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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules within this ecosystem. Fires have historically burned in intervals of approximately 3 to 7 years FNAI 2010, p. 3 typically started by lightning strikes during the frequent summer thunderstorms FNAI 2010, p. 3.
Without fire, successional climax from tropical pineland to rockland hammock is rapid, and the open areas required by the species are encroached with vegetation and leaf litter. In addition, displacement of native species by invasive, nonnative plants often occurs.
Mechanical control or thinning of pine rockland vegetation may be another means of maintaining pine rockland habitat, but it cannot entirely replace fire because it does not have the same benefits related to removal of leaf litter and nutrient cycling. In addition, it may lead to trampling of adult or larval tiger beetles. Natural and prescribed fire remains the primary and ecologically preferred method for maintaining pine rockland habitat.
Hurricanes and other significant weather events can contribute to openings in the pine rockland habitat FNAI 2010, p. 62 needed by the Miami tiger beetle; however, they can also be a source of significant and direct risk to the species. Given the few, isolated populations of the Miami tiger beetle within a location prone to storm influences located approximately 5
miles 8 kilometers from the coast, the species is at substantial risk from stochastic environmental events such as hurricanes, storm surges, and other extreme weather that can affect recruitment, population growth, and other population parameters. The substantial reduction in the historical range of the beetle in the past 80 years, and the few remaining populations, make the species less resilient to impacts than when its distribution was more widespread.
Therefore, based on the information above, we identify pine rockland management through natural or prescribed fire, or other disturbance regimes that maintain pine rockland habitat, such as weather events, to be necessary for this species.

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Summary of Essential Physical or Biological Features We derive the specific physical or biological features essential to the conservation of Miami tiger beetle from studies of the species habitat, ecology, and life history. We have determined that the following physical or biological features are essential to the conservation of Miami tiger beetle:
1. South Florida pine rockland habitat of at least 2.5 ac 1 ha in size that is
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maintained by natural or prescribed fire or other disturbance regimes; and 2. Open sandy areas within or directly adjacent to the south Florida pine rockland habitat with little to no vegetation that allows for or facilitates normal behavior and growth such as thermoregulation, foraging, egg-laying, larval development, and habitat connectivity, which promotes the overall distribution and expansion of the species.
Special Management Considerations or Protection When designating critical habitat, we assess whether the specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing contain features which are essential to the conservation of the species and which may require special management considerations or protection. The features essential to the conservation of this species may require special management considerations or protection to reduce the following threats: Vegetation encroachment of pine rockland habitat; loss of pine rockland habitat due to development that further fragments or degrades the few remaining pine rockland parcels in Miami-Dade County; collection of the species; climate change and sea level rise; pesticide exposure; and demographic and environmental stochasticity. These threats are exacerbated by having only two small populations in a restricted geographic range, making this species particularly susceptible to extinction in the foreseeable future. For a detailed discussion of threats, see Summary of Factors Affecting the Species in our proposed listing rule published in the Federal Register on December 22, 2015
80 FR 79533. Additional information may be found in the final listing rule published on October 5, 2016 81 FR
68985.
Some of these threats can be addressed by special management considerations or protection while others e.g., sea level rise, hurricanes, storm surge are beyond the control of landowners and managers. However, even when landowners or land managers may not be able to control all the threats directly, they may be able to address the impacts of those threats.
Destruction of rock pinelands for economic development has reduced pine rockland habitat on the Miami Rock Ridge outside of the Everglades by over 98 percent, and remaining habitat in this area is highly fragmented. The Miami tiger beetle occurs on a mix of privately and publicly owned lands, only some of which are managed for
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conservation. Any occurrences of the beetle on private land or nonconservation public land are vulnerable to the effects of habitat degradation if natural disturbance regimes are disrupted, because the species requires active management to keep the habitat functional in the absence of such disturbances. Prolonged lack of fire in pine rockland habitat leads to vegetation encroachment into the open or sparsely vegetated sandy areas that are required by the beetle. Further development and degradation of pine rocklands increases fragmentation and decreases the conservation value of the remaining functioning pine rockland habitat. In addition, pine rocklands are expected to be further degraded and fragmented due to anticipated sea level rise, which would fully or partially inundate some pine rocklands within the Miami Rock Ridge and cause increases in the salinity of the water table and soils resulting in vegetation shifts. Also, portions of the Richmond Pine Rocklands are proposed for commercial development and some existing pine rockland areas are projected to be developed for housing as the human population grows and adjusts to changing sea levels.
Pesticides used in and around pine rockland habitat are a potential threat to the Miami tiger beetle through direct exposure to adults and larvae, secondary exposure from insect prey, overall reduction in availability of adult and larval prey, thus limiting foraging opportunities, or any combination of these factors. Based on Miami-Dade Mosquito Controls implementation of spray buffers around pine rocklands occupied by the Miami tiger beetle, mosquito control pesticides are not considered a current threat for the species. However, if these buffers were to change or Miami tiger beetles were found in habitat without restrictions of pesticide applications, then the threat of exposure would need to be reevaluated.
The features essential to the conservation of the Miami tiger beetle i.e., open or sparsely vegetated areas of pine rockland habitat that are at least 2.55.0 ac 1.02.0 ha in size may require special management considerations or protection to reduce threats. Actions that could ameliorate threats include, but are not limited to:
1 Restoration and management of existing and potential Miami tiger beetle habitats throughout the Miami Rock Ridge using prescribed fire and control of invasive, nonnative plants;
2 Protection of habitat adjacent to existing and new occurrences of the species to provide dispersal corridors, support the prey base, protect core
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