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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 131 / Tuesday, July 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
Code of Federal Regulations may not reflect the exclusion of such developed lands. Any such lands inadvertently left inside critical habitat boundaries shown on the maps of this proposed rule have been excluded by text in the proposed rule and are not proposed for designation as critical habitat.
Therefore, if the critical habitat is finalized as proposed, a Federal action involving these lands would not trigger section 7 consultation with respect to critical habitat and the requirement of no adverse modification unless the specific action would affect the physical or biological features in the adjacent critical habitat.
The proposed critical habitat designation is defined by the map or
maps, as modified by any accompanying regulatory text, presented at the end of this document under Proposed Regulation Promulgation. We include more detailed information on the boundaries of the critical habitat designation in our discussion of the individual units below. We will make the coordinates or plot points or both on which each map is based available to the public on http
www.regulations.gov under Docket No.
FWSR4ES20200062 and on our internet site http www.fws.gov/
mississippiES/.
Proposed Critical Habitat Designation We are proposing to designate approximately 517 mi 832 km of river
and stream channels in two units as critical habitat for the pearl darter. The critical habitat areas we describe below constitute our current best assessment of areas that meet the definition of critical habitat for the pearl darter. The two areas we propose as critical habitat are:
1 Pascagoula River Unit; and 2 Strong River Unit. Ownership of stream channel bottoms included in this proposed rule are determined by riparian land ownership. The table below shows the occupancy of the units, the riparian land ownership, and approximate lengths of the proposed critical habitat for the pearl darter.

TABLE OF PROPOSED CRITICAL HABITAT UNITS FOR PEARL DARTER
Unit length estimates include only stream channels within the ordinary high-water line Riparian land ownership Total mi km
Unit
Occupancy
Federal mi km
State mi km
County mi km
1. Pascagoula River
2. Strong River

Occupied
Unoccupied

45 72

76 122

0.4 0.6

373 600
30 48.4

487 783
30 49

Total km mi

45 72

76 122

0.4 0.6

403 648.4

517 832

Private mi km
7 mi 11 km of pearl darter critical habitat stream miles shared between State and Federal lands.

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We present brief descriptions of all units, and reasons why they meet the definition of critical habitat for pearl darter, below.
Unit 1: Pascagoula River Unit Unit 1 consists of 487 mi 783 km of occupied connected river and stream channels within the Pascagoula River drainage in Mississippi, including:
63 mi 102 km of the Pascagoula River channel from its confluence with the West Pascagoula River in Jackson County, upstream to the confluence of the Leaf and Chickasawhay Rivers in George County;
80 mi 129 km of Big Black Creek/
Black Creek channel from its confluence with the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, upstream to U.S. Highway 49
Bridge in Forrest County;
160 mi 257 km of Chickasawhay River channel from its confluence with the Leaf River just north of Enterprise, Clarke County, upstream to the confluence of Okatibbee Creek and Chunky River in Clarke County;
21 mi 34 km of Chunky River channel from its confluence with Okatibbee Creek in Clarke County, upstream to second Highway 80
Crossing in Newton County;
119 mi 192 km of Leaf River channel from its confluence with the Chickasawhay River in George County,
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upstream to the bridge crossing at U.S.
Highway 84 in Covington County;
15 mi 24 km of Bouie River channel from its confluence with the Leaf River, upstream to the confluence of Okatoma Creek in Forrest County;
and 28 mi 45 km of Okatoma Creek from its confluence with the Bouie River in Forrest County, upstream to the bridge crossing at U.S. Highway 84 in Covington County.
The riparian lands channel borders in this unit are generally privately owned agricultural or silvicultural lands, with short reaches owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service or the State see table above. All channel segments in Unit 1 are occupied by the pearl darter, and the unit contains all the physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species, including deep pools, runs, and bends and scour holes; mixtures of bottom substrates of sand, silt, loose clay and gravel, fine and coarse particles of organic matter, and snag material; a natural hydrograph with flows and water quality that currently support the normal life stages of the pearl darter;
and the species prey sources.
Special management considerations and protections that may be required to address threats within the unit include minimizing surface water withdrawals
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or other actions that alter stream flow;
reducing excessive use of manures, fertilizers, and pesticides near stream channels; improving treatment of wastewater discharged from permitted facilities; and implementing practices that protect or restore riparian buffer areas along stream corridors.
Unit 2: Strong River Unit Unit 2 consists of 30 mi 49 km of unoccupied habitat in the Strong River channel from its confluence with the Pearl River, upstream to U.S. Highway 49, in Simpson County, Mississippi.
The riparian lands in this unit are generally privately owned agricultural or silvicultural lands, with a short channel reach 0.39 mi 0.63 km owned and operated by the Simpson County Park Commission see table above. Unit 2 is not within the geographic range occupied by the pearl darter at the time of listing, but this area was historically known to provide spawning and recruitment habitat prior to the species extirpation from the Pearl River drainage. This unit currently provides all physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the pearl darter, including a stable channel with bottom substrates of sand, silt, loose clay and gravel, bedrock, fine and coarse particles of organic matter, and woody debris; a natural hydrograph
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