[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 107 (Friday, June 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 31811]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13424]
[[Page 31811]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2009-N0065; 30120-1113-0000 D3]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Post-Delisting
Monitoring Plan for Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of post-delisting monitoring plan.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of the final post-delisting monitoring plan (PDM Plan) for
the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). The Endangered Species Act
(ESA) requires that we implement a system, in cooperation with the
States, to monitor effectively for at least 5 years the status of all
species that have been recovered and no longer need ESA protection. In
2007, we removed the bald eagle in the contiguous 48 States from the
Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants
(delisted) due to recovery. Over a 20-year period, we will monitor the
status of the bald eagle, at 5-year intervals.
ADDRESSES: To request a copy of the final PDM Plan, write to Jody
Millar at our Rock Island Field Office: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
1511 47th Avenue, Moline, IL 61265; or call (309) 757-5800. You may
also request copies by e-mailing us at [email protected]. Specify
whether you want to receive a hard copy by U.S. mail or an electronic
copy by e-mail. The final PDM Plan may also be downloaded from our
regional Web site at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered or our bald
eagle Web site at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/baldeagle.htm.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jody Millar (see ADDRESSES).
Individuals who are hearing-impaired or speech-impaired may call the
Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8337 for TTY assistance, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In the 1970s, bald eagle surveys conducted by the Service, other
cooperating agencies, and conservation organizations revealed that the
bald eagle population was declining throughout the contiguous 48
States. On December 31, 1972, DDT was banned from use in the United
States by the Environmental Protection Agency. The following year, the
ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544) was passed. In 1978, the bald eagle was
listed throughout the contiguous 48 States as endangered except in
Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, and Oregon, where it was
listed as threatened (43 FR 6233, February 14, 1978).
Listing the eagle under the ESA and banning of DDT and other
harmful organochlorine chemicals resulted in significant increases in
the breeding population of the species throughout the contiguous 48
States. On July 6, 1999, we published a proposed rule (64 FR 36454) to
delist the bald eagle in the contiguous 48 States. This document
included a draft monitoring plan and requested public comments.
Slightly more than 10 percent of all comments we received on that
proposal were concerned with post-delisting monitoring and the draft
monitoring plan. Since then, we have revised the monitoring plan in
response to the comments we received.
We published the notice of availability for the revised draft
monitoring plan and the final rule on delisting simultaneously in the
Federal Register (72 FR 37346) on July 9, 2007. After the comment
period closed on October 9, 2007, we reviewed each comment we received
and addressed those comments in the final bald eagle post-delisting
monitoring plan that we make available now through this notice.
Section 4(g)(1) of the ESA requires that we implement a system, in
cooperation with the States, to effectively monitor for not less than 5
years the status of all species that have been recovered and delisted.
In order to meet the ESA's monitoring requirement and to facilitate
efficient data collection, we have designed a sampling method capable
of detecting substantial changes in the bald eagle population in the
contiguous 48 States.
Monitoring will consist of collecting information on the number of
nesting bald eagles in the contiguous 48 States using State collected
data and stratified sampling based on density of identified bald eagle
nest sites. Our Bald Eagle Monitoring Team will work cooperatively with
the States, Tribes, other agencies, and partners to collect this
information. We will analyze the information after each monitoring
effort and will propose adjustments to the sampling design, if
necessary. At the end of each 5th-year monitoring event, we will review
all available information to determine the status of the bald eagle. If
these data indicate that the estimated bald eagle population is
experiencing significant decreases, we will initiate more intensive
review or studies to determine the cause, or take action to re-list the
bald eagle under Section 4 of the ESA, if necessary.
Monitoring under the post-delisting monitoring plan began in spring
of 2009. We will publish a report on the results of the 2009 monitoring
event within 1 year of survey and data analysis completion. This will
be the first of our 5-year reports. The reports will be posted on our
Web sites, http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered and http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/baldeagle.htm.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3501 et seq.), the information collection and recordkeeping
requirements included in the PDM Plan have been approved by the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB control number 1018-0143,
which expires on November 30, 2012. An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
Author
The primary author of this document is Jody Millar (see ADDRESSES).
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
Dated: May 28, 2010.
Lynn Lewis,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Ft. Snelling, MN.
[FR Doc. 2010-13424 Filed 6-3-10; 8:45 am]
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