Je veux savoir à propos de…

jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS

36688

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 131 / Tuesday, July 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
discussed above, the role of critical habitat is to support physical or biological features essential to the conservation of a listed species and provide for the conservation of the species.
Section 4b8 of the Act requires us to briefly evaluate and describe, in any proposed or final regulation that designates critical habitat, activities involving a Federal action that may violate section 7a2 of the Act by destroying or adversely modifying such habitat, or that may be affected by such designation.
Activities that the Services may, during a consultation under section 7a2 of the Act, find are likely to destroy or adversely modify critical habitat include, but are not limited to:
1 Actions that would block or disconnect stream and river channels.
Such activities could include, but are not limited to, the construction of dams or weirs, channelization, and mining.
These activities could result in destruction of habitat, block movements between seasonal habitats, fragment and isolate subpopulations within critical habitat units, and/or affect flows within or into critical habitat.
2 Actions that would affect channel substrates and stability. Such activities include channelization, impoundment, mining, road and bridge construction, removal of riparian vegetation, and land clearing. These activities may lead to changes in channel substrates, erosion of the streambed and banks, and excessive sedimentation that could degrade pearl darter habitat.
3 Actions that would reduce flow levels or alter flow regimes. These could include, but are not limited to, activities that block or lower surface flow or groundwater levels, including channelization, impoundment, groundwater pumping, and surface water withdrawal or diversion. Such activities can result in long-term changes in stream flows that affect habitat quality and quantity for the darter and its prey.
4 Actions that would affect water chemistry or temperature or introduce pollutants and nutrients at levels above State of Mississippi criteria. Such activities include, but are not limited to, the release of chemical pollutants, biological pollutants, or heated effluents into the surface water or connected groundwater at a point source or by dispersed release nonpoint source.
These activities could alter water quality conditions to levels that are beyond the tolerances of the pearl darter or its prey species.
5 Actions that would result in the introduction, spread, or augmentation of
VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:03 Jul 12, 2021

Jkt 253001

nonnative aquatic species in occupied stream segments, or in stream segments that are hydrologically connected to occupied stream segments, even if those segments are occasionally intermittent, or the introduction of other species that compete with or prey on the pearl darter. Possible actions could include, but are not limited to, stocking of nonnative fishes or other related actions. These activities can also introduce parasites or disease, or affect the growth, reproduction, and survival of the pearl darter.
Exemptions Application of Section 4a3 of the Act Section 4a3Bi of the Act 16
U.S.C. 1533a3Bi provides that the Secretary shall not designate as critical habitat any lands or other geographic areas owned or controlled by the Department of Defense DoD, or designated for its use, that are subject to an integrated natural resources management plan INRMP prepared under section 101 of the Sikes Act 16
U.S.C. 670a, if the Secretary determines in writing that such plan provides a benefit to the species for which critical habitat is proposed for designation.
There are no DoD lands with a completed INRMP within the proposed critical habitat designation.
Consideration of Impacts Under Section 4b2 of the Act Section 4b2 of the Act states that the Secretary shall designate and make revisions to critical habitat on the basis of the best available scientific data after taking into consideration the economic impact, national security impact, and any other relevant impact of specifying any particular area as critical habitat.
The Secretary may exclude an area from critical habitat if they determine that the benefits of such exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying such area as part of the critical habitat, unless they determine, based on the best scientific data available, that the failure to designate such area as critical habitat will result in the extinction of the species. In making the determination to exclude a particular area, the statute on its face, as well as the legislative history, are clear that the Secretary has broad discretion regarding which factors to use and how much weight to give to any factor.
We describe below the process that we undertook for taking into consideration each category of impacts and our analyses of the relevant impacts.

PO 00000

Frm 00016

Fmt 4702

Sfmt 4702

Consideration of Economic Impacts Section 4b2 of the Act and its implementing regulations require that we consider the economic impact that may result from a designation of critical habitat. To assess the probable economic impacts of a designation, we must first evaluate specific land uses or activities and projects that may occur in the area of the critical habitat. We then must evaluate the impacts that a specific critical habitat designation may have on restricting or modifying specific land uses or activities for the benefit of the species and its habitat within the areas proposed. We then identify which conservation efforts may be the result of the species being listed under the Act versus those attributed solely to the designation of critical habitat for this particular species. The probable economic impact of a proposed critical habitat designation is analyzed by comparing scenarios both with critical habitat and without critical habitat.
The without critical habitat scenario represents the baseline for the analysis, which includes the existing regulatory and socio-economic burden imposed on landowners, managers, or other resource users potentially affected by the designation of critical habitat e.g., under the Federal listing as well as other Federal, State, and local regulations. The baseline, therefore, represents the costs of all efforts attributable to the listing of the species under the Act i.e., conservation of the species and its habitat incurred regardless of whether critical habitat is designated. The with critical habitat scenario describes the incremental impacts associated specifically with the designation of critical habitat for the species. The incremental conservation efforts and associated impacts would not be expected without the designation of critical habitat for the species. In other words, the incremental costs are those attributable solely to the designation of critical habitat, above and beyond the baseline costs. These are the costs we use when evaluating the benefits of inclusion and exclusion of particular areas from the final designation of critical habitat should we choose to conduct a discretionary 4b2 exclusion analysis.
For this particular designation, we developed an incremental effects memorandum IEM considering the probable incremental economic impacts that may result from this proposed designation of critical habitat. The information contained in our IEM was then used to develop a screening analysis of the probable effects of the designation of critical habitat for the
E:FRFM13JYP1.SGM

13JYP1