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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 149 / Friday, August 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
populations on this national forest once finalized.
Response: We acknowledge that some populations that occur on public land are not protected by running buffalo clover-specific management plans.
However, some, including those on Monongahela National Forest, are provided protection from the standards and guidelines in the resource management plans. Twenty-two additional running buffalo clover sites, nearly all of which occur on publicly owned lands, are currently protected by management agreements that provide specific measures to maintain habitat for the species. We expect that these will remain in place and habitat management will continue after delisting running buffalo clover. We support finalizing a site-specific management plan for running buffalo clover on the Monongahela National Forest to further enhance conservation of the species. Management agreements as currently written require frequent coordination with the Service. We have revised the PDM plan to include a reporting element on management actions during the PDM period for those sites with management plans or agreements in place.
7 Comment: WVDNR reported that eight new element occurrences with a total of 13,000 to 15,000 rooted crowns were discovered after 2016, all on private land, but that those new occurrences are not protected because the State has no endangered species law and therefore should not count towards the number of occurrences cited within delisting criterion 1.
Response: Delisting criterion 1 is based solely on the condition of the populations without regard to protected status. However, because we have no information on the condition of each of those elemental occurrences, we did not include them in our calculations in this final rule regarding the number of populations that fulfill delisting criterion 1. These additional elemental occurrences support the trend of discovering new populations and recovery of this species.
8 Comment: WVDNR did not agree with our conclusion that criterion 3 has been met for downlisting or delisting, stating that general natural resource management plans are not suitable for meeting the criterion.
Response: In the proposed listing rule, we had considered 9 populations that occur on the Monongahela National Forest as contributing to meeting this criterion because running buffalo clover is included in the forest management plan for the Monongahela. Although the forest plan provides direction and
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guidelines to avoid and minimize impacts of forestry practices on running buffalo clover, we now understand that a draft agreement has been developed between the U.S. Forest Service and WVDNR to provide additional conservation for the species. While a management plan that provides for additional conservation of running buffalo clover would benefit the species on the Monongahela National Forest, the current forest management practices, as conditioned through running buffalo clover measures included in the forest plan, are adequate to conserve the running buffalo clover on the Monongahela.
We now consider 22 populations as protected by management agreements;
therefore, the 17 management agreements under criterion 3 for downlisting have been exceeded. We acknowledge that the 34 management agreements specified by delisting criterion 3 have not been met although additional agreements are in draft form.
Recovery of a species is a dynamic process, and we are not required to meet all of the criteria provided in a recovery plan in order to conclude that a species no longer meets the definition of endangered or threatened. Delisting criterion 3 from the recovery plan was intended to ensure that habitat-based threats for the species are addressed.
However, the discovery of new populations at unmanaged sites indicates that the species does not wholly rely on management to maintain populations as we believed when the recovery criterion was drafted. Although criterion 3 has not been met as specified in the recovery plan, we believe that its intention has been met between the 22
sites managed for the conservation of the species and the 66 additional locations on Federal and State lands.
Because nearly all of the 22 managed populations occur on publicly owned lands, we expect management will continue in the foreseeable future.
While we agree that additional management agreements would further enhance conservation for running buffalo clover, the 22 populations currently under management in conjunction with the 66 other populations on publicly owned lands are sufficient to indicate the species is not in danger of extinction now or likely to become so in the foreseeable future.
We have revised the PDM plan to include a measure to track new management agreements finalized during the PDM period as well as to determine if all existing management agreements are being followed.
9 Comment: WVDNR stated that the number of running buffalo clover
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occurrences in West Virginia is increasing but many extant occurrences are at risk.
Response: We agree that some extant occurrences, in particular D-ranked populations containing fewer than 29
plants, are at risk; and in some years, no plants may be present during monitoring periods. However, 89
percent of running buffalo clover populations that were extant in West Virginia in 2007 are still present today.
Overall, 63 running buffalo clover populations occur in West Virginia, of which 46 70.8 percent are A-, B-, or Cranked populations, which are at lower risk of extirpation.
10 Comment: WVDNR observed that project-driven surveys have resulted in the discovery of new running buffalo clover occurrences and noted that implementation of these projects may result in the expansion of the distribution of running buffalo clover as well as the spread of nonnative invasive species. The State expressed concern that the threat of nonnative invasive species may exceed the benefit of discovery of any new running buffalo clover occurrences.
Response: We acknowledge the ongoing presence of nonnative invasive species at some running buffalo clover sites. However, at this time, the best available data do not support a conclusion that the spread of nonnative invasive species will exceed the benefit of new running buffalo clover discoveries at these sites. Further, we have determined that the 22 running buffalo clover populations with management agreements, which do not include these newly discovered sites, in conjunction with the 66 occurrences on publicly owned lands are sufficient to eliminate or adequately reduce threats to the species now and into the foreseeable future.
11 Comment: WVDNR noted that management plans for running buffalo clover should address 1 controlling succession so canopy closure does not exceed 80 percent, 2 controlling nonnative invasive species, and 3
preventing damage to populations from road management or usage and other actions that could remove a population or its habitat.
Response: We agree with these recommendations for management actions in general. Management plans are developed to address site-specific threats and ensure that actions are taken to maintain suitable habitat, including appropriate light levels. These management plans often include measures to control nonnative invasive species and prevent damage from multiple activities.

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