Endangered and threatened species: Findings on petitions, etc. Jollyville Plateau salamander,
[Federal Register: February 13, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 29)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 6699-6703]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13fe07-8]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the Jollyville Plateau Salamander as Endangered
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of 90-day petition finding and initiation of status review.
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the Jollyville Plateau salamander (Eurycea tonkawae) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the Jollyville Plateau salamander may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a status review to determine if listing the species is warranted. To ensure that the status review of the Jollyville Plateau salamander is comprehensive, we are soliciting information and data regarding this species.
DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on February 13, 2007. To be considered in the 12-month finding for this petition, comments and information should be submitted to us by April 16, 2007.
ADDRESSES: The complete supporting file for this finding is available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the Austin Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 10711 Burnet Road, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78758 or via electronic mail at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Library/ The petition is available at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Library/. /Library/. Submit new information, materials, comments, or questions concerning this petition and our finding to the above address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Pine, Field Supervisor, Austin Ecological Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES section) (telephone 512/490-0057; facsimile 512/490-0974). Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Information Solicited
When we make a finding that substantial information is presented to indicate that listing a species may be warranted, we are required to promptly commence a review of the status of the species. To ensure that the status review is complete and based on the best available scientific and commercial information, we are soliciting information on the Jollyville Plateau salamander. We request any additional information, comments, and suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental agencies, Tribes, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested parties concerning the status of the Jollyville Plateau salamander. We are seeking information regarding the species' historical and current status and distribution, its biology and ecology, ongoing conservation measures for the species and its habitat, and threats to the species and its habitat.
We will base our 12-month finding on a review of the best scientific and commercial information available, including all information received during the public comment period. If you wish to comment or provide information, you may submit your comments and materials concerning this finding to the Field Supervisor, Austin Ecological Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES section). Please note that comments merely stating support or opposition to the actions under consideration without providing supporting information, although noted, will not be considered in making a determination, as section 4(b)(1)(A) of the Act directs that determinations as to whether any species is a threatened or endangered species shall be made ``solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available.'' At the conclusion of the status review, we will issue the 12-month finding on the petition, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act.
Our practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review during normal business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their names and home addresses, etc., but if you wish us to consider withholding this information, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. In addition, you must present rationale for withholding this information. This rationale must demonstrate that disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of exceptional, documentable circumstances, this information will be released. We will always make submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives of or officials of organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.
Background
Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that we make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species presents substantial scientific or commercial information to indicate that the petitioned action may be warranted. We base this finding on information provided in the petition, supporting information submitted with the petition, and information otherwise available in our files at the time we make the determination. To the maximum extent practicable, we make this finding within 90 days of receipt of the petition, and publish our notice of this finding promptly in the Federal Register.
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Our standard for substantial information within the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) with regard to a 90-day petition finding is ``that amount of information that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the measure proposed in the petition may be warranted'' (50 CFR 424.14(b)). If we find that substantial information was presented, we are required to promptly commence a review of the status of the species.
In making this finding, we relied on information provided by the petitioner that we determined reliable after reviewing sources referenced in the petition and information otherwise available in our files at the time of petition review. We evaluated that information in accordance with 50 CFR 424.14(b). Our process in making this 90-day finding under section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Act and Sec. 424.14(b) of our regulations is limited to a determination of whether the information in the petition meets the ``substantial information'' threshold.
Petition
On June 13, 2005, we received a formal petition, dated June 10, 2005, from Save Our Springs Alliance (SOSA) requesting that the Jollyville Plateau salamander (Eurycea tonkawae) be listed as an endangered species in accordance with section 4 of the Act.
Action on this petition was precluded by court orders and settlement agreements for other listing actions that required all of our listing funds for fiscal year 2005 and a substantial portion of our listing funds for fiscal year 2006. On September 29, 2005, we received a 60-day notice of intent to sue from SOSA for failing to make a timely 90-day finding. On December 1, 2005, we sent a letter to SOSA informing them that we would not likely make a petition finding during the fiscal year of 2006 due to funding limitations. Subsequently, funding became available to act on the petition. On August 10, 2006, SOSA filed a complaint against the Service for failure to issue a 90-day petition finding under section 4 of the Act for the finding on the Jollyville Plateau salamander. In our December 11, 2006, motion for summary judgment, we informed the court that based on current funding and workload projections, we believed that we could complete a 90-day finding by February 6, 2007, and if we determined that the petition provided substantial scientific and commercial data, we could make a 12-month warranted or not warranted finding by February 6, 2008. This notice constitutes our 90-day finding for the petition to list the Jollyville Plateau salamander.
Species Information
The petitioners presented sufficient, reliable information related to the taxonomic status of the Jollyville Plateau salamander. This species was first described as Eurycea tonkawae in the scientific journal Herpetological Monographs by Chippendale et al. (2000, pp. 1- 48) based on morphological characteristics and genetic analysis. We found no information in our files to refute the taxonomic status of the Jollyville Plateau salamander as a species or a listable entity under the Act. The Jollyville Plateau salamander is a neotenic member of the family Plethodontidae. Neotenic salamanders do not metamorphose into a terrestrial form. They retain external gills and are aquatic throughout their lives (City of Austin 2001, p. 3). Jollyville Plateau salamanders are approximately 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51 millimeters) at maturity (City of Austin 2001, p. 5).
Jollyville Plateau salamanders are distributed within springs, spring-runs, and water-bearing karst formations in the Jollyville Plateau area of the Edwards Aquifer in Travis and Williamson counties, Texas (City of Austin 2001, p. 3). Karst is defined as ``a type of terrain that is formed by the slow dissolution of calcium carbonate from limestone bedrock by mildly acidic groundwater. This process creates numerous cave openings, cracks, fissures, fractures, and sinkholes, and the bedrock resembles a honeycomb'' (Veni and Associates 2002, p. 70). The salamander's surface habitat is characterized by a typical depth of less than one foot (0.31 meters) of cool, well oxygenated water containing clean, loose substrates of boulder, cobble, and gravel (City of Austin 2001, p. 128). Eurycea species in Texas have been found to eat a variety of benthic macroinvertebrates (insects in their larval stage that are found at the bottom of a body of water), such as amphipods and chironomid larvae (midges) (City of Austin 2001, pp. 5-6).
Threats Analysis
Section 4 of the Act and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 424) set forth the procedures for adding species to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. A species may be determined to be an endangered or threatened species due to one or more of the five factors described in section 4(a)(1) of the Act: (A) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; (C) disease or predation; (D) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or (E) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. The Act identifies the five factors to be considered, either singly or in combination, to determine whether a species may be threatened or endangered. In making this finding, we evaluated whether threats to the Jollyville Plateau salamander presented in the petition and other information available in our files at the time of the petition review may pose a concern with respect to its survival. The following evaluation of these threats was based on information provided or cited in the petition and found to be reliable. Unless otherwise indicated in this threats analysis section, the references cited were cited in the petition. The petition cited the draft Barton Springs Salamander Recovery Plan that was not finalized at the time we received the petition. However, we verified the information using the finalized, signed version (Service 2005), and we reference the page numbers from the finalized version in this finding. The petition also cites the Service's draft 2002 Candidate Listing and Priority Assessment Form for the Jollyville Plateau Salamander, which was never finalized, and our 1997 Final Rule to list the Barton Springs salamander (62 FR 23377) as endangered.
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Present or Threatened Destruction, Modification, or Curtailment of the Species' Habitat or Range
The petition states that Jollyville Plateau salamanders are found only within the rapidly developing counties of Travis and Williamson, Texas, where they are dependent upon a constant supply of clean water from the northern segment of the Edwards Aquifer (City of Austin 2001, p. 3). Flows may also originate from the Trinity Aquifer during droughts (Cole 1995, pp. 23-33). As of 2006, City of Austin data reflect that central Texas watersheds occupied by Jollyville Plateau salamanders include Brushy Creek, Bull Creek, Buttercup Creek, Lake Creek, Lake Travis, Shoal Creek, South Brushy Creek, Walnut Creek, and West Bull Creek. The petitioner notes that the Edwards and Trinity aquifers are localized, small, and highly susceptible to pollution, drying, or draining (Chippendale et al. 2000, p. 36).
Information, including a map, provided with the petition depict that the majority of Jollyville Plateau salamander habitat is found in
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urbanized areas or areas scheduled for development (City of Austin 2005a, map; O'Donnell 2005, slide 12; Cole 1995, p. 28). The petition states that once natural vegetation in a watershed is replaced with impervious cover, rainfall is converted to surface runoff instead of filtering through the ground (Schueler 1991, p. 114). Impervious cover is any surface material, such as roads, rooftops, sidewalks, patios, paved surfaces, or compacted soil, that prevents water from filtering into the soil (Arnold and Gibbons 1996, p. 244). The petition cites an assessment by The Center for Watershed Protection that impervious cover exceeding 10 percent causes a loss of sensitive aquatic organisms, reduction in stream biodiversity, water quality degradation, stream warming, and channel instability within a watershed (Schueler 1994, pp. 100-106).
The City of Austin 2001 report (pp. 16-39), which was cited in the petition, indicates that six of the nine tributaries included in a Jollyville Plateau salamander monitoring study conducted by the City of Austin from 1996 to the present have impervious cover estimates greater than 15 percent. The petition states that more than half of the salamander's known localities are located within the Bull Creek watershed. The Bull Creek watershed contains varying degrees of urban development (City of Austin 2001, pp. 21-33): As a whole, it is more than 50 percent developed and has an average impervious cover estimate of 21-24 percent (City of Austin 1999, p. ii). However, where the main stem of Bull Creek flows through the Balcones Canyonland Preserve (BCP), some of the best quality habitat remaining for the Jollyville Plateau salamander exists (O'Donnell 2005, slide 4; O'Donnell 2006).
The petition states that developed tributaries occupied by the Jollyville Plateau salamander had higher levels of chloride, nitrate- nitrogen, specific conductance, magnesium, potassium, sodium, sulfate, and fecal coliform compared to undeveloped tributaries (p
