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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 87 / Friday, May 7, 2021 / Notices this notice to seek comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.
DATES: We must receive written comments on or before July 6, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Reviewing documents: You may obtain a copy of the draft revised recovery plan, recovery implementation strategy, and species status assessment in Docket No. FWSR2ES20200093
at http www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http
www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWSR2ES20200093.
U.S.: Public Comments Processing;
Attn: Docket No. FWSR2ES2020
0093; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041
3803.
For additional information about submitting comments, see Request for Public Comments and Public Availability of Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Adam Zerrenner, Austin Ecological Services Field Office, by phone at 512
4900057, by email at adam_zerrenner@
fws.gov, or via the Federal Relay Service at 8008778339 for TTY service.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Service, announce the availability of our draft recovery plan for Guadalupe fescue Festuca ligulata, listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.. Guadalupe fescue is a plant endemic to montane sky island habitats in the Chihuahuan Desert in Trans-Pecos Texas and in Coahuila, Mexico. The draft recovery plan includes specific recovery objectives;
site-specific management actions;
objective, measurable criteria that, when achieved, will enable us to remove Guadalupe fescue from the list of endangered and threatened plants; and an estimated time and cost to recovery.
We request review and comment on this plan from local, State, and Federal agencies; Tribes; and the public. We will also accept any new information on the status of Guadalupe fescue throughout its range to assist in finalizing the recovery plan.
Background Recovery of endangered or threatened animals and plants to the point at which they are again secure, self-sustaining members of their ecosystems is a primary goal of our endangered species
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program and the ESA. Recovery means improvement of the status of listed species to the point at which listing is no longer appropriate under the criteria set out in section 4a1 of the ESA. The ESA requires the development of recovery plans for listed species, unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a particular species.
We used a streamlined approach to recovery planning and implementation by first conducting a species status assessment SSA of Guadalupe fescue Service 2016, which is a comprehensive analysis of the taxons needs, current condition, threats, and future viability. The information in the SSA report provides the biological background, a threats assessment, and a basis for a strategy for recovery of Guadalupe fescue. We then used this information to prepare an abbreviated draft recovery plan for Guadalupe fescue that includes objective, measurable recovery criteria, prioritized and site-specific recovery actions, and the estimated time and cost to recovery Service 2020a. We have also prepared a separate recovery implementation strategy that includes the specific tasks necessary to implement recovery actions Service 2020b.
Summary of Species Information Guadalupe fescue Festuca ligulata is a perennial, rhizomatous horizontal stems below ground bunchgrass within the Poaceae grass family. The species occurs in scattered patches in the understory of conifer-oak woodlands in the high mountains of the Chihuahuan Desert, above 1,800 m 5,905 ft elevations. Guadalupe fescue flowers mostly during the late summer and early autumn, in response to the regions monsoon rains. The breeding system of Guadalupe fescue is currently unknown;
however, since widely dispersed populations have persisted, Guadalupe fescue is likely capable of selffertilization as well as outcrossing USFWS 2015. The species has a short lifespan, with relatively low fecundity.
The average lifespan for Gualdalupe fescue ranges from 3.1 to 3.9 years, and estimated annual survival rates range from 0.62 to 0.75. About 41 percent of individuals die before they are able to reproduce USFWS 2015.
Historically, the distribution of Guadalupe fescue was limited to six small sites, ranging from Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, in the north, to El Fraile, Coahuila, in the south. Currently, there are only two known extant populations within the species historical range: One in Boot Canyon within Big Bend National Park, Texas; and one in the Maderas del
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Carmen Area de Proteccion de Flora y Fauna APFF; Protected Area for Plants and Animals, Coahuila. Two populations of Guadalupe fescue are considered extirpated, as no plants were located during recent survey efforts McKittrick Canyon in Texas and Sierra el Jardin in Mexico, and two other populations in Mexico northwest of El Fraile and Sierra de la Madera have not been surveyed since 1941 and 1977, respectively, and thus their status is unknown.
All known populations of the Guadalupe fescue consist of multiple small groups of individuals. Prior to listing, the Boot Canyon population in Big Bend National Park was protected through a candidate conservation agreement established in 2008, and has been monitored almost every year since 1993. The total estimated population size within Boot Canyon is 1,787
individuals, scattered over an area of about 22.7 ha 56.1 ac Whiting et al.
2020. The population at APFF Maderas del Carmen, although privately owned, is protected from development through the Mexican federal system of Protected Natural Areas Areas Naturales Protegidas. This population was observed in 2003, 2007, 2009, and most recently in 2019 and 2020 when approximately 140 individuals were documented. However, botanists have not yet determined the size of this population due to the difficult access, remote location, and rugged terrain of this 208,381-ha 514,910-ac protected area.
To ensure the long-term viability of Guadalupe fescue in the wild, the species requires the conservation of multiple resilient and genetically diverse populations that represent the full range of the species ecological adaptations to the sky island habitats of the Chihuahuan Desert in both Texas and Mexico. Currently, there are only two known extant populations of Guadalupe fescue within the species historical range. The most important factors that may affect the continued survival of Guadalupe fescue within these populations include changes in the wildfire cycle and vegetation structure, competition from invasive species, and the demographic and genetic consequences of small, isolated populations. Within the Chisos Mountains in Texas, the conifer-oak woodlands had experienced relatively frequent, low-intensity wildfires for centuries, and Guadalupe fescue is believed to have evolved with this fire ecology. However, wildfire has been suppressed at Big Bend National Park since the parks establishment in 1944
and there have been no recent natural or
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