[Federal Register: November 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 224)]
[Notices]
[Page 70632-70633]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22no05-98]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Draft Document Reassessing Methods To Estimate Population Size
and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear
(Ursus arctos horribilis) Population
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of document availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces the
availability for public review of the draft document Reassessing
Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits
for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear. Once comments are received, analyzed,
and addressed, the final revised population methodology will be
appended to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan and the Final Conservation
Strategy for the Grizzly Bear in the Greater Yellowstone Area. The
Service solicits review and comment from the public on this draft
information prior to appending it to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan.
DATES: Comments on the draft document Reassessing Methods to Estimate
Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone
Grizzly Bear must be received on or before February 21, 2006 to ensure
that they will be received in time for our consideration prior to
finalization of the revised methodology.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and materials regarding this information
should be sent to the Recovery Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, University Hall, Room 309, University of Montana, Missoula,
Montana 59812. Comments and materials received are available on request
for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at
the above address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Christopher Servheen, Grizzly Bear
Recovery Coordinator (see ADDRESSES above), at telephone (406) 243-
4903.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Document Availability
Persons wishing to review this document may obtain a copy by
contacting the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator, at the above address,
contacting the above official by telephone, or by viewing it online at
http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/mammals/grizzly/yellowstone.htm.
You also may make an appointment to view the documents
at the above address during normal business hours.
Background
Restoring an endangered or threatened animal or plant to the point
where it is again a secure, self-sustaining member of its ecosystem is
a primary goal of the Service's endangered species program. To help
guide the recovery effort, the Service prepares recovery plans for most
of the listed species native to the United States. Recovery plans
describe actions considered necessary for conservation of the species;
establish criteria for recovery levels for downlisting or delisting
them, and estimate time and cost for implementing the recovery measures
needed. Under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), the Service approved the revised
Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan on September 10, 1993.
In 1994, The Fund for Animals, Inc., and 42 other organizations and
individuals filed suit over the adequacy of the 1993 Recovery Plan
(Fund for Animals v. Babbitt, 903 F. Supp. 96 (D. D.C. 1995); 967 F.
Supp. 6 (D. D.C. 1997). In 1995, the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia issued an order which remanded for further study
and clarification four issues that are relevant to the Yellowstone
grizzly bear population, including--(1) The methods used to measure the
status of bear populations; (2) the impacts of genetic isolation; (3)
how mortalities related to livestock are monitored; and (4) the
monitoring of disease. The Service also agreed to append habitat-based
recovery criteria to the Recovery Plan prior to any delisting action.
All of these issues, except the draft revised methodology for
calculating total population size and establishing sustainable
mortality limits for the Yellowstone grizzly bear population, have been
addressed prior to publication of this Notice and were made available
for public review and comment previously (62 FR 19777, April 23, 1997;
62 FR 47677, September 10, 1997; 64 FR 38464, July 16, 1999; 64 FR
38465, July 16, 1999).
As recommended by Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan Task Y11 and as per
the Court Opinion, the Service has worked to ``determine population
conditions at which the species is viable and self sustaining'' and
``reevaluate and refine population criteria as new information becomes
available'' for the Yellowstone population of grizzly bears (Service
1993 p. 44). At the request of the Service beginning in 2000, the
Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), led by the U.S. Geological
Survey in cooperation with various University specialists, began a
comprehensive evaluation of the demographic data and the methodology
used to estimate population size and establish the sustainable level of
mortality for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. Accordingly,
the IGBST (2005) produced a critical review of the current methods for
estimating population size and calculating the sustainable mortality
levels for the Yellowstone grizzly population. This product is a report
compiled by the IGBST that evaluates current methods, reviews recent
scientific literature, examines alternative methods, and recommends the
most valid technique based on the best available science (IGBST 2005).
The end result of this review is the draft document Reassessing Methods
to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the
Yellowstone Grizzly Bear.
[[Page 70633]]
The method for calculating population size using females with cubs
sightings (Keating et al. 2002) and the method for calculating the
unknown and unreported mortalities (Cherry et al. 2002) have been
published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. We are seeking comments
only on the document Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size
and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear,
which applies these peer-reviewed methods to the Yellowstone grizzly
bear population.
Based on the comments received, the Service will finalize this
methodology for calculating total population size and establishing
sustainable mortality limits for the Yellowstone grizzly bear
population and append it to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan prior to
publishing a final rule to designate the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
population of grizzly bears as a distinct population segment and to
remove the Yellowstone distinct population segment of grizzly bears
from the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife.
Public Comments Solicited
Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act, as amended in 1988,
requires that public notice and an opportunity for public review and
comment be provided during recovery plan development. We consider all
information presented during a public comment period prior to approval
of each new or revised recovery plan. We and other Federal management
agencies also will take these comments into account in the course of
implementing approved recovery plans. We now seek public comment on the
draft document Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and
Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear to
address both Task Y11 in the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan and the Court
Opinion (Fund for Animals v. Babbitt, 903 F. Supp. 96 (D. D.C. 1995);
967 F. Supp. 6 (D. D.C. 1997)). All comments received by the date
specified in the DATES section above will be considered prior to
finalization of the information. Appropriate portions of the
information will be appended to, and become part of, the 1993 Grizzly
Bear Recovery Plan and the Final Conservation Strategy for the Grizzly
Bear in the Greater Yellowstone Area.
Literature Cited
Cherry, S., M.A. Haroldson, J. Robison-Cox, and C.C. Schwartz. 2002.
Estimating total human-caused mortality from reported mortality
using data from radio-instrumented grizzly bears. Ursus 13:175-184.
Keating, K.A., C.C. Schwartz, M.A. Haroldson, and D. Moody. 2002.
Estimating numbers of females with cubs-of-the-year in the
Yellowstone grizzly bear population. Ursus 13:161-174.
Authority: The authority for this Notice is under section 4(f)
of the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).
Dated: July 11, 2005.
Ralph O. Morgenweck,
Regional Director, Denver, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 05-23057 Filed 11-21-05; 8:45 am]
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