black rail federal register

This value does not include the numbers of upland prairie acres that were also converted. Why we need to publish a rule. We have provided additional information on critical time periods for the eastern black rail in the SSA report (Service 2019, entire). 1999, p. 624; Kennish 2001, p. 734; Adam 2002, p. 46). Though the resiliency in the four currently occupied analysis units is low, Florida and Texas remain strongholds for the subspecies in the Southeast and Southwest. Comment: Two commenters stated there is no proof in peer-reviewed literature or otherwise that fire causes direct or indirect mortality to eastern black rails. At a Texas refuge, Miller et al. One commenter requested greater specificity as to the time of year that prescribed fire may take place in the various regions where the eastern black rail is distributed. The Act does not allow us to consider the impacts of listing on economics or human activities, whether over the short term, long term, or cumulatively. documents in the last year, 74 This practice will reduce mortality while still allowing for fire application throughout the year. 33-34). Response: The Service has modified the 4(d) rule to allow prescribed fire to take place any time during the year when practices that minimize the take of eastern black rails are used. Comment: Three States and one commenter requested more flexibility in prescribed fire timing and scale than contained in the proposed rule. Response: We agree that more research and study of the eastern black rail will improve our knowledge and understanding of the subspecies. Such designation does not require implementation of restoration, recovery, or enhancement measures by non-Federal landowners. 1533) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR part 424) set forth the procedures for determining whether a species meets the definition of “endangered species” or “threatened species.” The Act defines an “endangered species” as a species that is “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range,” and a “threatened species” as a species that is “likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” The Act requires that we determine whether a species meets the definition of “endangered species” or “threatened species” because of any of the following factors: (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. 2016, pp. Response: Public land site managers may use any of a wide range of methods to assess and evaluate site conditions. At the Tishomingo NWR in Oklahoma, recreational disturbances of migratory waterbirds accounted for 87 percent of all disturbances (followed by natural disturbances (10 percent) and unknown disturbances (3 percent)) (Schummer and Eddleman 2003, p. 789). For more specific information, we encourage interested parties to contact the local Service field office. (2017) may overestimate the current numbers of eastern black rails on the Texas coast in the protected areas that were surveyed. The 4(d) rule provides guidelines for burning using techniques that do not trap and kill eastern black rails. The low occupancy rates indicate that not all available habitat is being used because so few individuals remain; these populations are not at density-dependent levels, i.e., the habitat is not full or at carrying capacity. This type of cover has been assessed by three different means for eastern black rails: (1) The visual estimate of overhead cover in a 50-m radius centered upon the point of interest (e.g., Roach and Barrett 2015, Tolliver et al. Representative concentration pathways (RCPs) are the current set of scenarios used for generating projections of climate change; for further discussion, please see the SSA report (Service 2019, entire). Given the narrow habitat preferences of the eastern black rail (i.e., very shallow water and dense emergent vegetation), small changes in the plant community can easily result in habitat that is not suitable for the subspecies. (ii) Incidental take resulting from the following activities: (A) Prescribed burn activities, unless best management practices that minimize negative effects of the prescribed burn on the eastern black rail are employed. Response: The petition to list the eastern black rail requested that we consider whether listing is warranted for the species. (vi) Incidental take resulting from prescribed burns, grazing, and mowing or other mechanical treatment activities in existing moist soil management units or prior converted croplands (e.g., impoundments for rice or other cereal grain production) is allowed. To assess representation, we used two metrics to estimate and predict representative units that reflect the subspecies' adaptive capacity: Habitat variability and latitudinal variability. 316-318). 457-458). We did not project future scenarios for the New England, Appalachian, or Central Lowlands analysis units because, as discussed earlier in this document, we consider these analysis units to be currently effectively extirpated and do not anticipate that this situation will change in the future. For example, cattle stocking densities that closely match historical, natural grazing densities as determined by the Natural Resources Conservation Service likely could be used throughout the year without significant detrimental impacts to the eastern black rail and would likely provide a net benefit. The U.S. Supreme Court has noted that very similar statutory language demonstrates a large degree of deference' to the agency (see Webster v. Doe, 486 U.S. 592 (1988)). Comment: One peer reviewer commented that the current condition analysis underestimated the range of habitat the eastern black rail has used and will accept. This table of contents is a navigational tool, processed from the This document has been published in the Federal Register. 7. Comment: One State requested more flexibility in mechanical treatment timing and scale than contained in the proposed 4(d) rule. Grazing (such as short duration grazing) is sometimes used to delay seral stage succession as a surrogate for prescribed fire. Additionally, we relied on downscaled sea level rise projections (Sweet et al. Therefore, when an action agency determines its proposed action will not affect a listed species, no further consultation with the Service is required. Resiliency describes the ability of a population to withstand stochastic disturbance. The distribution of the recent records points toward a substantial southward contraction in the subspecies' range of approximately 450 kilometers (280 miles), with vacated historical sites from 33 counties extending from the Newbury marshes in Massachusetts to Ocean County, New Jersey (Watts 2016, pp. We evaluated the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain and Southeast Coastal Plain as one portion, because we used the results from the Southeast Coastal Plain to help infer the current resiliency of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, these analysis units are adjacent to one another along the Atlantic coast, and we suspect that the birds within the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain overwinter in the Southeast Coastal Plain. Within the northeastern United States, historical (1836-2010) records document the eastern black rail as present during breeding months from Virginia to Massachusetts, with 70 percent of historical observations (773 records) in Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey (Watts 2016, p. 22). 2017). While we cannot prohibit incidental take that may result from the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise or erosion, we can ensure that incidental take of eastern black rails that results from conversion or fragmentation of wetlands and the contiguous wetland-upland transition zone outside of natural community shifts (e.g., due to wet and dry cycles), to other habitat types or land uses is prohibited. Latitude and longitude data provided by each research group and State wildlife agency was cross-checked with site identification codes. Projected sea level rise for South Carolina is higher than the global average, with some projections indicating sea level rise of 1.2 m (3.9 ft) by 2100 (Runkle et al. They recommended that grazing and or fire may be used as a disturbance mechanism if the resulting condition is a desired management goal (p. 23). The application of prescribed fire should avoid fires, such as ring and strip head fires, that have long, unbroken boundaries and/or that come together in a short period of time and that consume essentially all vegetation and prevent black rails from escaping a fire. Ditching increases the area of the marsh that is inundated as well as drained (Daiber 1986, in Crain et al.. 2009, p. 160; Crain et al. 70. Burning salt marshes during drought or while the marshes are not flooded can result in root damage to valuable cover plants (Nyman and Chabreck 1995, p. 138). Where groundwater resources are hydraulically connected to surface water resources, these connections can either be unconfined (water table) or confined (springs) aquifers. Since little is known about migration behavior and site fidelity of migrants, migration is not considered a factor in these analyses. Fish and Wildlife Service. Response: Our SSA report for the eastern black rail discusses the impacts of invasive species, including nonnative plants and nutria, on the eastern black rail. (1) Prohibitions. << 112. Regulations governing permits are codified at 50 CFR 17.32. The Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain currently exhibits very low resiliency for eastern black rail as it supports fewer birds and occupied habitat patches than the Southeast Coastal Plain. Response: We are not designating critical habitat for the eastern black rail (see Comments 37-39 above and Critical Habitat discussion below). We also provided additional discussion in chapter 2 of the SSA report on population declines. Response: Incidental take of eastern black rails that results from activities to control nuisance and/or invasive wildlife is not prohibited by the 4(d) rule and, therefore, does not need to be listed under the exceptions from prohibitions. Under our future scenarios, the Great Plains analysis unit is projected to be extinct within the next 15 to 25 years, which will result in the loss of that higher latitudinal representative unit for the subspecies. 9. The OFR/GPO partnership is committed to presenting accurate and reliable 45. This is a key aspect of Strategic Habitat Conservation Planning (https://www.fws.gov/​science/​doc/​SHCFactSheet1008pdf.pdf), which provides continual feedback on the effectiveness of any conservation action. We also reviewed the conservation efforts being undertaken for the subspecies. Each point was identified by a unique identification number rather than specific locality for all analyses to ensure privacy of the data. (C) Grazing activities on public lands that occur on eastern black rail habitat and, that individually or cumulatively with other land management practices, do not maintain at least 50 percent of eastern black rail habitat, i.e., dense overhead cover, in any given calendar year within a management boundary. It continues to maintain a level of representation in four analysis units, which demonstrates continued latitudinal variability across its range. As discussed above, we define viability as the ability of a species to sustain populations in the wild over time. The Service has also participated in preliminary conservation planning with the Texas Black Rail Working Group, led by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in partnership with the Texas Comptroller's Office. (v) Possess and conduct other acts with unlawfully taken specimens, as set forth at § 17.21(d)(1) for endangered wildlife. Response: In our SSA report, we have updated the Historical and Current Range and Distribution section to reflect additional information for Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina. 2007. We took locations of known occupancy and assessed how Start Printed Page 63789environmental variables at those locations would influence that known occupancy location's ability to support eastern black rails over time (persistence). Estuarine emergent wetland losses are mostly attributable to conversion to open water through erosion (Dahl and Stedman 2013, p. 37), while freshwater emergent wetland losses appear to be the result of development (Dahl and Stedman 2013, p. 35). The Gulf Coast Joint Venture (GCJV) has had the eastern black rail listed as a priority species since 2007 (GCJV 2005, unpaginated). 105. They added that herbivory of muskrat, snow goose, and cattle benefits the system that includes eastern black rail habitat, citing Miller et al. The main purpose of the group is to provide a forum for collaboration between researchers and stakeholders to share information about what is known about the species, identify information needs, and support conservation actions. To help address uncertainty associated with the degree and extent of potential future stressors and their impacts on the eastern black rail's needs, we applied the 3Rs using five plausible future scenarios. Such designation does not allow the government or public to access private lands. While these wetland types still exist within the analysis unit and may support single individuals or a very low-density, scattered population (Watts 2016, pp. We have no information to indicate that the eastern black rail is present in large numbers in the Caribbean, Central America, or Brazil. As discussed above and in our SSA report, there are little to no data to evaluate resiliency for the Central America and Caribbean portion of the eastern black rail's range. Mechanical treatment activities are prohibited during the nesting and brooding season for the eastern black rail, and this prohibition will avoid incidental take of eastern black rails (via nest destruction and chick mortality) and will likely benefit nesting mottled ducks, as well. 1988, p. 463). Sea level rise and its effects (e.g., increased flooding and inundation, salt water intrusion) may affect the persistence of coastal or wetland plant species that provide habitat for the eastern black rail (Warren and Niering 1993, p. 96; Morris et al. 2005, p. 35). COVID-19 (Coronavirus): OFR's operational status and FAQs The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) provides access to the official text of: Federal Laws Presidential Documents Administrative Regulations and Notices Learn more Shortcuts to Federal Register Publications On Federalregister.gov Today's Federal Register Public Inspection List Executive Orders Federal Register (i) All of the provisions of § 17.32 apply to the eastern black rail. We defined the eastern black rail's range based on the data from reliable published scientific literature, submitted manuscripts, species' experts, and occurrence data. Activities such as birding and hiking, have been shown to disturb breeding and nesting birds. informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal In a separate salt marsh in Galveston County, Texas, two studies found that total vegetative cover was significantly reduced by grazing (Yeargan 2001, entire; Martin 2003, entire). 104. The rule extends exemptions for maintenance of existing infrastructure. 15. For these reasons, we determined that the 4(d) rule must address methods and techniques used, as we find that this is necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the eastern black rail. For example, prior converted croplands that support active production of rice and other cereal grains do not provide suitable habitat for eastern black rail and are, therefore, excepted. With regard to threatened wildlife, a permit may be issued for the following purposes: For scientific purposes, to enhance propagation or survival, for economic hardship, for zoological exhibition, for educational purposes, for incidental taking, or for special purposes consistent with the purposes of the Act. and services, go to (1998) abstract appears in conference proceedings and not peer-reviewed literature has no bearing on the existence of this mortality event. Comment: One commenter stated that there is no evidence to support mosquitocide impacts to the eastern black rail or to their trophic structure effects. Comment: One State and one public commenter requested clarification regarding their section 7 responsibilities under the Act. 75-76). should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official comm.). 57-76, 80-84; Bryer et al. Ignition tactics, rates of spread, and flame lengths should allow for wildlife escape routes and avoid trapping birds in a fire. 124. 59, 67). the official SGML-based PDF version on govinfo.gov, those relying on it for (v) The Secretary otherwise determines that designation of critical habitat would not be prudent based on the best scientific data available. The 4(d) rule prohibits incidental take of eastern black rails resulting from prescribed fires throughout the year, unless the practices described below, which would minimize incidental take of eastern black rails and provide for long-term habitat needs for the eastern black rail and other cover-dependent species, are followed. Comment: One peer reviewer noted that when developing the covariate analysis we do not have the high-resolution data, such as water depth data that has a resolution of 1 centimeter or vegetation data associated with the hydrology, that would provide the resolution really needed for this species and produce meaningful insights. Contracted, and removal of dense overhead cover required by the Federal Highway Administration control of woody encroachment other... In all analysis units we evaluated—Appalachians, Central Lowlands, and locally lands! Fra Publishes final rule on emergent wetlands with eastern black rail habitat preferences and set their survey were! 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