        -117.1657189          34.0696468        -117.4534886
    Santa Ana River.............          34.1513001        -116.7350693          33.9673435        -117.4534886
    Waterman Creek..............          34.2169729        -117.2909403          34.1863475        -117.2721230
    Wilson Creek................          34.0102690        -117.1074706          34.0386049        -117.0646183
    Yucaipa Creek...............          34.0102933        -117.1075071          34.0044047        -117.1656724
(7) San Diego Management Unit:
    Christianitos Creek.........          33.4202297        -117.5711573          33.4702954        -117.5643999
    San Mateo Creek.............          33.4193065        -117.5369622          33.3859065        -117.5935937
    San Onofre Creek............          33.3947622        -117.5253484          33.3810809        -117.5783356
(8) San Diego Management Unit:
    Deluz Creek.................          33.3631634        -117.3233833          33.4283909        -117.3215173
    Las Flores Creek............          33.3386714        -117.4116194          33.2917863        -117.4657736
    Las Pulgas Creek............          33.3612114        -117.3905836          33.3386355        -117.4115600
    Pilgrim Creek...............          33.2412419        -117.3359159          33.3115680        -117.2982166
    San Luis Rey River..........          33.2026115        -117.3901467          33.2408111        -116.7646876
    Santa Margarita River.......          33.4331091        -117.1976515          33.2326142        -117.4168773
    Temecula Creek..............          33.4982324        -116.9773975          33.3637228        -116.7592014
(9) San Diego/Salton Management
 Units:
    Agua Hedionda Creek.........          33.1568123        -117.2241974          33.1394463        -117.3150591
    Agua Hedionda Lagoon........          33.1396776        -117.3150857          33.1426464        -117.3411351
    Cuyamaca Reservoir..........          32.9897875        -116.5871030          32.9922459        -116.5626160
    San Dieguito River..........          32.9771651        -117.2515713          33.0907715        -116.9646098
    San Felipe Creek............          33.1455161        -116.5448283          33.1848207        -116.6238274
    Santa Ysabel River..........          33.1184844        -116.7865468          33.0909411        -116.9646660
    Temescal Creek..............          33.2308371        -116.8251816          33.1203200        -116.8528263
(10) San Diego Management Unit:

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    San Diego River.............          32.8847273        -116.8112102          32.8281759        -117.0527358
(11) Owens Management Unit:
    Owens River.................          37.5877424        -118.6992268          37.1354380        -118.2419417
(12) Kern Management Unit:
    Kern River--South Fork......          35.7176912        -118.1808882          35.6629518        -118.3705422
(13) Mohave Management Unit:
    Deep Creek..................          34.2871220        -117.1269778          34.3404079        -117.2457049
    Holcomb Creek...............          34.2870519        -117.1270054          34.3049219        -116.9646522
    Mojave River................          34.4701947        -117.2546695          34.5838662        -117.3374023
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    In our proposed rule we inaccurately mapped the extent of essential 
habitat on the West Fork of the Little Colorado River in Arizona. We 
are correcting that error by adding a Service Road 113 (longitude -
109.507567, latitude 33.959677) to a new endpoint approximately 170 ft 
(51.8 m) east of the Mt. Baldy Wilderness boundary (longitude -
109.516209, latitude 33.958302).

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

    Dated: April 20, 2005.
David P. Smith,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 05-8488 Filed 4-25-05; 1:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P