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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 55 / Wednesday, March 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Release Procedures Release procedures at Redwood National Park are described in the environmental assessment NPS et al.
2018, pp. 2328 and would be similar to those at existing release sites.
Procedures include: 1 The use of an onsite release pen where California condors are kept for a short period of time prior to release; 2 tracking of all released condors via telemetry VHF
and GPS/GSM; and 3 supplying condors with proffered food at the release site to allow for repeated trappings to monitor health and replace transmitters.
In general, a new cohort of captivereared California condors will be released annually. The size of each release group will depend on the number of California condors in captivity available for release, but annual releases will likely involve up to six condors. California condors hatched in captivity will be raised by their parents or a condor look-alike hand puppet until they are approximately 6
months to 1 year old. They will then be placed with other California condors in a single large pen so they will form social bonds and undergo aversion training to power poles. The young California condors will be transported to the release site at Redwood National Park when they are approximately 1.5 to 2 years old. At the release site they will be placed in a flight pen and will remain there for an acclimation period of approximately 3 months.
Biologists will remain near the release pen, observing the young California condors behavior and guarding against predators or other disturbance. After the initial adjustment period, California condors will be released from the flight pen. Any release candidate showing signs of physical or behavioral problems will not be released. A small area of NPS land will be closed to recreational activity to protect the California condors in or around the release facility.
Carcasses will be provided at the release site, as supplemental food for newly released California condors, and as necessary, to attract condors for periodic trapping to check their health and swapout transmitters.
All California condors released to the wild will be marked to allow identification of individuals. Current methods for doing this include placing electronic transmitters e.g., Argos, GSM
Global System for Mobile communication, and VHF transmitters and wing markers on the wings of each California condor. The movements and behavior of each California condor will be monitored remotely using electronic
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transmitters and ground observations.
Aerial tracking will be used to find lost individuals, and telemetry flights will be coordinated with the appropriate land management agencies. Our methods for identifying and monitoring individuals will be adaptive and may change as technology improves.
We will endeavor to maintain an even sex-ratio across a range of age-classes in the released population. Adult California condors unfit for release may be transported to the release site and kept in the pen as mentors for the acclimating cohort. Adjustments will be made in release cohort structure annually based on availability from captive-breeding facilities, genetics, sexratio, and age.
Donor Stock Assessment and Effects on Donor Population The donor population for the reintroduction of California condors to Redwood National Park is the captive population of California condors.
Although the captive population is located at four breeding facilities, these facilities cooperate to manage the entire wild population and captive population as a single entity, exchanging California condors and condor eggs among the facilities as necessary for population and genetic management Ralls and Ballou 2004, p. 216.
As of December 2019, there were 181
California condors in captivity, and the size of the captive population has been relatively stable over the last 5 years, with end-of-year counts ranging from 167 to 181 during this time period USFWS 2020, p. 5. With the assistance of the captive-breeding program, the total population of California condors increased from 370 condors in 2010 to 518 condors in 2019 USFWS 2020, p.
5.
The donor population is carefully managed to ensure its long-term viability. Annual reviews of breeding, captive pairings, genetic health, and demographic factors are undertaken to ensure that captive-releases will not be detrimental to the stability of the captive flock. In addition, the captivebreeding program has capacity to pair additional captive California condors to increase reproductive output as they become available for breeding and to replace senescent condors. This could be done through multiple clutching, the use of non-breeding adults to serve as foster parents, and/or puppet rearing.
Given the careful management of the donor population, the ability to increase its productivity, and the relatively small number of California condors that will be released at Redwood National Park
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annually, impacts to the donor population are expected to be negligible.
Management The Service, NPS, and the Yurok Tribe will plan and manage the reintroduction of California condors at Redwood National Park. In addition, these agencies will carefully collaborate on releases, monitoring, condor care and behavior management, nest observations and interventions, coordination with landowners and land managers, public awareness, and other tasks necessary to ensure successful reintroduction of the species Yurok Tribal, 2020, entire. A
few specific management considerations related to the experimental population are addressed below.
a Incidental Take: Experimental population special rules contain specific prohibitions and exceptions regarding the taking of individual animals. These special rules are compatible with most routine human activities in the expected reestablishment area. Section 319 of the Act defines take as to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
Incidental take is further defined as take that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, the carrying out of an otherwise lawful activity. By adopting the 10j rule, most incidental take of California condors within the experimental population area is allowed, provided that the take is unintentional and not due to negligent conduct. However, habitat alteration e.g., removing trees, erecting structures, altering the nest structure or perches near the nest or significant visual or noise disturbance e.g., tree felling, chainsaws, helicopter overflights, concrete cutters, fireworks, explosives within 656 ft 200 m of an occupied nest are prohibited. Excluded from this prohibition are emergency fuels treatment activities by Federal, State, and local agencies and Tribes to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and emergency response services. Activities such as ranching and use of existing roads and trails within the 656-ft 200
m buffer area around an occupied nest would not be considered a significant visual or noise disturbance. For the purposes of this rule, an occupied California condor nest is defined as a nest that is: 1 Attended by a breeding pair of condors, 2 occupied by a condor egg, or 3 occupied or attended by a <1-year-old condor.
The 656-ft 200 m buffer is meant to serve to minimize visual and auditory impacts associated with human activities near nest sites. We chose a 656-ft 200 m buffer after considering
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