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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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critical habitat designation would impair the realization of benefits expected from the plan, agreement, or partnership.
v The extent of public participation in the development of the conservation plan.
vi The degree to which there has been agency review and required determinations e.g., State regulatory requirements, as necessary and appropriate.
vii Whether National Environmental Policy Act NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. compliance was required.
viii Whether the plan or agreement contains a monitoring program and adaptive management to ensure that the conservation measures are effective and can be modified in the future in response to new information.
Salado Salamander Units 1, 2, and 3
Solana Ranch Preserve In 2013, the Texas Chapter of The Nature Conservancy was awarded funding through a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department non-traditional section 6 grant Solana Ranch Recovery Land Acquisition, Grant TX E154RL
1 to obtain a conservation easement on 256 ac 104 ha of the privately owned Solana Ranch in Bell County, Texas.
The Nature Conservancy acquired the conservation easement in perpetuity from the landowner, Michaux Holdings Ltd., on June 29, 2016. That portion of the Solana Ranch included in the conservation easement, Solana Ranch Preserve, encompasses three spring outlets i.e., Cistern, Hog Hollow, and Solana Springs occupied by the Salado salamander Francell 2012, p. 3 and the upstream lands surrounding these springs. The springs comprise the following critical habitat units for the Salado salamander: Hog Hollow Spring Unit 1; 68 ac 28 ha, Solana Spring Unit 2; 68 ac 28 ha, and Cistern Spring Unit 3; 68 ac 28 ha. The springs are located on a tributary to Rumsey Creek in the Salado Creek drainage and are upstream of other springs occupied by the Salado salamander along Salado Creek to the northeast. All three springs are considered high-quality habitat for the Salado salamander Gluesenkamp 2011b, TPWD, pers. comm.. The Solana Ranch Preserve conservation easement establishes that these lands are protected and managed for the benefit of the Salado salamander. Management activities include: 1 Protection of the site from development or encroachment, 2 maintenance of the site as permanent open space that has been left in its natural vegetative state, 3 maintenance and repair of existing enclosure fences
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around springs, and 4 research approved by the landowner. Grazing, hunting, and other recreational activities will be allowed.
The perpetual Solana Ranch Preserve conservation easement will result in long-term protection of the three springs located on Solana Ranch, including areas immediately upstream of the springs to maintain water quality. By protecting the springs and their surrounding areas, occupied Salado salamander habitat will be protected from development and other threats.
Based on the actions to benefit the Salado salamander, we considered excluding a total of 204 ha 84 ac of critical habitat within Solana Ranch Preserve lands, specifically Hog Hollow Spring Unit 1; 68 ac 28 ha, Solana Spring Unit 2; 68 ac 28 ha, and Cistern Spring Unit 3; 68 ac 28 ha, from this final Salado salamander critical habitat designation under section 4b2 of the Act.
Benefits of InclusionSolana Ranch Preserve: The principal benefit of including an area in critical habitat designation is the requirement of Federal agencies to ensure that actions that they fund, authorize, or carry out are not likely to result in the destruction or adverse modification of any designated critical habitat, which is the regulatory standard of section 7a2 of the Act under which consultation is completed. Federal agencies must consult with the Service on actions that may affect a listed species, and refrain from actions that are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of such species.
The analysis of effects to critical habitat is a separate and different analysis from that of the effects to the species.
Therefore, the difference in outcomes of these two analyses represents the regulatory benefit of critical habitat. For some cases, the outcome of these analyses will be similar, because effects to habitat will often result in effects to the species. Thus, critical habitat designation may provide greater benefits to the recovery of a species than listing would alone. Therefore, critical habitat designation may provide a regulatory benefit for the Salado salamanderon lands covered under the Solana Ranch Preserve conservation easement when there is a Federal nexus present for a project that might adversely modify critical habitat.
Another possible benefit of including lands in critical habitat is public education regarding the potential conservation value of an area that may help focus conservation efforts on areas of high conservation value for certain species. We consider any information about the Salado salamander and its
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habitat that reaches a wide audience, including parties engaged in conservation activities, to be valuable.
Designation of critical habitat would provide educational benefits by informing Federal agencies and the public about the presence of listed species for all units.
In summary, we find that the benefits of inclusion of 204 ha 84 ac lands within the Solana Ranch Preserve conservation easement are: 1 A
regulatory benefit when there is a Federal nexus present for a project that might adversely modify critical habitat;
and 2 educational benefits for the Salado salamander and its habitat.
Benefits of ExclusionSolana Ranch Preserve: The benefits of excluding 204
ha 84 ac of land within the Solana Ranch Preserve, under a perpetual conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy, from the designation of critical habitat for the Salado salamander are substantial and include: 1 Continuance and strengthening of our effective working relationship with private landowners to promote voluntary, proactive conservation of the Salado salamander and its habitat as opposed to reactive regulation; 2 allowance for continued meaningful collaboration and cooperation in working toward species recovery, including conservation benefits that might not otherwise occur;
and 3 encouragement of developing additional conservation easements and other conservation and management plans in the future for other federally listed and sensitive species.
Many landowners perceive critical habitat as an unfair and unnecessary regulatory burden. According to some, the designation of critical habitat on private lands significantly reduces the likelihood that landowners will support and carry out conservation actions Main et al.1999, p. 1,263; Bean 2002, p.
2. The magnitude of this negative outcome is greatly amplified in situations where active management measures such as reintroduction, fire management, and control of invasive species are necessary for species conservation Bean 2002, pp. 34. We find that the judicious exclusion of specific areas of non-federally owned lands from critical habitat designations can contribute to species recovery and provide a superior level of conservation than critical habitat alone. We find that, where consistent with the discretion provided by the Act, it is necessary to implement policies that provide positive incentives to private landowners to voluntarily conserve natural resources and that remove or reduce disincentives to conservation
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