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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations any observed decline in tern counts is real or an annual variation, and/or to investigate any potential causes of decline.
State Comments Section 4b5Aii of the Act states that the Secretary must give actual notice of a proposed regulation under section 4a to the State agency in each State in which the species is believed to occur and invite the comments of such agency. Section 4i of the Act directs that the Secretary will submit to the State agency a written justification for his or her failure to adopt regulations consistent with the agencys comments or petition. We solicited comments from the 18 States within the summer breeding range of the Interior least tern.
The States of Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico responded with concurrence for the delisting action;
however, the States of Oklahoma and Colorado expressed concern that the duration of PDM was inadequate to determine trends in this long-lived species see Our Response to Comment 5, above.
Other Public Comments 12 Comment: One commenter observed that, while the Interior least tern may warrant delisting due to its population increase along the Mississippi River, its numbers have continued to decline in most other river systems within its range.
Our Response: Annual changes in relative abundance of colonies or subpopulations of a metapopulation may fluctuate widely on an annual basis. In the proposed delisting rule 84
FR 56977; October 24, 2019, we presented information that most Interior least tern subpopulations have been stable or increasing over the past two decades. While the Mississippi River has experienced the greatest increase in Interior least tern nesting population size, the analysis of 15 river system subpopulations with 20 or more years of monitoring data indicates that over that period of record, 10 experienced increases, 4 remained relatively stable, and only 1 below Ft. Peck Dam experienced a significant decline.
13 Comment: Several commenters noted that the Interior least tern and its habitats remain vulnerable to climate change; one commenter was concerned about sea level rise and another stated that the species should remain threatened due to flooding associated with climate change.
Our Response: Because the Interior least tern nests within the Interior Basin remote from coastal areas, inundation by sea level rise is not a concern to its
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breeding range. We considered other potential effects of climate change in the proposed delisting rule 84 FR 56977;
October 24, 2019 and this final rule under Effects of Climate Change, including the potential of increased flooding frequency. We conclude that the wide range of the Interior least tern 16 degrees of longitude; 18 degrees of latitude, its metapopulation dynamics, and its ability to relocate and exploit a wide variety of habitats reduces the magnitude of such threats. The response of the Interior least tern to any specific flood event may not be readily observed, and while such events may suppress local or regional reproduction and recruitment in some years, or shift reproduction and recruitment to other areas, major flood events also reset habitats and may result in increased numbers of terns in subsequent years.
For example, Missouri River flood years are generally followed by improved nesting habitats supporting large increases in tern numbers and recruitment in subsequent years.
Summary of Changes From the Proposed Rule We considered all comments and information we received during the comment period for the proposed rule to delist the Interior least tern 84 FR
56977; October 24, 2019. We made minor editorial changes throughout the rule and added additional information to clarify our understanding of foreseeable future, which published in an August 27, 2019, final rule 84 FR
45020 see 50 CFR 424.11d. These recent revisions did not significantly modify the Services interpretation of foreseeable future, but rather, we codified a framework that sets forth how we will determine what constitutes the foreseeable future based on our longstanding practice. We have added a statement under Population Trends regarding the role of increased survey effort and the geographical extent of the area surveyed in the observed population increase since listing. Lastly, we also added information about how we considered the potential consequences to the Interior least tern of the February 3, 2020 85 FR 5915, proposed rule to define the scope of the MBTA under Existing Regulatory Mechanisms, above.
Determination of Interior Least Tern Status Section 4 of the Act 16 U.S.C. 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
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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. For a more detailed discussion on the factors considered when determining whether a species meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species and our analysis on how we determine the foreseeable future in making these decisions, please see Summary of Factors Affecting the Species.
Status Throughout All of Its Range Since its 1985 listing under the Act, the Interior least tern has shown an ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions caused by both human and natural disturbances.
The Interior least tern nesting population encompasses hundreds of colonies in 18 States throughout the Interior Basin, from Montana southward through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to eastern New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi see supplemental documents at https
www.regulations.gov under Docket No.
FWSR4ES20180082. Therefore, the Interior least tern is highly redundant and resistant to future catastrophic events. Its representation is ensured by its continued occurrence within all known historical habitats i.e., Salt Plains, multiple river and stream orders across a large latitudinal and longitudinal gradient and a wide variety of climatic conditions. Interior least tern resilience is demonstrated by metapopulation dynamics, by its ability to adapt to multiple natural and anthropogenic conditions, and by evidence of high genetic connectivity between drainage subpopulations.
Because the Interior least tern has been considered to be increasing and selfsustaining since listing 35 years, and consists of a relatively large number of individuals with demonstrated high redundancy, representation, and resilience, we expect it to remain viable into the future.
We have carefully assessed the best scientific and commercial information available regarding the threats faced by the Interior least tern. Our analysis found an increase in the abundance, number of breeding sites, and range of the Interior least tern; resiliency to existing and potential threats; active habitat management and the implementation of beneficial
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