[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 175 (Monday, September 11, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53421-53422]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-14986]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 083106C]


Endangered and Threatened Species: Recovery Plan Preparation for 
5 Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of Pacific Salmon and 5 
Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) of Steelhead Trout

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to develop recovery plans for 5 ESUs 
of Pacific salmon and 5 DPSs of steelhead trout in California that are 
listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act 
(ESA) and also requests information from the public. NMFS is required 
by the ESA to develop and implement recovery plans for the conservation 
and survival of ESA-listed species. NMFS is coordinating with state, 
Federal, tribal, and local entities in California and intends to 
produce draft recovery plans by June 2007.

DATES: All information must be received no later than 5 p.m. Pacific 
Daylight Time on November 13, 2006. Information received after the 
deadline will be used to the maximum extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted by any of the following 
methods:
     E-mail: Information for recovery planning may be submitted 
by e-mail to [email protected]. Please include in the subject 
line of the e-mail the identifier ``Information for ESA Recovery 
Planning, Attention: (insert name of appropriate NMFS Recovery 
Coordinator)'' and specify the recovery domain to which your 
information applies. Please refer to the list of recovery domains and 
recovery coordinators provided below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section to determine the appropriate NMFS Recovery Coordinator 
and recovery domain. If information pertaining to more than one 
recovery domain will be submitted, then a separate e-mail should be 
sent for each domain, using the appropriate subject line in each e-
mail.
     Mail: Information may be submitted by mail to Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Protected Species Division, NMFS, Sacramento 
Area Office, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 8-300, Sacramento, California, 
95814-4706. Please identify information as ``Information for ESA 
Recovery Planning'' and specify the recovery domain(s) to which your 
information applies (see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, 
below, to determine the appropriate domain).
     Hand Delivery/Courier: You may hand deliver information or 
have information delivered by courier to NMFS, Sacramento Area Office, 
650 Capitol Mall, Suite 8-300, Sacramento, California, 95814-4706. 
Business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays. Please identify information as ``Information for ESA 
Recovery Planning'' and specify the recovery domain(s) to which your 
information applies (see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, 
below, to determine the appropriate domain).
     Fax: You may fax information to 916-930-3629. Please 
identify the fax comment as regarding ``Information for Recovery 
Planing'' and specify the recovery domain(s) to which your information 
applies (see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, below, to 
determine the appropriate domain).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact the recovery 
coordinator listed here for the geographic area or recovery domain in 
which you are interested. Additional salmon-related materials are 
available on the Southwest Region's Internet site: http://www.swr.noaa.gov.
    Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Domain: Recovery 
Coordinator Greg Bryant at 707-825-5162 or by email at 
[email protected]
    North-Central California Coast Domain: Recovery Coordinator 
Charlotte Ambrose at 707-575-6068 or by email at 
[email protected]
    South-Central California Coast Domain: Recovery Coordinator Mark 
Capelli at 805-963-6478 or by email at [email protected]
    Central Valley Domain: Recovery Coordinator Diane Windham at 916-
930-3619 or by email at [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Species Covered in This Notice

    There are 5 ESUs of salmon and 5 DPSs of steelhead trout listed as 
threatened or endangered species in California including:
    Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): Sacramento River Winter-
run, Central Valley Spring-run, and California Coastal.
    Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch): Southern Oregon/Northern 
California Coast, and Central California Coast.
    Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): Northern California Coast, 
Central California Coast, South-Central California Coast, Southern 
California Coast, and California Central Valley.

Background

    NMFS is charged with the recovery of Pacific salmon and steelhead 
species listed under the ESA. Recovery under the ESA means that listed 
species and their ecosystems are restored, and their future secured, so 
that the protections of the ESA are no longer necessary.
    The ESA requires that NMFS develop and implement recovery plans for 
the conservation and survival of endangered and threatened species. 
These recovery plans provide blueprints to determine priority recovery 
actions for funding

[[Page 53422]]

and implementation. The ESA specifies that recovery plans must include: 
(1) a description of site-specific management actions that may be 
necessary to achieve the plan's goals for the conservation and survival 
of the species; (2) objective, measurable criteria, which when met, 
would result in the species being removed from the list of threatened 
and endangered species; and (3) estimates of the time and costs 
required to achieve the plan's goal and achieve intermediate steps 
toward that goal. In addition, NMFS has developed interim recovery 
planning guidance (NMFS, 2004) that provides additional information to 
ensure consistency among recovery plans that are developed for all 
species managed by NMFS. The guidance also stresses the importance of 
involving stakeholders in the recovery planning process. NMFS will take 
into consideration all information we receive during this comment 
period in the preparation of draft recovery plans for salmon and 
steelhead in California.
    In order to develop recovery plans that address multiple species in 
an ecosystem context, NMFS has organized its recovery planning 
activities in California into four recovery areas or ``domains'' 
(Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast, North-Central California 
Coast, South-Central California Coast, and California Central Valley). 
Each domain will have one or more recovery plans that address all the 
listed salmon ESUs and/or steelhead DPSs within it. While each recovery 
plan will meet the requirements of the ESA and will use consistent 
scientific principles, plan(s) for individual planning domains are 
expected to be different because of differences in species, the amount 
and quality of information regarding the species and habitat 
conditions, and differences in ongoing and planned conservation efforts 
such as CalFed in the Central Valley, the State of California coho 
salmon recovery plan on the north coast, and many other local planning 
efforts and intiatives.
    To develop key technical products for all salmon ESUs and steelhead 
DPSs and to provide general science support, NMFS formed separate teams 
of scientists (called Technical Recovery Teams) for each of the four 
recovery planning domains described above. These teams are developing 
technical information on population structure of individual ESUs and 
DPSs, viability criteria for individual populations within ESUs and 
DPSs and for ESUs and DPSs as a whole, recommendations for future 
research, and a framework for monitoring the listed ESUs/DPSs.
    Finally, NMFS has developed a schedule for producing draft recovery 
plans in each recovery domain by June 2007 and final recovery plans by 
January 2008. Because draft recovery plans may be developed using 
different approaches in the four domains and because of differences in 
information on the species in each domain, the level of detail in these 
draft recovery plans is expected to vary. NMFS will publish draft 
recovery plans in the Federal Register and public comment will be 
sought for each proposed plan.
    NMFS requests relevant information from the public that should be 
addressed during preparation of draft recovery plans. Such information 
should address: (a) Biological and other criteria for removing the ESUs 
or DPSs from the list of threatened and endangered species; (b) factors 
that are presently limiting or threaten to limit survival of the ESUs 
or DPSs; (c) actions to address limiting factors and threats; (d) 
estimates of time and cost to implement recovery actions; and (e) 
research, monitoring, and evaluation needs.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

    Dated: September 6, 2006.
Marta Nammack,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-14986 Filed 9-8-06; 8:45 am]
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