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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 29, 2021 / Proposed Rules
centimeters tall. Hairy-peduncled beakrush has a broad geographic range within the southeastern United States, spanning nearly 700 miles over 1,100
kilometers from southwestern Mississippi to central North Carolina.
The species has been found in at least 28 counties in 5 southeastern States:
Mississippi 5 counties, Alabama 6
counties, Florida 5 counties, Georgia 10 counties and North Carolina 2
counties.
Hairy-peduncled beakrush typically occurs on banks and bars along blackwater streams and associated spring runs that are prone to flooding and periodic scouring. Within these systems, plants are often found in peaty silt on streamside shelves or sandy-clay stream bars, but have also occasionally been found rooting on stumps and tree bases as well as in the streambed. The species is an obligate wetland species, meaning that they are almost always found in standing water or soils that are seasonally saturated. Hairy-peduncled beakrush plants typically occur in full sun to partly shady conditions under open to filtered canopies, often along north-south oriented streams. The species deep, extensive root system provides a strong attachment to the substrate and allows it to withstand strong flood events, which may also provide a competitive advantage over other species with weaker root systems that are more readily washed away during flood events. Likewise, hairypeduncled beakrushs ability to root at its nodes allows it to withstand being partially buried by sediment deposited during flooding events and facilitates clonal spread. Together, these adaptations to flooding and sedimentation suggest that hairypeduncled beakrush is not only tolerant of disturbance, but may be disturbancedependent, with periodic disturbances such as scouring floods being required to remove competing vegetation from occupied and unoccupied habitat, thereby allowing the species to thrive and spread locally and disperse more widely.
We have carefully assessed the best scientific and commercial information available regarding the past, present, and future threats to hairy-peduncled beakrush, and we evaluated all relevant factors under the five listing factors, including any regulatory mechanisms and conservation measures addressing these stressors. The primary stressors affecting the hairy-peduncled beakrush include sedimentation from development and urbanization, incompatible logging practices, military and recreational activities, sand and gravel mining, and an altered hydrologic
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regime resulting from climate change and development and urbanization.
Sedimentation currently represents a localized threat to hairy-peduncled beakrush. Activities that produce excessive sedimentation may smother plants or otherwise degrade habitats;
however, hairy-peduncled beakrush is able to tolerate at least some sediment deposition, as partially buried plants have been observed rooting at their buried nodes. This adaptation limits the threat to hairy-peduncled beakrush from all but the most extreme sedimentation events. Flooding has been suggested as a threat to hairy-peduncled beakrush;
however, natural flooding is unlikely a major threat to hairy-peduncled beakrush rangewide in light of its association with systems that are subject to periodic flooding and various other natural disturbances that may contribute to extreme flooding e.g., hurricanes, tropical storms, which suggests that the species is adapted to tolerate such periodic disturbances.
Sedimentation and hydrologic regime changes are influenced by development and urbanization, incompatible logging practices, sand and gravel mining, activities on military installations, and right-of-way maintenance; however, most of these threats are considered historical, or occur on a very limited number of sites, or are actively managed and monitored by Federal and State agencies through adequate regulatory protections. In the assessment of hairypeduncled beakrush current condition, 30 populations of a total of 39
populations exhibit moderate to high resiliency, as evidenced by population size, multiple subpopulations, current status and resilience through time, and little evidence of threats. Although changes in the hydrologic regime may occur as a result of climate change, the species is resilient to fluctuating water levels and relies on periodic high flow events to some extent for dispersal of propagules and removal of competing vegetation i.e., hairy-peduncled beakrush is a disturbance-dependent species.
Our future scenarios assessed the viability of hairy-peduncled beakrush over a 40-year time period in response to urbanization and hydrological changes. In Scenario 1, current land protection and management are projected to remain unchanged, urbanization continues at the current pace, and changes to the hydrological regime are those predicted under a moderate emissions scenario, representative concentration pathway 4.5 RCP 4.5. Under this scenario, 37 of 39 populations are predicted to remain at their current levels of resiliency,
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while 2 populations are expected to exhibit decreased resiliency by 2060. In Scenario 2, current land protection and management are projected to remain unchanged, urbanization increases relative to Scenario 1, and changes to the hydrological regime are those predicted under a higher atmospheric emission scenario RCP 8.5. Under this scenario, four populations are expected to exhibit decreased resiliency and one population is expected to exhibit increased resiliency, while 34 are predicted to remain at their current levels of resiliency. We expect the species representation and redundancy to remain high under both future scenarios.
For hairy-peduncled beakrush, we considered whether the threats are geographically concentrated in any portion of the species range at a biologically meaningful scale. We examined the following threats:
Sedimentation and hydrologic regime change, including cumulative effects.
Based on the species adaptation to stressors, current resiliency, and predicted future resiliency throughout its range, we found no concentration of threats in any portion of hairypeduncled beakrushs range at a biologically meaningful scale. Thus, there are no portions of the species range where the species has a different status from its range-wide status.
After evaluating the best available scientific and commercial information on potential stressors acting individually or in combination, we found no indication that the combined effects are causing a population-level decline, or that the combined effects are likely to do so in the next 10 to 40 years, in all or a significant portion of the species range.
Therefore, we find that listing hairypeduncled beakrush as an endangered species or threatened species under the Act is not warranted. A detailed discussion of the basis for this finding can be found in the hairy-peduncled beakrush species assessment and other supporting documents see ADDRESSES, above.
New Information We request that you submit any new information concerning the taxonomy of, biology of, ecology of, status of, or stressors to the Black Creek crayfish or hairy-peduncled beakrush to the appropriate person, as specified under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, whenever it becomes available. New information will help us monitor these species and make appropriate decisions about their conservation and status. We encourage local agencies and
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