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lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules Agency, National Park Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture USDA.
2019.; and 4 GIS data depicting soils and to determine the presence of physical or biological features U.S. Department of Agriculture 2020.
When designating critical habitat, we consider future recovery efforts and conservation of the species. We have determined that all currently known occupied habitat should be proposed for critical habitat designation because any further degradation or loss of the extant populations or occupied habitat would increase the Miami tiger beetles susceptibility to local extirpation and ultimately extinction. The species occurs in two populations, Richmond and Nixon Smiley, separated from each other by approximately 3.1 mi 5 km of urban development.
We are also including pine rockland habitat within the Richmond Pine Rocklands directly adjacent to sites with documented occurrences in the Richmond population. Due to their proximity to documented occurrences, the continuity of habitat, and presence of all of the physical or biological features, we have included these acres as part of the occupied habitat complex for this unit in accordance with 50 CFR
424.12d. Additionally, we have determined these areas are essential for the conservation of the species because they protect the occupied sites within the Richmond population, provide dispersal corridors for the Richmond population, provide potential habitat for population expansion, and support prey-base populations. These areas are important to ensure redundancy for the species, and they improve the species viability.
Lastly, we are including other suitable or potentially suitable pine rockland fragments outside of the Richmond Pine Rocklands and Nixon Smiley Pineland Preserve that are located within the beetles historical range along the Northern Biscayne Pinelands of the Miami Rock Ridge but are not known to be currently occupied by the species.
With only two known occupied areas, we have determined that these areas are essential for the conservation of the species because they will enable the establishment of new populations in additional areas that more closely approximate its historical distribution.
Establishment of new populations will help ensure that there are adequate numbers of beetles in multiple populations over a wide geographic area, so that catastrophic events, such as storms, would be less likely to simultaneously affect all known populations.

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The best available data regarding the minimum area and number of individuals necessary for a viable population come from information regarding the Highlands tiger beetle; the information describes estimates of a minimum of 100 adult Highlands tiger beetles in an area of at least 2.55.0 ac 1.02.0 ha Knisley and Hill 2013, p.
42. This estimate is based on observations of population stability for the Highlands tiger beetle, as well as survey data and literature from other tiger beetle species. From the remaining suitable or potentially suitable pine rockland fragments that were delineated for the Miami Rock Ridge, we excluded fragments below the 2.5-ac 1.0-ha minimum area for a viable population.
As such we evaluated the remaining unoccupied pine rockland habitat within and directly adjacent to the Northern Biscayne Pinelands of the Miami Rock Ridge to identify remnant pine rocklands with the highest quality habitat potential i.e., actively managed to support pine rocklands and of sufficient size patches at least 2.5 ac 1.0 ha to provide for the conservation of the Miami tiger beetle.
Areas Occupied at the Time of Listing The two occupied critical habitat units were delineated around the only remaining extant Miami tiger beetle populations. They include the mapped extent of the populations that contain the physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the Miami tiger beetle. The two occupied units account for approximately 1,572
ac 636 ha or 80 percent of the proposed designation of critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle.
The delineation of proposed critical habitat included the area containing the extant populations based on occurrence records as well as all suitable habitat directly adjacent to those areas to allow for the continued protection and management of pine rockland habitat and to meet the needs of the species.
Given the Miami tiger beetles dependence on disturbance i.e., fires, storms, or mechanical treatments to maintain optimal habitat, the amount and location of optimal habitat is temporally and spatially dynamic.
Areas Outside of the Geographical Range at the Time of Listing The Miami tiger beetle has been extirpated from its type-locality the place where the species was first discovered in North Miami and is historically unknown from any other locations. In addition to including areas of the two extant populations Richmond Pine Rocklands and Nixon
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Smiley Pineland Preserve in proposed critical habitat, we are proposing 14
unoccupied critical habitat units that we have determined are essential to the conservation of the Miami tiger beetle.
These areas contain pine rockland habitat within the historical range in the Northern Biscayne Pinelands on the Miami Rock Ridge and encompass approximately 405 ac 164 ha or 20
percent of proposed critical habitat. As discussed above, we have determined that recovery requires additional populations be established in high quality pine rockland habitat that is protected and actively managed.
Following a review of available sites containing pine rockland habitat within the historical range of the species, we evaluated each site for its potential conservation contribution based on quality of habitat, spatial arrangement relative to the two extant populations and each other, and existing protections and management. This review led to our determination that the most viable sites for introduction and conservation of the Miami tiger beetle are the 14
unoccupied sites identified in this proposal. As a result, we concluded that these 14 sites, which each contain all of the physical or biological features, have the highest probability for the conservation of the species and are essential to the conservation of the species. Thus, we are proposing them as critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle.
We used the best available data to delineate existing pine rockland habitat units that are of sufficient size to support introduced populations of Miami tiger beetles and that are spatially configured to support metapopulation dynamics and to minimize adverse impacts from stochastic events. In identifying these areas, we considered the following refining criteria:
1 Areas of sufficient size to support ecosystem processes for populations of the Miami tiger beetle. The best available information indicates that appropriately sized units should be at a minimum 2.55.0 ac 1.02.0 ha. Large contiguous parcels of habitat are more likely to be resilient to ecological processes of disturbance and are more likely to support a viable population of the Miami tiger beetle. The unoccupied areas selected ranged from 7 ac 3 ha in size to 89 ac 36 ha.
2 Areas to maintain connectivity of habitat to allow for population expansion. Isolation of habitat can prevent recolonization of the Miami tiger beetle and result in local extirpation and ultimately extinction.
To ameliorate the dangers associated
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