[Federal Register: October 7, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 194)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 60138-60140]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07oc04-20]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
RIN 1018-AT44
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of
Critical Habitat for the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma
californiense) in Santa Barbara County
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of public comment period and notice of
availability of draft economic analysis.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announce the
availability of a draft economic analysis for the proposed designation
of critical habitat for the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma
californiense) in Santa Barbara County (here after referred to as
``California tiger salamander'') under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (Act). We are also reopening the public comment period
for the proposal to designate critical habitat for this species to
allow all interested parties to comment on the proposed rule and the
associated draft economic analysis. Comments previously submitted on
the proposed rule need not be resubmitted as they have been
incorporated into the public record as a part of this reopening of the
comment period, and will be fully considered in preparation of the
final rule.
DATES: We will accept all comments received on or before November 8,
2004. Any comments that we receive after the closing date may not be
considered in the final decision on this proposal.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments and
materials concerning this proposed rule by any one of several methods:
(1) You may submit written comments and information to the Field
Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura Fish and Wildlife
Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003, or by facsimile
805/644-3958.
(2) You may hand-deliver written comments to our office, at the
address given above.
(3) You may send comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to
fw1ctsch@r1.fws.gov. Please see the Public Comments Solicited section
below for file format and other information about electronic filing. In
the event that our Internet connection is not functional, please submit
your comments by the alternate methods mentioned above.
Comments and materials received, as well as supporting
documentation used in preparation of the proposed critical habitat
rule, will be available for public inspection, by appointment, during
normal business hours at the above address. You may obtain copies of
the draft economic analysis for the California tiger salamander in
Santa Barbara County by contacting the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office
at the above address. The draft economic analysis and the proposed rule
for critical habitat designation also are available on the Internet at
http://ventura.fws.gov/. In the event that our Internet connection is
not functional, please obtain copies of documents directly from the
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Drexhage (telephone 805/549-
3811; facsimile 805/549-3233 or Michael McCrary (telephone 805/644-
1766; facsimile 805/644-3958), Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, at the
address listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The California tiger salamander is a large and stocky salamander,
with a broad, rounded snout. Adult males may reach a total length of
8.2 inches (in) (20.8 centimeters (cm)) while females are slightly
smaller, reaching about 6.8 in (17.3 cm) in length. The top of the
salamander can have white or pale yellow spots or bars on a black
background. The underside varies from almost uniform white or pale
yellow to a varying pattern of white or pale yellow and black. This
species is restricted to California and does not overlap with any other
species of tiger salamander. The Santa Barbara County salamanders are
geographically separate from all other California tiger salamanders.
Historically, the Santa Barbara County California tiger salamanders
inhabited low-elevation (below 1,400 feet (427 meters)) vernal pools
and ephemeral ponds, and associated coastal scrub, grassland, and oak
savannah plant communities of the Santa Maria, Los Alamos, and Santa
Rita valleys.
The loss of the California tiger salamander's upland habitat is the
single most important factor contributing to the species' status.
Additional threats to this species include threats to the aquatic
habitat, predation and competition by introduced or non-native species,
habitat fragmentation, contaminants, hybridization with non-native
tiger salamanders, disease, and over-grazing.
On January 19, 2000, we published an emergency rule to list the
Santa Barbara County DPS of the California tiger salamander as
endangered (65 FR 3096), concurrently with a proposed rule (65 FR 3110)
to list the species as endangered. We published a final rule listing
the Santa Barbara County DPS of the California tiger salamander as
endangered on September 21, 2000 (65 FR 57242). On May 23, 2003, we
proposed to list the Central California population of California tiger
salamander as a threatened DPS. In the same Federal Register notice we
also proposed to downlist the Sonoma County DPS and Santa Barbara
County DPS of California tiger salamander, from endangered to
threatened status (68 FR 28648). The Federal Register notice also
included a proposed special rule that would exempt existing routine
ranching activities from the prohibitions of the Act. On August 4,
2004, we determined threatened status for the California tiger
salamander rangewide (69 FR 47212). We also finalized the special rule
for the species rangewide, which exempts existing routine ranching
activities.
On February 25, 2003, the Environmental Defense Center and Center
for Biological Diversity filed a complaint challenging our failure to
designate critical habitat for the Santa Barbara County DPS of the
California tiger salamander (Environmental Defense Center et al. v. U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service et al., EVCD 03-00195 (C.D.Cal)). By order
dated August 7, 2003, the district court ordered us to publish a
proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the California tiger
salamander. On January 22, 2004, we proposed to designate critical
habitat for the Santa Barbara DPS of California tiger salamander (69 FR
3064). Approximately 13,920 acres (5,633
[[Page 60139]]
hectares) fall within the boundaries of the proposed critical habitat
designation. Proposed critical habitat is located in Santa Barbara
County, California, as described in the proposed rule. The comment
period on the proposed rule closed March 22, 2004. However, on April
13, 2004, we reopened the comment period (69 FR 19394) and announced a
public hearing that was held on May 11, 2004.
Critical habitat identifies specific areas, both occupied and
unoccupied, that are essential to the conservation of a listed species
and that may require special management considerations or protection.
If the proposed rule is made final, section 7 of the Act will prohibit
destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat by any activity
funded, authorized, or carried out by any Federal agency. Federal
agencies proposing actions affecting areas designated as critical
habitat must consult with us on the effects of their proposed actions
pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of the Act.
Section 4 of the Act requires that we consider economic and other
relevant impacts prior to making a final decision on what areas to
designate as critical habitat. We have prepared a draft economic
analysis for the proposal to designate certain areas as critical
habitat for the California tiger salamander. This analysis considers
the potential economic effects of our proposed designation. It also
considers the economic effects of protective measures taken as a result
of listing the species under the Act, and other Federal, State, and
local laws that aid habitat conservation in areas proposed for
designation.
The majority of these areas occur on privately owned land. We know
of no Federal, State, tribal, or military lands within proposed
critical habitat. A small portion of land within one unit is owned by
local jurisdictions, including the county of Santa Barbara and the
Laguna County Sanitation District. The economic analysis addresses the
impacts of California tiger salamander conservation efforts on
activities occurring on lands proposed for designation. The analysis
measures lost economic efficiency associated with real estate
development, grazing activities, agriculture, vineyards, road
construction projects, utility and other infrastructure projects, as
well as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements,
uncertainty, and project delay.
There is a great deal of uncertainty in estimating the impact of
California tiger salamander-related conservation activities in the
future. For example, the economic analysis projects significant future
cost to private developers as a result of California tiger salamander
conservation activities even though these costs have been relatively
minimal in the past. For some activities the analysis estimates an
upper-bound cost estimate, for others a conservative approach is taken
to reach a best estimate. The implicit lower-bound cost estimate
predicts no impact.
Total efficiency costs (e.g., lost economic opportunities
associated with restrictions on land use) for the upper bound scenario
are estimated to be $411 million between 2005 and 2030. The efficiency
costs for the lower bound scenario are estimated to be $105 million
between 2005 and 2030. In both cases, the real estate industry, in
particular the owners of developable land, is estimated to experience
the highest cost overall, followed by agriculture and road construction
projects.
Public Comments Solicited
We intend any final action resulting from this proposal to be as
accurate and as effective as possible. Therefore, we solicit comments
or suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental agencies,
the scientific community, industry, or any other interested party
concerning the economic analysis or the proposed rule. We particularly
seek comments concerning:
(1) The reasons why any habitat should or should not be determined
to be critical habitat as provided by section 4 of the Act, including
whether the benefits of excluding outweigh benefits of including any
area as critical habitat;
(2) Specific information on the amount and distribution of
California tiger salamander habitat, and what habitat is essential to
the conservation of this species and why;
(3) Land use designations and current or planned activities in the
subject area and their possible impacts on proposed critical habitat;
(4) Any foreseeable economic or other impacts resulting from the
proposed designation of critical habitat, in particular, any impacts on
small entities;
(5) Whether the economic analysis identifies all State and local
costs. If not, what costs are overlooked;
(6) Whether the economic analysis makes appropriate assumptions
regarding current practices and likely regulatory changes imposed as a
result of the designation of critical habitat;
(7) Whether the economic analysis correctly assesses the effect on
regional costs associated with land use controls that derive from the
designation;
(8) Whether the designation will result in disproportionate
economic impacts to specific areas that should be evaluated for
possible exclusion from the final designation;
(9) Whether the economic analysis appropriately identifies all
costs that could result from the designation;
(10) Whether our approach to critical habitat designation could be
improved or modified in any way to provide for greater public
participation and understanding, or to assist us in accommodating
public concern and comments;
(11) What the likely benefits of designating critical habitat are
and whether the economic analysis appropriately captures those economic
benefits that are susceptible to quantification;
(12) Any suggestions to improve our economic analysis particularly
with regard to its consideration of the foreseeable economic benefits
of critical habitat designation; and
(13) Any suggestions to improve our ability to identify the
noneconomic benefits of designating a particular area as critical
habitat to enable a more comprehensive and informed analysis of the
economic and other relevant impacts of designation.
All comments and information submitted during the previous comment
periods on the proposed rule need not be resubmitted. If you wish to
comment, you may submit your comments and materials concerning this
rule by any one of several methods (see ADDRESSES section). Please
submit Internet comments to fw1ctsch@r1.fws.gov and include ``Attn:
California Tiger Salamander in SB County Critical Habitat'' in your e-
mail subject header, and your name and return address in the body of
your message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system that
we have received your Internet message, contact us directly by calling
our Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section).
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 rulemaking record, which we will honor to
the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which
we would withhold from the rulemaking record a respondent's identity,
as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or
address, you must state this
[[Page 60140]]
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. Comments
and materials received will be available for public inspection, by
appointment, during normal business hours at the above address.
Author
The primary author of this notice is the Ventura Fish and Wildlife
Office staff (see ADDRESSES section).
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: September 29, 2004.
Julie MacDonald,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 04-22540 Filed 10-6-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P