Federal Register: December 15, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 240)
DOCID: FR Doc 05-24045
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
CFR Citation: 50 CFR Part 17
RIN ID: RIN 1018-AU43
NOTICE: PROPOSED RULES
ACTION: Endangered and threatened species:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of opening of public comment period on status review.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition to List the Queen Charlotte Goshawk as Threatened or Endangered
DATES: Comments must be submitted to us on or before February 13, 2006.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the opening of a public comment period to update the 1997 status review for the Queen Charlotte goshawk (Accipiter gentilis laingi), a subspecies of the northern goshawk that lives in the temperate rainforests of Southeast Alaska and insular British Columbia. This update has been initiated in response to a recent Court order remanding a previous 12 month finding with instructions to determine if Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is a significant portion of this goshawk's range and, if so, to determine whether the bird is endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. This public comment period will allow all interested parties an opportunity to provide information on the status of the subspecies throughout its range, thereby assisting us in evaluating the significance of the Vancouver Island population of the goshawk in relation to the taxon as a whole.
SUMMARY:
Findings on petitions, etc.—; Queen Charlotte goshawk,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Public Comments Solicited
We intend that any final action resulting from this updated status review will be as accurate and as effective as possible. Therefore, comments or suggestions from the public, concerned governmental agencies, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested party are hereby solicited.
We are opening a 60day comment period to allow all interested parties an opportunity to provide information on the status of the Queen Charlotte goshawk throughout its range, including:
1. Taxonomy, distribution, habitat selection, food habits, population density and trends, habitat trends, and effects of forest management on goshawks;
2. Any information pertinent to determining whether Vancouver Island may constitute a significant portion of the range of the subspecies, such as:
a. Any information pertinent to whether and how the threats to goshawks on Vancouver Island affect the survival and persistence of Queen Charlotte goshawks elsewhere (Alaska, Queen Charlotte Islands);
b. Any information concerning the historical value of the habitat on Vancouver Island, including the uniqueness or importance for other reasons (such as breeding, feeding, or suitability for population expansion) of the habitat on Vancouver Island to the subspecies;
c. To what extent the habitat on Vancouver Island contributes to the representation, resilience, or redundancy of the subspecies as a whole;
3. Information relevant to the accuracy of our 1997 status review; and
4. Information relevant to whether or not there are any populations of the subspecies that may qualify as distinct population segments.
We will base our finding on a review of the best scientific and commercial data available, including all information received during the public comment period.
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 record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the 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.
All comments and materials received will be available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at our Juneau Fish and Wildlife Field Office at the above address.
Background
On May 9, 1994, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a
petition from eight conservation groups and two individuals to list the
Queen Charlotte goshawk as endangered. Logging of oldgrowth forest,
where the bird nests and forages, was the primary threat identified. On
August 26, 1994, we published our 90day finding that the petition
presented substantial information indicating that listing may be
warranted, opened a public comment period, and initiated a status
review to determine whether listing the subspecies was warranted (59 FR
44124). Following our status review, we determined that listing the
subspecies under the Act was not warranted and subsequently published
our finding in the Federal Register on June 29, 1995 (60 FR 33784). We
expressed concern for longterm survival of the bird under the existing
management plan for the Tongass National Forest (covering over 90
percent of Southeast Alaska), but acknowledged that a new management [[Page 74285]]
plan was being drafted that was expected to provide improved protection
for the subspecies. That finding was challenged in Federal District
Court in Washington DC, in a suit filed on November 17, 1995, by 8 of
the original 10 petitioners, plus 2 additional conservation
organizations and 1 additional individual. The Court granted a summary
judgment for the plaintiffs on September 25, 1996, holding that we
should not have relied on a draft revision of the 1979 Tongass Land
Management Plan ``to provide sanctuary for the goshawk,'' remanded the
decision to us, and instructed us to make a listing determination based
on the existing Forest Plan, Southwest Center for Biological Diversity
v. Babbitt, 939 F. Supp. 2d 49 (D.D.C. 1996). The Court agreed to a
deadline of May 31, 1997, to complete this analysis. On May 23, 1997,
however, the Forest Service released a new plan, the Tongass Land and
Resources Management Plan. We requested and received an extension from
the court until August 31, 1997, to review the petitioned action and
the status of the subspecies in light of the new plan. On September 4,
1997, we published our new finding that listing of the subspecies under
the Act was not warranted (62 FR 46710), confirming our previous
determination. This finding was challenged in District Court, and a
decision was issued July 20, 1999. The finding was remanded to us, with
instructions to provide a more accurate and reliable population
estimate, and to consider a 1999 revision of the 1997 Tongass Land and
Resources Management Plan. We appealed that decision, prevailed, and
the case was remanded back to the District Court, Southwest Center for
Biological Diversity v. Babbitt, 215 F. 3d 58 (D.C. Cir. 2000). On July
29, 2002, Magistrate Facciola, of the D.C. District Court, issued his
findings and recommendations, Southwest Center for Biological Diversity
v. Norton, 2002 WL 1733618 (D.D.C. July 29, 2002). Magistrate Facciola
found that: (1) We had fulfilled the requirement of the Act to use the
best scientific data available; (2) the ``not warranted'' determination
was due deference; (3) our determination that the Queen Charlotte
goshawk would persist in Alaska and certain Canadian islands was not
unreasonable; (4) Vancouver Island, which constituted onethird of the
subspecies' geographic range, was a ``significant portion'' of the
subspecies'' range; and (5) our failure to make a specific finding as
to conservation of the subspecies on an island which constituted one
third of the subspecies' geographic range was material omission.
On May 24, 2004, Judge Urbina, of the D.C. District Court, issued an order that adopted Magistrate Facciola's Findings and
Recommendations in total, except for the Magistrate's finding that
Vancouver Island constituted a significant portion of the range for
Queen Charlotte goshawk. Instead, Judge Urbina directed us, upon
remand, to reconsider and explain any determination regarding whether
or not Vancouver Island is indeed a significant portion of the range,
and assess whether the Queen Charlotte goshawk is endangered or
threatened on Vancouver Island. This opening of the public comment
period is consistent with Judge Urbina's order as we are reevaluating
the status of the subspecies in relation to Vancouver Island and as a taxon as a whole.
Author
The primary author of this document is Steve Brockmann, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Juneau Fish and Wildlife Field Office, Juneau, Alaska.
Authority: The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: December 7, 2005.
Marshall Jones Jr.,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Steve Brockmann at the above address (telephone: (907) 7801181; email: steve_brockmann@fws.gov).