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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules available, to use primary and original sources of information as the basis for recommendations to designate critical habitat.
When we are determining which areas should be designated as critical habitat, our primary source of information is generally the information from the SSA
report and information developed during the listing process for the species. Additional information sources may include any generalized conservation strategy, criteria, or outline that may have been developed for the species; the recovery plan for the species; articles in peer-reviewed journals; conservation plans developed by States and counties; scientific status surveys and studies; biological assessments; other unpublished materials; or experts opinions or personal knowledge.
Habitat is dynamic, and species may move from one area to another over time. We recognize that critical habitat designated at a particular point in time may not include all of the habitat areas that we may later determine are necessary for the recovery of the species. For these reasons, a critical habitat designation does not signal that habitat outside the designated area is unimportant or may not be needed for recovery of the species. Areas that are important to the conservation of the species, both inside and outside the critical habitat designation, will continue to be subject to: 1
Conservation actions implemented under section 7a1 of the Act; 2
regulatory protections afforded by the requirement in section 7a2 of the Act for Federal agencies to ensure their actions are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species; and 3 the prohibitions found in section 9 of the Act. Federally funded or permitted projects affecting listed species outside their designated critical habitat areas may still result in jeopardy findings in some cases. These protections and conservation tools will continue to contribute to recovery of this species.
Similarly, critical habitat designations made on the basis of the best available information at the time of designation will not control the direction and substance of future recovery plans, habitat conservation plans HCPs, or other species conservation planning efforts if new information available at the time of these planning efforts calls for a different outcome.
Prudency Determination Section 4a3 of the Act, as amended, and implementing regulations 50 CFR 424.12 require that, to the
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maximum extent prudent and determinable, the Secretary shall designate critical habitat at the time the species is determined to be an endangered or threatened species. Our regulations 50 CFR 424.12a1 state that the Secretary may, but is not required to, determine that a designation would not be prudent in the following circumstances:
i The species is threatened by taking or other human activity and identification of critical habitat can be expected to increase the degree of such threat to the species;
ii The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of a species habitat or range is not a threat to the species, or threats to the species habitat stem solely from causes that cannot be addressed through management actions resulting from consultations under section 7a2 of the Act;
iii Areas within the jurisdiction of the United States provide no more than negligible conservation value, if any, for a species occurring primarily outside the jurisdiction of the United States;
iv No areas meet the definition of critical habitat; or v The Secretary otherwise determines that designation of critical habitat would not be prudent based on the best scientific data available.
As discussed earlier in this document, there is currently no imminent threat of collection or vandalism identified under Factor B for this species, and identification and mapping of critical habitat is not expected to initiate any such threat. In our SSA and proposed listing determination for the Arizona eryngo, we determined that the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of habitat or range is a threat to the Arizona eryngo and that threat in some way can be addressed by section 7a2 consultation measures.
Over half of the historical range of the species occurs in the jurisdiction of the United States, and we are able to identify areas that meet the definition of critical habitat. Therefore, because none of the circumstances enumerated in our regulations at 50 CFR 424.12a1 has been met and because there are no other circumstances the Secretary has identified for which this designation of critical habitat would be not prudent, we have determined that the designation of critical habitat is prudent for the Arizona eryngo.
Critical Habitat Determinability Having determined that designation is prudent, under section 4a3 of the Act we must find whether critical habitat for the Arizona eryngo is determinable. Our
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regulations at 50 CFR 424.12a2 state that critical habitat is not determinable when one or both of the following situations exist:
i Data sufficient to perform required analyses are lacking, or ii The biological needs of the species are not sufficiently well known to identify any area that meets the definition of critical habitat.
When critical habitat is not determinable, the Act allows the Service an additional year to publish a critical habitat designation 16 U.S.C.
1533b6Cii.
We reviewed the available information pertaining to the biological needs of the species and habitat characteristics where this species is located. This and other information represent the best scientific data available and led us to conclude that the designation of critical habitat is determinable for the Arizona eryngo.
Physical or Biological Features Essential to the Conservation of the Species In accordance with section 35Ai of the Act and regulations at 50 CFR
424.12b, in determining which areas we will designate as critical habitat from within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing, we consider the physical or biological features that are essential to the conservation of the species and that may require special management considerations or protection. The regulations at 50 CFR 424.02 define physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species as the features that occur in specific areas and that are essential to support the lifehistory needs of the species, including, but not limited to, water characteristics, soil type, geological features, sites, prey, vegetation, symbiotic species, or other features. A feature may be a single habitat characteristic or a more complex combination of habitat characteristics.
Features may include habitat characteristics that support ephemeral or dynamic habitat conditions. Features may also be expressed in terms relating to principles of conservation biology, such as patch size, distribution distances, and connectivity. For example, physical features essential to the conservation of the species might include gravel of a particular size required for spawning, alkali soil for seed germination, protective cover for migration, or susceptibility to flooding or fire that maintains necessary earlysuccessional habitat characteristics.
Biological features might include prey species, forage grasses, specific kinds or ages of trees for roosting or nesting,
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