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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Nevada red fox breeding efforts, and require 2 years of evaluations following activities near sightings that are not associated with a den site USFS 2004, p. 54.
The National Park Service management policies prohibit hunting, trapping, and snowmobiling in Yosemite and manage natural resources to preserve fundamental physical and biological processes, as well as individual species, features, and plant and animal communities NPS 2006, p.
26. Land management plans for Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks the latter of which is not known to currently harbor Sierra Nevada DPS
foxes but are within the DPSs historical range do not contain specific measures to protect the Sierra Nevada DPS
individuals or habitat. However, areas not developed specifically for recreation and camping are managed toward natural processes and species composition, and the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that the National Park Service would maintain the DPSs habitat.
The Department of Defense recently completed an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan INRMP
for the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center MWTC, which is a facility and training area that falls within the Sierra Nevada DPSs range, including overlap with some known sightings. The INRMP includes provisions prohibiting disturbance within 100.6 m 330 ft of Sierra Nevada red fox den sites from March 1 to June 30 MWTC 2018, p. 437. The INRMP
also establishes food storage and trash clean-up provisions to prevent habituation MWTC 2018, p. 438. A
table in the INRMP incorrectly identifies the dates during which disturbance of den sites must be avoided as January 1
to June 30 MWTC 2018, p. 326, but the MWTCs 2020 Annual Operating Plan supports the March 1 to June 30
dates MWTC 2019, p. 24.
On October 2, 1980, the State of California listed the Sierra Nevada red fox as a threatened species. The designation prohibits possession, purchase, or take of threatened or endangered species without an incidental take permit, issued by the CDFW. Additionally, red foxes in general are protected by the State from hunting and trapping 14 C.C.R. 460.
A conservation effort currently is underway by the Sierra Nevada Red Fox Working Group. This working group was formed in 2015 by representatives of Federal and State wildlife agencies, State universities, and nongovernmental conservation organizations Sierra Nevada Red Fox Working Group 2015,
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p. 1; 2016, p. 1. In addition to continued monitoring of the Sierra Nevada red fox across its range, including the Sierra Nevada DPS, the working group is currently developing a conservation strategy, which will include a genetics management plan.
While the Sierra Nevada DPS
population remains low, careful monitoring and genetics management will be key in identifying and responding appropriately to any downward trends in population numbers.
Risk Factors Affecting the Sierra Nevada DPS of Sierra Nevada Red Fox Our SSA considered a variety of environmental and demographic characteristics important to the viability of the Sierra Nevada DPS, taking into consideration both current and potential future conditions that may impact the DPS. The environmental characteristics we considered were: 1 Extent of subalpine habitat, 2 deep winter snow cover, 3 and rodent and leporid rabbit and hare populations. Subalpine habitat is important because its lower primary productivity and short growing season leave it unable to support as many prey animals as typically occur at lower elevations Verner and Purcell 1988, p. 2. This makes subalpine habitat more marginal for supporting mid-sized carnivores, such as coyotes and foxes. Red foxes tend to avoid competition with coyotes by relocating to marginal habitats that coyotes find less attractive Cross 2015, p. 38.
Several studies have found this tendency can result in elevational stratification, with red foxes relegated to the poorer habitat at higher elevations Perrine 2005, p. 84.
The smaller size and furred feet of Sierra Nevada DPS foxes also improve their chances relative to coyotes at catching leporids running over deep snow Grinnell et al. 1937, pp. 395396;
Perrine 2005, p. 81, and let them travel over snow more easily to reach productive hunting areas Grinnell et al.
1937, p. 393; Fuhrmann 1998, p. 24;
Perrine 2005, p. 81. Mule deer carrion Odocoileus hemionus is an important non-winter food source for both red foxes and coyotes at high elevations in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park, but deer in Lassen typically descend to lower elevations in winter, avoiding heavy snow Perrine 2005, p.
30. Mule deer are also present in the range of the Sierra Nevada DPS, but a camera survey found none in the area during winter months Sacks et al. 2015, p. 24. The low productivity and heavy snows of the Sierra Nevada DPSs highelevation range therefore appear to
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discourage coyotes from occupying the area in winter to the same extent as at lower elevations, thereby leaving Sierra Nevada DPS foxes to occupy the area with less direct competition from coyotes Sacks 2017, p. 2.
The remaining environmental characteristic, rodent and leporid population levels, is important to consider separately because prey population numbers can change for reasons unrelated to primary productivity or snowpack depth.
The demographic characteristics we considered important to the viability of the Sierra Nevada DPS include: 1
Genomic integrity extent of hybridization or inbreeding depression, 2 population size, and 3 number of populations.
Risk factors affecting the environmental characteristics that the DPS relies on include changing climaterelated conditions, such as primary production levels and snowpack, which can affect coyote presence and thus competition with Sierra Nevada DPS
individuals in high-elevation areas;
prey availability; and potential impacts of habituation to humans and humanprovided food sources. Risk factors affecting the demographic characteristics include deleterious impacts associated with small population size, including inbreeding depression as a consequence of population reduction and a lack of other populations and reduced genomic integrity, and levels of hybridization with nonnative red foxes. Our evaluation of the best available scientific and commercial information indicates the Sierra Nevada DPSs resiliency is not significantly adversely affected by impacts specifically associated with its habitat. We presented several potential causal connections between habitat conditions and their importance to the Sierra Nevada DPS, as well as scenarios related to possible future trajectories of the risk factors that could affect those habitat conditions. As we analyzed these potentialities, we determined that the relative importance of potential causal connections was lower than presented in some scenarios, and that the most likely scenario of future conditions would exhibit a lower overall risk to the DPSs habitat. As such, we conclude that there are not any current or future significant habitat-based threats. The best available scientific and commercial information suggests that threats to the subspecies directly as opposed to habitat are of greatest concern. Below is a summary of the factors influencing the species viability, provided in detail in the SSA report Service 2018 and
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