[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15656-15658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05989]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

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) provides plant species 
indicator status ratings, which are used in determining whether the 
hydrophytic vegetation factor is met when conducting wetland 
delineations under the Clean Water Act and wetland determinations under 
the Wetland Conservation Provisions of the Food Security Act. Other 
applications of the NWPL include wetland restoration, establishment, 
and enhancement projects. To update the NWPL, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (USACE), 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 changes to the 2020 NWPL and its web address to solicit public 
comments. The public will now have the opportunity to comment on the 
proposed changes to wetland indicator status ratings for five plant 
species in select regions and the addition of 22 new plant species to 
the NWPL.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 24, 2021.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO-R, 441 G Street 
NW, Washington, DC 20314-1000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brianne McGuffie, Headquarters, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Regulatory Community of 
Practice, Washington, DC 20314-1000, by phone at 202-761-4750 or by 
email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    USACE administers the NWPL for the United States (U.S.) and its 
territories. Responsibility for the NWPL was transferred to USACE from 
the FWS in 2006. The NWPL has undergone several revisions since its 
inception in 1988. Additions or deletions to the NWPL represent new 
records, range extensions, nomenclatural and taxonomic changes, and 
newly proposed species. The latest review process began in 2020 and 
included review by Regional Panels (RPs) and the National Panel (NP).

Wetland Indicator Status Ratings

    On the NWPL, there are five categories of wetland indicator status 
ratings, used to indicate a plant's likelihood for occurrence in 
wetlands versus non-wetlands: Obligate Wetland (OBL), Facultative 
Wetland (FACW), Facultative (FAC), Facultative Upland (FACU), and 
Upland (UPL). These rating categories are defined by the NP as follows: 
OBL--almost always occur in wetlands; FACW--usually occur in wetlands, 
but may occur in non-wetlands; FAC--occur in wetlands and non-wetlands; 
FACU--usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands; UPL--
almost always occur in non-wetlands. 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) were removed in 2012 and are no longer used on 
the NWPL. More information on the specifics of how to use these ratings 
is available on the NWPL website at http://wetland-plants.usace.army.mil/.
    The NWPL is utilized in conducting wetland delineations under the 
authority of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) and 
Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (3 3 U.S.C. 401 et 
seq.) and wetland determinations under the authority of the Food 
Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.). For the purposes of 
determining how often a species occurs in wetlands, wetlands are 
defined as either (1) 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) or (2) ``except when such term is part of the term 
`converted wetland,' means land that has a predominance of hydric 
soils; is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a 
frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of 
hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil 
conditions; and under

[[Page 15657]]

normal circumstances does support a prevalence of such vegetation, 
except that this term does not include lands in Alaska identified as 
having a high potential for agricultural development and a predominance 
of permafrost soils.'' (16 U.S.C. 3801(a)(27) and 7 CFR 12.2). Because 
each plant species being evaluated occurs as part of a vegetation 
assemblage, examining all species present in relation to their assigned 
wetland fidelity may be useful in assessing hydrophytic vegetation.

2020 Update Information

    For the 2020 NWPL update, the NWPL NP and RPs reviewed proposed 
wetland rating changes or additions for 27 species and 48 regional 
ratings (some species were reviewed for multiple regions) submitted by 
the public. Twenty-two of these species were proposed for addition to 
the NWPL, and five species were submitted for a rating change request 
in one or more regions. Submitted information was reviewed by the NP 
and RPs, and proposed 2020 ratings for these species were determined, 
as detailed below. Note that all submitted species are included here, 
regardless of whether or not the NP and RPs proposed a rating change. 
Hence, for those species where a rating change request was submitted 
but review of the submitted information did not result in a rating 
change for the 2020 update, the current and proposed ratings are the 
same. In several cases, it was determined that a species recommended 
for addition did not occur within the region recommended (per USDA 
PLANTS). In these cases, no proposed species addition or indicator 
status was carried forward.

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                                                                 Current 2018 NWPL rating    Proposed 2020 NWPL
               Species                          Region                       *                     rating
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Aconitum noveboracense...............  MW......................  NL......................  FACW
Aconitum noveboracense...............  NCNE....................  NL......................  FAC
Aeschynomene virginica...............  AGCP....................  NL......................  OBL
Apios priceana.......................  AGCP....................  NL......................  FACU
Apios priceana.......................  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Apios priceana.......................  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Asclepias meadii.....................  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Asclepias meadii.....................  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Asplenium scolopendrium..............  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Asplenium scolopendrium..............  NCNE....................  NL......................  UPL
Atriplex lentiformis.................  AW......................  FAC.....................  FACU
Boltonia decurrens...................  MW......................  NL......................  FAC
Celastrus orbiculatus................  NCNE....................  UPL.....................  FACU
Cirsium pitcheri.....................  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Cirsium pitcheri.....................  NCNE....................  NL......................  UPL
Dalea foliosa........................  NCNE....................  NL......................  FAC
Dalea foliosa........................  EMP.....................  NL......................  FAC
Dalea foliosa........................  MW......................  NL......................  FAC
Echinacea laevigata..................  AGCP....................  NL......................  FACU
Echinacea laevigata..................  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Helianthus verticillatus.............  AGCP....................  NL......................  FAC
Hypericum calycinum..................  AW......................  NL......................  FAC
Hypericum calycinum..................  WMVC....................  NL......................  FAC
Lespedeza leptostachya...............  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Lespedeza leptostachya...............  NCNE....................  NL......................  FACU
Ligustrum lucidum....................  AGCP....................  NL......................  FAC
Ligustrum lucidum....................  GP......................  NL......................  FACU
Ligustrum lucidum....................  HI......................  NL......................  FAC
Oxypolis canbyi......................  AGCP....................  NL......................  OBL
Peucedanum palustre..................  NCNE....................  NL......................  OBL
Physaria globosa.....................  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Physaria globosa.....................  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Pinus palustris......................  AGCP....................  FACU....................  FAC
Platanthera praeclara................  GP......................  NL......................  FAC
Platanthera praeclara................  MW......................  NL......................  FAC
Platanthera praeclara................  NCNE....................  NL......................  FACW
Populus balsamifera..................  WMVC....................  FAC.....................  FACW
Quercus pagoda.......................  AGCP....................  FACW....................  FAC
Silene spaldingii....................  AW......................  NL......................  FACU
Silene spaldingii....................  WMVC....................  NL......................  FACU
Spiranthes diluvialis................  AW......................  NL......................  FACW
Spiranthes diluvialis................  GP......................  NL......................  FACW
Spiranthes diluvialis................  WMVC....................  NL......................  FACW
Trifolium stoloniferum...............  EMP.....................  NL......................  FACU
Trifolium stoloniferum...............  MW......................  NL......................  FACU
Vinca major..........................  AW......................  NL......................  FAC
Vinca major..........................  WMVC....................  NL......................  FAC
Xylocarpus moluccensis...............  HI......................  NL......................  OBL
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* NL = ``Not Listed'' and indicates proposed additions to the NWPL.


[[Page 15658]]

    As part of the 2020 NWPL update, USACE is also proposing 
administrative changes to reformat the Hawai'i and Pacific Islands 
Region (HI) and the South Pacific Islands Subregion (SPI). NWPL 
subregions are areas in which small numbers of wetland plants have 
wetland indicator status ratings that differ from the ratings for the 
same plant species in the rest of the region. Boundaries of subregions 
are typically based on Major Land Resource Areas. Under the current 
format, the SPI includes certain plant species which have an indicator 
status rating for SPI but not for HI (see e.g., indicator status 
ratings for Abildgaardia ovata; SPI= FACW, HI= NL). This current format 
of HI/SPI is inconsistent with the formatting of other NWPL regions and 
subregions and has caused some confusion when applying the NWPL within 
HI. USACE proposes two administrative changes to reduce this confusion. 
Neither of the proposed administrative changes to SPI or HI will affect 
the current boundaries of SPI, HI, or any other NWPL regions or 
subregions.
    USACE proposes to reformat SPI and HI by merging the lists of plant 
species from the existing SPI and HI to form a single, comprehensive 
region, with SPI serving as a subregion of HI, instead of the current 
state of the region in which SPI serves as a stand-alone subregion 
separate from the larger HI region. As proposed, plant species which 
currently have an indicator status rating for SPI but not for HI (e.g., 
Abildgaardia ovata) will now have a single, comprehensive indicator 
status rating for the entire region (HI). For those species which 
currently have differing indicator status ratings between SPI and HI 
(e.g., Abrus precatorius), the current indicator status rating for SPI 
will be added to the reformatted SPI, which, as proposed, will serve as 
a subset of indicator status ratings within HI and will include only 
those plant species and associated indicator status ratings which 
differ from the HI indicator status rating. With the exception of 
Xylocarpus moluccensis and Ligustrum lucidum, which were submitted by 
the public, USACE is not proposing any changes to wetland indicator 
status ratings for SPI or HI. All current indicator status ratings for 
SPI and HI will be retained through this proposed reformatting. As 
proposed, the USACE believes this administrative change will provide 
greater clarity for the public, remove redundancies in the NWPL that 
currently exist between SPI and HI, allow for a consistent formatting 
of subregions between all NWPL regions, and more accurately and 
appropriately reflect species' distribution and wetland frequency 
within SPI and HI.
    USACE is also proposing to rename SPI from its current name, 
``South Pacific Islands Subregion'', to ``Pacific Islands Subregion.'' 
This subregion includes islands which are located within both the 
northern Pacific (i.e., the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands and the Territory of Guam) and southern Pacific (i.e., the 
Territory of American Samoa). Therefore, the proposed name change will 
more accurately characterize the geographic extent and spatial 
variability of this subregion. The proposed change also creates 
consistency between the naming conventions of the NWPL regions and 
subregions and the Regional Supplements to the Corps of Engineers 
Wetland Delineation Manual regions.

Instructions for Providing Comments Online

    USACE encourages public input in the form of data, comments, 
literature references, or field experiences, to help clarify the status 
of the species reviewed for this update. The list of these same 27 
reviewed species, and their draft 2020 wetland ratings by region, can 
be viewed at the NWPL homepage, http://wetland-plants.usace.army.mil/ 
under ``2020 NWPL Update Information.'' A link to provide general or 
species-specific comments in response to this notice is also available 
at this location. Users are encouraged to submit literature citations, 
herbaria records, experiential references, monitoring data, and other 
relevant information. Specific knowledge of, or studies related to, 
individual species are particularly helpful. When providing input or 
information on the draft changes to the 2020 NWPL update, 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. Providing ratings without 
supporting documentation or information is not recommended. All 
submitted comments and information will be compiled and sent to the 
National Panel for their review and consideration.
    USACE is also seeking comments on the NWPL update process. Detailed 
information on the update process, protocol, and technical issues can 
be found in the following documents, which are available on the ``NWPL 
Publications'' web page:
     Lichvar, Robert W. and Minkin, Paul. Concepts and 
Procedures for Updating the National Wetland Plant List. Sept 2008. 
ERDC/CRREL TN-08-3. Hanover, NH: U.S. Army Engineer Research and 
Development Center, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
     Lichvar, Robert W. and Gillrich, Jennifer J. Final 
Protocol for Assigning Wetland Indicator Status Ratings during National 
Wetland Plant List Update. Sept 2011. ERDC/CRREL TN-11-1. Hanover, NH: 
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Cold Regions 
Research and Engineering Laboratory.
     Lichvar R.W., N.C. Melvin, M.L. Butterwick, and W.N. 
Kirchner. 2012. National Wetland Plant List Indicator Rating 
Definitions. ERDC/CRREL TN-12-1. Hanover, NH: U.S. Army Engineer 
Research and Development Center Cold Regions Research and Engineering 
Laboratory.

Future Actions

    Future updates to the NWPL will occur biennially. A change in 
indicator status for a given species, or a proposed species addition 
may be requested at any time at http://wetland-plants.usace.army.mil/ 
under ``Submit NWPL Change Request.'' Submissions throughout the two-
year period will be compiled and reviewed prior to each NWPL update and 
any resulting proposed changes will be reflected in the subsequent 
notice of an updated list.

    Dated: March 18, 2021.
Taylor N. Ferrell,
Senior Official Performing the Duties of Assistant Secretary of the 
Army (Civil Works).
[FR Doc. 2021-05989 Filed 3-23-21; 8:45 am]
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