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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 44 / Tuesday, March 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations individual, population, and species level. We evaluate each threat and its expected effects on the species, then analyze the cumulative effect of all of the threats on the species as a whole.
We also consider the cumulative effect of the threats in light of those actions and conditions that will have positive effects on the speciessuch as any existing regulatory mechanisms or conservation efforts. The Secretary determines whether the species meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species only after conducting this cumulative analysis and describing the expected effect on the species now and in the foreseeable future.

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Our proposed rule described foreseeable future as the extent to which we can reasonably rely on predictions about the future in making determinations about the future conservation status of the species. The Service since codified its understanding of foreseeable future in 50 CFR
424.11d 84 FR 45020. In those regulations, we explain the term foreseeable future extends only so far into the future as the Service can reasonably determine that both the future threats and the species responses to those threats are likely. The Service will describe the foreseeable future on a case-by-case basis, using the best available data and taking into account considerations such as the species lifehistory characteristics, threat-projection timeframes, and environmental variability. The Service need not identify the foreseeable future in terms of a specific period of time. These regulations did not significantly modify the Services interpretation; rather they codified a framework that sets forth how the Service will determine what constitutes the foreseeable future.
Accordingly, although these regulations do not apply to the final rule for the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender because it was proposed prior to their effective date, they do not change the Services assessment of foreseeable future for the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender as contained in our proposed rule and in this final rule. In the discussion of threats and the
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species response to those threats that follows, we include a discussion of, where possible, either a qualitative or quantitative assessment of the timing of the threats and species responses to those threats.
Analytical Framework The Eastern Hellbender Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis Species Status Assessment Report SSA report documents the results of our comprehensive biological status review for the eastern hellbender subspecies as a whole, including an assessment of the potential stressors to the species U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service 2018, entire.
The SSA report does not represent a decision by the Service on whether the subspecies or the DPS warrants listing as an endangered or threatened species under the Act. It does, however, provide the scientific basis that informs our regulatory decisions, which involve the further application of standards within the Act and its implementing regulations and policies. The following is a summary of the key results and conclusions from the SSA report, specifically related to the Missouri DPS
of the eastern hellbender; the full SSA
report can be found at Docket No. FWS
R3ES20180056 on http
www.regulations.gov and at https
www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/
amphibians/eastern_hellbender.
To assess eastern hellbender viability, we used the three conservation biology principles of resiliency, redundancy, and representation Shaffer and Stein 2000, pp. 306310. Briefly, resiliency supports the ability of the species to withstand environmental and demographic stochasticity for example, wet or dry, warm or cold years, redundancy supports the ability of the species to withstand catastrophic events for example, droughts, large pollution events, and representation supports the ability of the species to adapt over time to long-term changes in the environment for example, climate changes. In general, the more resilient and redundant a species is and the more representation it has, the more likely it is to sustain populations over time, even under changing environmental
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conditions. Using these principles, we identified the species ecological requirements for survival and reproduction at the individual, population, and species levels, and described the beneficial and risk factors influencing the species viability.
The SSA process can be categorized into three sequential stages. During the first stage, we evaluated individual species life-history needs. The next stage involved an assessment of the historical and current condition of the species demographics and habitat characteristics, including an explanation of how the species arrived at its current condition. The final stage of the SSA involved making predictions about the species responses to positive and negative environmental and anthropogenic influences. This process used the best available information to characterize viability as the ability of a species to sustain populations in the wild over time. We use this information to inform our regulatory decision.
Summary of Biological Status and Threats We identified four geographical units referred to in the SSA report as adaptive capacity units ACUs, based on Hime et al.s 2016, entire evaluation of genetic markers, to delineate variation in genetic and ecological traits within the eastern hellbenders historical range i.e., evolutionary lineages; figure 2. The units are: 1 Missouri River drainage MACU, 2 Ohio River-Susquehanna River drainages OACU, 3 Tennessee River drainage TACU, and 4
Kanawha River drainage KACU.
Through the DPS analysis described in the proposed rule 84 FR 13223, April 4, 2019, the Service determined that the MACU adaptive capacity unit was a distinct population segment and that the DPS met the definition of endangered.
Any reference to the MACU in the SSA
can be understood to mean the Missouri DPS of eastern hellbender. The term MACU is used throughout this document and the SSA report but references the same geographic areas as the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender.

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