[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55103-55105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23031]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers


National Wetland Plant List

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Wetland Plant List (NWPL) is used to delineate 
wetlands for purposes of the Clean Water Act and the Wetland 
Conservation Provisions of the Food Security Act. Other applications of 
the list include wetland restoration, establishment, and enhancement 
projects. To update the NWPL, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), 
as part of an interagency effort with the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service 
(NRCS), is announcing the availability of the draft National Wetland 
Plant List (NWPL) 2015 and its Web address to solicit public comments. 
The public will now be provided the opportunity to

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comment and vote on the proposed update of wetland indicator status 
ratings for 186 plants species in select Corps wetland regions.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 13, 2015.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (Ms. Karen 
Mulligan), 441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Karen Mulligan, Headquarters, 
Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice, Washington, DC at 202-
761-4664.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) 
administers the National Wetland Plant List (NWPL) for the United 
States (U.S.) and its territories. Responsibility for the NWPL was 
transferred to the Corps from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 
in 2006. The Corps led interagency efforts to update the list in 2012, 
2013, and 2014. The 2012 list contained 7,828 species, the 2013 update 
contained 7,937 species, and the 2014 update contained 8,061 species. 
Additions to these lists represent new records, range extensions, 
nomenclatural changes, and newly proposed species.
    During the latest review process the ratings of two groups of plant 
species were reevaluated. The first consisted of a group of plants for 
which the public submitted rating changes on the NWPL Web site from 
November 10, 2014 to January 31, 2015. A total of 60 suggested rating 
changes for 42 species were submitted for eight Corps regions and two 
subregions. Twenty-two ratings and 14 species of these were not 
evaluated because (1) the proposed rating and the current rating were 
the same (nine species), (2) crops and epiphytic species were removed 
from the NWPL in the 2012 update (four species), and (3) insufficient 
information (one species). This leaves a total of 38 ratings for 28 
species which were evaluated in seven Corps regions and two subregions. 
Of the 28 species evaluated, seven of these were suggested additions to 
the NWPL. The second group consisted of species with highly variable 
ratings, which were reexamined because they spanned more than three 
ratings categories, nationally (i.e., rated FACW in the Arid West and 
UPL in the Caribbean). This group contained 885 ratings of 169 species. 
Three species were included in both groups. As a result of the process, 
923 ratings of 194 species, in ten Corps regions were reviewed by the 
regional and national panels and a draft NWPL 2015, containing 8,056 
species, has been compiled.
    In group one, 71% percent of the public requests resulted in 
potential changes to the NWPL (resulting in 27 rating changes for 21 
species). The ratings of the remaining species are unchanged, including 
one proposed addition that was determined to be an upland plant. Six 
new plants were recommended to be added to the NWPL. In group two, 30% 
percent of the highly variable ratings resulted in proposed changes to 
the NWPL (267 proposed rating changes for 168 species). One species was 
removed from the NWPL because it does not grow in soil. Removal of ten 
additional species is proposed because they were determined to be rated 
UPL in every region in which they occur. The overall net change between 
the 2014 list and the proposed 2015 list would be five species (6 
proposed additions and 11 proposed removals).
    Together, the proposed changes based on public requests and highly 
variable ratings total 1% of the ratings (294) and 2% (186) of the 
species on the 2014 NWPL. These proposed changes are nearly an equal 
split between species that received wetter ratings and those that 
received drier ratings. The specific break-down of proposed changes 
are: 51 percent (151 ratings for 116 species) rated wetter and 49 
percent (143 ratings for 111 species) rated drier. The number of 
species above (227) exceeds the number of species included in the 
update (186) because 41 species were included in each category (e.g., 
proposed to go drier in one region and wetter in another). Most of the 
rating changes are proposed in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain (55) 
and the Caribbean Islands (53) regions. The fewest changes are proposed 
in the Hawaii and Pacific Islands (12) and the Northcentral and 
Northeast (13) regions. Complete lists of changes by region, resources 
used to evaluate ratings and species, and newly submitted literature 
references are located at: http://wetland_plants.usace.army.mil/nwpl2015_update/proposed_changes/.

Indicator Status Ratings

    On the NWPL, there are five categories of indicator status ratings, 
used to describe a plant's likelihood for occurrence in a wetland 
versus and upland: Obligate Wetland (OBL), Facultative Wetland (FACW), 
Facultative (FAC), Facultative Upland (FACU), and Obligate Upland 
(UPL). These rating categories are defined by the National Panel as 
follows: OBL--almost always is a hydrophyte, rarely in uplands; FACW--
usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands; FAC--
commonly occurs as either a hydrophyte or non-hydrophyte; FACU--
occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands; UPL--rarely 
is a hydrophyte, almost always in uplands. These category definitions 
are qualitative descriptions that better reflect the qualitative 
supporting information, rather than numeric frequency ranges. The 
percentage frequency categories used in the older definitions are only 
used for testing problematic or contested species being recommended for 
indicator status changes. Plus and minus designations and wetland 
indicator designations such as No Indicator (NI), No Occurrence (NO), 
and No Agreement (NA) are no longer used on the NWPL. When assigning 
wetland indicator statuses, commenters should use the rating 
definitions described above and developed by the National Panel for 
updating the NWPL.
    Wetlands are defined as those areas that are inundated or saturated 
by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to 
support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of 
vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (33 
CFR 328.3 and 40 CFR 230.3). Such wetlands are identified using the 
Corps 1987 Wetland Delineation Manual or relevant regional supplements, 
whichever is more recent. Wetlands are identified using the three 
factor approach. Because each species being evaluated occurs as part of 
a vegetation assemblage, examining the other species present may be 
useful in assessing hydrophytic vegetation.

Instructions for Providing Comments Online

    Reviewers may consider the ecological information on the NWPL Web 
site, which includes prior information obtained by the FWS and others. 
Links to prior rating votes and maps of Corps wetland regions can be 
accessed from the NWPL homepage. To access regional voting records 
during the recent NWPL updates, click the ``Voting History (Rounds/
Algos)'' link. To find ratings from the 1988 or 1996 Plant Lists, click 
``National Wetland Plant List'', ``NWI 1988/1996 Lists'' and then 
either ``1996 National Summary'' or ``1988 National Summary (Reed 
1988).'' The Corps wetland regions and subregions are based on Land 
Resource Regions (LRRs) and Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) (http://soils.usda. gov/survey/geography/ mlra/). To display regional maps 
click the ``Wetland Regions and Rating Info'' link on the NWPL 
homepage. To view subregional maps, click the link under the ``NWPL 
Viewer Tool'' heading in the

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upper left of the homepage. Once the viewer tool opens in a new window, 
click the ``Custom Plant List,'' ``Geographic Area,'' and ``USACE 
subregions'' links. The viewer tool is also used to access individual 
species pages. To find a species, type the scientific name into the 
search box in the upper right corner. Users are automatically 
redirected to the currently accepted name when a synonym is entered. 
Each species page includes scientific and common names, synonyms, and 
maps of distributions by county. Habitat descriptions from the 
literature can be displayed in the center of the page by clicking on 
``Species Detail,'' ``Center Page View,'' and ``FWS or CRREL 
Literature.''
    The Corps is requesting assistance in the form of data, comments, 
literature references, or field experiences, to help clarify the status 
of the 186 species in the 2015 NWPL update. Comments may be made on one 
or more species in any of the wetland supplement regions or subregions 
where a rating change is proposed. A list of these species by region 
and the details of how their rating was evaluated by Regional and 
National Panel members can be viewed at the NWPL homepage, http://wetland_plants.usace.army.mil/ by clicking on the ``Proposed FR 
NWPL2015 Update'' and ``Proposed Changes'' links. Recently submitted 
literature references are also shown here. Comments on these proposed 
changes to the NWPL are being accepted at the same Web site. To add 
input, commenters should click on the ``Federal Register Comments'' 
link underneath the ``Proposed Changes'' link. Commenters will be 
redirected to an online form for submitting comments. Literature 
citations, experiential references, monitoring data, and other relevant 
reports may be submitted through this form. In all cases, the most 
useful comments are from specific knowledge or studies related to 
individual species. Commenters should use their regional botanical and 
ecological expertise, field observations, reviews of the most recent 
indicator status information, appropriate botanical literature, floras, 
herbarium specimens with notation of habitat and associated species, 
habit data, relevant studies, and historic list information. Guessing 
ratings is inappropriate. The commenter can also submit general 
comments on the 2015 NWPL update that are not related to a specific 
species. General comments can be submitted by clicking on the email 
contact link titled ``Questions or Comments? Contact us!'' on the NWPL 
homepage. All votes and comments will be compiled and sent to the 
National Panel for their consideration.

Future Actions

    Future updates to the NWPL will occur biennially according to the 
following proposed procedures. A change in indicator status may be 
requested at any time at http://wetland_plants.usace.army.mil/ by 
clicking on the ``Submit a NWPL Change Request'' link and submitting 
the appropriate data. Data includes ecological data, literature 
reviews, testing descriptions, geographic data, and frequency and 
abundance data for the taxon in wetlands and uplands in the Corps 
wetland region or subregion for which the change is proposed. The 
regions and subregions are based on Land Resource Regions (LRRs) and 
Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) (http://soils.usda.gov/survey/
geography/mlra/) and are shown for each wetland supplement region on 
the NWPL Web site. If the commenter believes that a wetland supplement 
region needs a subregion that has not yet been developed, the commenter 
should identify the MLRAs involved and provide a list of species from 
within that region that need their own wetland ratings.
    Proposed rating changes will be compiled in January of odd years 
(i.e. 2017, 2019) and sent to the Regional Panels for input in 
February. The National Panel will assign wetland ratings to non-
consensus species and will review all regional lists in April. The 
proposed changes will be compiled over the summer and published in the 
Federal Register for public comment in September. In October, public 
comments will be summarized and the National Panel will review and 
respond to comments. The final changes will be published in the Federal 
Register in December of odd years.

    Dated: September 4, 2015.
Edward E. Belk, Jr.
Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division, Directorate of Civil Works.
[FR Doc. 2015-23031 Filed 9-11-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P