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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 166 / Tuesday, August 31, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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isolated. The provisions of this 4d rule will promote conservation of Bartrams stonecrop by encouraging management of the landscape in ways that meet both land management considerations and the conservation needs of Bartrams stonecrop. The provisions of this rule are one of many tools that the Service will use to promote the conservation of Bartrams stonecrop.
Provisions of the 4d Rule This 4d rule provides for the conservation of Bartrams stonecrop by prohibiting the following activities, except as otherwise authorized or permitted: Import or export; certain acts related to removing, damaging, and destroying; delivery, receipt, transport, or shipment in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of commercial activity; or sale or offering for sale in interstate or foreign commerce.
As discussed under Summary of Biological Status and Threats, above, multiple factors are affecting the status of Bartrams stonecrop. A range of activities have the potential to impact Bartrams stonecrop, including:
1 Unauthorized damage or collection of Bartrams stonecrop from lands under Federal jurisdiction; and 2 Malicious destruction or degradation of the species or associated habitat on lands under Federal jurisdiction, including:
a The intentional introduction of nonnative organisms that compete with or consume Bartrams stonecrop;
b Ground-disturbing activities that impact the species or its habitat;
c Activities that would affect pollinators where the species occurs and in the surrounding area;
d Activities that would promote high-severity wildfires where the species occurs; and e Activities that would reduce shade or lower the water table such that the cooler, humid microenvironment is affected.
These activities are provided as examples of actions that may affect Bartrams stonecrop and are not intended to be a list of prohibitions under the final 4d rule for Bartrams stonecrop. As a whole, the 4d rule will help in the efforts to recover Bartrams stonecrop by prohibiting activities that damage individuals and populations and providing exceptions to those prohibitions for permitted or conservation activities.
We may issue permits to carry out otherwise prohibited activities, including those described above, involving threatened plants under certain circumstances. Regulations governing permits are codified at 50

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CFR 17.72, which states that the Director may issue a permit authorizing any activity otherwise prohibited with regard to threatened species. That regulation also states, The permit shall be governed by the provisions of this section unless a special rule applicable to the plant is provided in sections 17.73 to 17.78. We interpret that second sentence to mean that permits for threatened species are governed by the provisions of section 17.72 unless a special rule, which we have defined to mean a species-specific 4d rule, provides otherwise. We recently promulgated revisions to section 17.71
providing that section 17.71 will no longer apply to plants listed as threatened in the future. We did not intend for those revisions to limit or alter the applicability of the permitting provisions in section 17.72, or to require that every species-specific 4d rule spell out any permitting provisions that apply to that species and speciesspecific 4d rule. To the contrary, we anticipate that permitting provisions would generally be similar or identical for most species, so applying the provisions of section 17.72 unless a species-specific 4d rule provides otherwise would likely avoid substantial duplication. Moreover, this interpretation brings section 17.72 in line with the comparable provision for wildlife at 50 CFR 17.32, in which the second sentence states, Such permit shall be governed by the provisions of this section unless a special rule applicable to the wildlife, appearing in sections 17.40 to 17.48, of this part provides otherwise. Under 50 CFR
17.12 with regard to threatened plants, a permit may be issued for the following purposes: For scientific purposes, to enhance propagation or survival, for economic hardship, for botanical or horticultural exhibition, for educational purposes, or for other purposes consistent with the purposes and policy of the Act. Additional statutory exemptions from the prohibitions are found in sections 9 and 10 of the Act.
We recognize the special and unique relationship with our State natural resource agency partners in contributing to conservation of listed species. State agencies often possess scientific data and valuable expertise on the status and distribution of endangered, threatened, and candidate species of wildlife and plants. State agencies, because of their authorities and their close working relationships with local governments and landowners, are in a unique position to assist the Services in implementing all aspects of the Act. In this regard, section 6 of the Act provides
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that the Services shall cooperate to the maximum extent practicable with the States in carrying out programs authorized by the Act. Therefore, any qualified employee or agent of a State conservation agency that is a party to a cooperative agreement with the Service in accordance with section 6c of the Act, who is designated by his or her agency for such purposes, will be able to conduct activities designed to conserve Bartrams stonecrop that may result in otherwise prohibited activities without additional authorization.
Nothing in this 4d rule changes in any way the recovery planning provisions of section 4f of the Act, the consultation requirements under section 7 of the Act, or the ability of the Service to enter into partnerships for the management and protection of Bartrams stonecrop. However, interagency cooperation may be further streamlined through planned programmatic consultations for the species between Federal agencies and the Service.
III. Critical Habitat Background Critical habitat is defined in section 3
of the Act as:
1 The specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species, at the time it is listed in accordance with the Act, on which are found those physical or biological features:
a Essential to the conservation of the species, and b Which may require special management considerations or protection; and 2 Specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species at the time it is listed, upon a determination that such areas are essential for the conservation of the species.
Our regulations at 50 CFR 424.02
define the geographical area occupied by the species as an area that may generally be delineated around species occurrences, as determined by the Secretary i.e., range. Such areas may include those areas used throughout all or part of the species life cycle, even if not used on a regular basis e.g., migratory corridors, seasonal habitats, and habitats used periodically, but not solely by vagrant individuals.
Conservation, as defined at section 3
of the Act, means to use and the use of all methods and procedures that are necessary to bring an endangered or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to the Act are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but
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