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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 213 / Monday, November 8, 2021 / Notices
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damage or destruction of plants; and wildfire. Currently, the primary threat to the species is exploration for and development of locatable mineral resources, such as opals, gold, uranium, and zeolites. Without additional protections, we anticipate an increase in the magnitude of this threat affecting the species future resiliency, redundancy, and representation. Secondary threats continue to include potential invasive plant encroachment; grazing and trampling by livestock, wild horses, and ungulates; off-road vehicle recreation;
deliberate damage or destruction of plants; and potential wildfire. The potential threats from invasive plants and wildfire could be exacerbated by climate change.
Several regulatory mechanisms have been initiated since listing in 2002 as follows:
1 Desert yellowhead is designated a sensitive species under the BLMs 6840
Manual BLM 2008, entire and under BLMs current Lander Resource Management Plan RMP BLM 2014, entire. We expect the current Lander RMP to remain in place for another 15
20 years, and that a renewed RMP
would continue to offer protections to this species, regardless of its status as a federally listed species.
2 On July 12, 2005, the BLM
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the closure of certain BLM-administered public lands to all types of motor vehicle use to protect desert yellowhead and its critical habitat 70 FR 40053. The closure affects public lands located within, and adjacent to, the 360-ac 146ha designated critical habitat of the Sand Draw population of desert yellowhead.
3 On January 30, 2008, Public Land Order number 7688 provided for the withdrawal of public lands for the protection of desert yellowhead FR 73
5586. The order withdrew the 360 ac 146 ha of land identified as critical habitat surrounding the Sand Draw population from surface entry and mining for 20 years. This protection is due for renewal in 2028. The Cedar Rim population was not known at this time, and discussions regarding the establishment of a mineral withdrawal for this population are ongoing.
Recovery Planning Process Restoring an endangered or threatened animal or plant to the point where it is again a secure, selfsustaining member of its ecosystem is a primary goal of the Services endangered species program. Recovery means improving the status of a listed species to the point at which listing is
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no longer necessary according to the criteria specified under section 4a1 of the Act. The Act requires recovery plans for listed species unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a particular species. To help guide recovery efforts, we prepare recovery plans to promote the conservation of the species.
The purpose of a recovery plan is to provide a recommended framework for the recovery of a species so that protection of the Act is no longer necessary. Pursuant to section 4f of the Act, a recovery plan must, to the maximum extent possible, include:
1 A description of site-specific management actions as may be necessary to achieve the plans goal for the conservation and survival of the species;
2 Objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would support a determination under section 4a1 of the Act that the species should be removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants; and 3 Estimates of time and costs required to carry out those measures needed to achieve the plans goal and to achieve intermediate steps toward that goal.
We used our new recovery planning and implementation RPI process to develop the draft recovery plan for desert yellowhead. The RPI process helps reduce the time needed to develop and implement recovery plans, increases the relevancy of the recovery plan over longer timeframes, and adds flexibility so that the recovery plan can be more easily adjusted to new information and circumstances. Under our RPI process, a recovery plan will include the three statutorily required elements for recovery plansobjective and measurable criteria, site-specific management actions, and estimates of time and costalong with a concise introduction and our strategy for how we plan to achieve species recovery.
The RPI recovery plan is supported by a separate SSA report for the desert yellowhead Service 2019, entire. The SSA is an in-depth, but not exhaustive, review of the species biology and threats, an evaluation of its biological status, and an assessment of the resources and conditions needed to maintain long-term viability. The SSA
provides the scientific background and threats assessment for desert yellowhead, which are key to the development of the recovery plan. A
third, separate working document, called the recovery implementation strategy RIS, steps down the more general descriptions of actions in the recovery plan to detail the specifics
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needed to implement the recovery plan, which improves the flexibility of the recovery plan. The RIS will be adaptable, with new information on actions incorporated, as needed, without requiring a concurrent revision to the recovery plan, unless changes to the three statutory elements are required.
Draft Recovery Plan Below, we summarize components from our draft recovery plan. Please reference the draft recovery plan for full details see ADDRESSES.
The draft recovery plan describes recovery as the maintenance of two redundant stable resilient populations within the species historical range representation, with conservation measures in place to reduce key threats.
The draft recovery plan includes recovery criteria for delisting that when met would indicate that the desert yellowhead may no longer need the protections of the Act. Delisting criteria include:
1 Long term, renewable protections from mineral resource extraction are in place for both the Sand Draw and Cedar Rim populations and will remain in place for at least 10 years following delisting.
2 The Sand Draw and Cedar Rim populations are secure, as evidenced by a stable or increasing population trend, with more than 5,797 individuals counted in Sand Draws monitored quadrats and more than 242 individuals counted in Cedar Rims monitored transects for 8 out of 10 consecutive survey years.
3 Both the Sand Draw and Cedar Rim populations show evidence of sexual reproduction as evidenced by the production of at least one seed with a mature embryo in both populations over a 10-year period.
4 A banked seed source containing seeds from both populations of desert yellowhead is secured in a Center for Plant Conservation CPC-affiliated institution.
To help meet these criteria, the draft recovery plan identifies recovery actions for each criterion.
Peer Review In accordance with our July 1, 1994, peer review policy 59 FR 34270; July 1, 1994; our August 22, 2016, Directors Memo on the Peer Review Process; and the Office of Management and Budgets December 16, 2004, Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review revised June 2012, we solicited independent scientific reviews of the information contained in the SSA

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