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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 155 / Monday, August 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
years in the vicinity of, but not immediately upslope, downslope, or adjacent to, occurrences; and low in sites where risk of exposure was high based on evidence of logging within the prior 15 years in the forest immediately surrounding the occupied habitat.
Of the 69 occurrences that we could evaluate for all three resiliency factors, 12 were ranked as low in abundance, 27
ranked medium, and 30 ranked high.
Substrate conditions ranked low at 12, medium at 25, and high at 32
occurrences. We were able to evaluate forest conditions at all 71 extant occurrences, with the following results:
8 occurrences ranked low, 3 ranked medium, and 60 ranked high.
Using the ranks for the three resiliency factors abundance, substrate condition, and forest condition, we calculated an overall resiliency index for 68 of the 70 Tennessee occurrences see Table 1, below and the sole
Kentucky occurrence. We assigned numerical scores of one for factor ranks of low, two for medium ranks, and three for high ranks. Using these scores, we calculated a weighted average, wherein factor ranks for abundance were given twice the weight of factor ranks for substrate and forest condition, due to the importance of population size in maintaining genetic variation and determining resilience to demographic and environmental stochasticity Sgro et al. 2011, p. 329.
The resulting resiliency index for an occurrence ranges from one to three and is categorized as follows:
Low rank for scores of 1.5 or less;
Low-medium rank for scores greater than 1.5 and less than 2.0;
Medium rank for scores greater than 2.0 and less than 2.5;
Medium-high rank for scores greater than 2.5 and less than 3.0;
High rank for scores of 3.0.

Available data for the Kentucky occurrence indicate that the species abundance rank is medium at that location and that the occurrence is not exposed to threats from trampling or relic digging. This location, in Big South Fork National Scenic River and Recreation Area BSF, is protected from timber harvesting, and available data indicate that surrounding forests are undisturbed. These factors produced an overall resiliency rank of medium for this occurrence.
In Tennessee, 56 occurrences had overall resiliency ranks of medium or higher. Table 1 shows the resiliency ranks for 68 of the 70 Tennessee occurrences. All of the stable and increasing trends in the medium, medium-high, and high resiliency ranks represent counts of occurrences considered self-sustaining, as required by recovery criteria.

TABLE 1RESILIENCY INDEX RANKS FOR CUMBERLAND SANDWORT OCCURRENCES IN TENNESSEE
Monitoring tier
Trend
Low
Lowmedium
Medium
Mediumhigh
High
One

Other

Decline
Stable
Increase
Decline
Stable
Increase
Decline
Stable
Increase
n/a

2
1
3 2
1

1

1



1

7
2 10
1
4 1
7

4 2
3
1
3

1
2

3
5

Total

10

2

32

13

11

Two
Three

For the purpose of evaluating Cumberland sandworts status with respect to recovery criteria, we define self-sustaining to include those populations that had an overall resiliency index rank of medium or higher and that TDEC determined were stable or increasing see Table 1, above based on available monitoring data, as described above in Species Information.
For the Kentucky occurrence, available data indicate that the occurrence is
stable. We consider 66 occurrences on Federal or State conservation lands see Table 2, below, as well as 2 occurrences located on private lands where land use is restricted by conservation easements, to be protected. Using these definitions, 42 protected occurrences including the 1 in Kentucky are self-sustaining Table 1, above, presents data for Tennessee.
These occurrences have been known to exist for an average of 21 years, with a range of 7 to 44 years spanning the first
and most recent observations recorded for the species in these sites. These data support the conclusion that one criterion for removing Cumberland sandwort from the List has been exceeded, i.e., that there be at least 40
geographically distinct, protected, and self-sustaining occurrences that have been stable or increasing for at least 5
years.

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TABLE 2LAND OWNERSHIP FOR 66 CUMBERLAND SANDWORT OCCURRENCES ON FEDERAL AND STATE CONSERVATION
LANDS
Number of occurrences

Agency
Land unit
National Park Service

Big South Fork National Scenic River and Recreation Area BSF.
Pickett State Forest PSF
Pogue Creek Canyon State Natural Area PCNA
Pickett CCC Memorial State Park PSP

Tennessee Division of Forestry TDF
Tennessee Division of Natural Areas
Tennessee State Parks TSP

27.
29 4 partially on TSP lands.
7.
7 4 partially on TDF lands.

Number of occurrences in this table sums to 70, but 4 occurrences occupy habitats spanning adjacent lands owned by TDF and TSP and are counted only once for the total.

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