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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 150 / Monday, August 9, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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month findings, and identified which 12-month findings we would complete by FY 2025 for foreign species that have been petitioned for Federal protections under the Act. As we implement our Workplan and work on proposed rules for the highest-priority species, we increase efficiency by preparing multispecies proposals when appropriate, and these may include species with lower priority if they overlap geographically or have the same threats as one of the highest-priority species.
The Foreign Species Workplan is available online at: https
www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/
foreign-listing-workplan.html.
As noted above, an additional way in which we determine relative priorities of outstanding actions in the section 4
program is application of the listing priority guidelines 48 FR 43098;
September 21, 1983. Under those guidelines, which apply primarily to candidate species, we assign each candidate an LPN of 1 to 12, depending on the magnitude of threats high or moderate to low, immediacy of threats imminent or nonimminent, and taxonomic status of the species in order of priority: monotypic genus a species that is the sole member of a genus, a species, or a part of a species subspecies or distinct population segment. The lower the LPN, the higher the listing priority that is, a species with an LPN of 1 would have the highest listing priority. A species with a higher LPN would generally be precluded from listing by species with lower LPNs, unless work on a proposed rule for the species with the higher LPN
can be combined for efficiency with work on a proposed rule for other highpriority species.
Finally, proposed rules for reclassification of threatened species status to endangered species status uplistings are generally lower in priority because, as listed species, they are already afforded the protections of the Act and implementing regulations.
However, for efficiency reasons, we may choose to work on a proposed rule to reclassify a species to endangered species status if we can combine this with higher-priority work.
Listing Program Workload The Foreign Species Workplan that the Service released in 2020 outlined work for foreign species over the period from FY 2020 to FY 2025. Tables 1 and 2 under Expeditious Progress, below, identify the higher-priority listing actions that we completed through the end of FY 2020 September 30, 2020, as well as those we have been working on in FY 2020 but have not yet completed.

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For FY 2020, our Foreign Species Workplan includes nine 12-month findings or proposed listing actions that are at various stages of completion at the time of this finding. In addition to the actions scheduled in the Foreign Species Workplan, the overall Listing Program workload also includes the National Listing Workplan that includes 74 12-month findings or proposed listing actions, development and revision of regulations required by new court orders or settlement agreements to address the repercussions of any new court decisions, and proposed and final critical habitat designations or revisions for species that have already been listed.
The Services highest priorities for spending its funding in FY 2019 and FY
2020 were actions included in the Workplan and actions required to address court decisions.
Expeditious Progress As explained above, a determination that listing is warranted but precluded must also demonstrate that expeditious progress is being made to add and remove qualified species to and from the Lists. Please note that in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Lists are grouped as one list of endangered and threatened wildlife 50 CFR 17.11h and one list of endangered and threatened plants 50 CFR 17.12h.
However, the Lists referred to in the Act mean one list of endangered species wildlife and plants and one list of threatened species wildlife and plants.
For the purposes of evaluating our expeditious progress, when we refer to the Lists, we mean this latter grouping of one list of endangered species and one list of threatened species.
As with our precluded finding, the evaluation of whether expeditious progress is being made is a function of the resources available and the competing demands for those funds. As discussed earlier, the FY 2020
appropriations law included a spending cap of $20,318,000 for listing activities, and the FY 2019 appropriations law included a spending cap of $18,318,000
for listing activities.
As discussed below, given the limited resources available for listing, the competing demands for those funds, and the completed work catalogued in the tables below, we find that we are making expeditious progress in adding qualified species to the Lists.
The work of the Services foreign listing program in FY 2019 and FY 2020
as of September 30, 2020 includes all three of the steps necessary for adding species to the Lists: 1 Identifying species that may warrant listing 90-day
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petition findings; 2 undertaking an evaluation of the best available scientific data about those species and the threats they face to determine whether or not listing is warranted a status review and accompanying 12month finding; and 3 adding qualified species to the Lists by publishing proposed and final listing rules. We explain in more detail how we are making expeditious progress in all three of the steps necessary for adding qualified species to the Lists identifying, evaluating, and adding species. Subsequent to discussing our expeditious progress in adding qualified species to the Lists, we explain our expeditious progress in removing from the Lists species that no longer require the protections of the Act.
Generally, we first make expeditious progress in identifying species that may warrant listing. In FY 2019 and FY 2020
as of September 30, 2020, we completed 90-day findings on petitions to list 14 species. However, for foreign species, we have not received petitions to list species in FY 2019 or FY 2020 as of September 30, 2020.
Second, we are making expeditious progress in evaluating the best scientific and commercial data available about species and threats they face status reviews to determine whether or not listing is warranted. In FY 2019 and FY
2020 as of September 30, 2020, we completed 12-month findings for 69
domestic species. In addition, we funded and worked on the development of 12-month findings for 34 domestic species and proposed listing determinations for 9 candidates, and we initiated 12-month findings for nine foreign species. Although we did not complete those actions during FY 2019
or FY 2020 as of September 30, 2020, we made expeditious progress towards doing so by initiating and making progress on the status reviews to determine whether adding the species to the Lists is warranted.
Third, we are making expeditious progress in adding qualified species to the Lists. In FY 2019 and FY 2020 as of September 30, 2020, we published a final listing rule for 1 foreign species and 7 domestic species, including final critical habitat designations for 1 of those domestic species and final protective regulations under the Acts section 4d for 2 of those domestic species. In addition, we published proposed rules to list an additional 20
domestic species including concurrent proposed critical habitat designations for 13 species and concurrent protective regulations under the Acts section 4d for 14 species.

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