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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 55 / Wednesday, March 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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e.g., 59 FR 60252, November 22, 1994
gray wolves, 71 FR 42298, July 26, 2006 Northern aplomado falcons, we consider a population to require a minimum of two successfully reproducing California condor pairs over multiple breeding cycles. Using this definition of a population, the best available information suggests that the population of California condors formed from releases in Redwood National Park is likely to be wholly separate from other populations of California condors for the foreseeable future.
Likelihood of Population Establishment and Survival The best available scientific data indicate that the reintroduction of California condors into suitable habitat in Redwood National Park is biologically feasible and would promote the conservation of the species. Along with our numerous recovery partners, we have over 25 years of experience breeding and releasing California condors into the wild at several release areas across various ecosystems. Release techniques are well established, as are protocols for managing released California condors. Based on our collective knowledge gained from these efforts, we anticipate California condors will become successfully established for the following reasons:
1 Landscape-scale modeling indicates the NEP may have some of the most extensive nesting, roosting, and feeding habitats remaining within the historical range in California, Oregon, and Washington DElia et al. 2015, pp.
9597. California condors are habitat generalists and have been successfully reintroduced to a variety of ecosystems, including the mountain foothills of southern California, coastal forests of central California, high desert and canyon lands in northeastern Arizona and mountainous areas in Baja California, Mexico. This species is flexible in its diet, eating carrion of many different species of wildlife and livestock. Therefore, we do not anticipate climate change effects on habitat will negatively impact our ability to reestablish a population of this species in the Pacific Northwest.
2 A site-specific habitat evaluation, which considered site suitability, logistics, threats and hazards, cultural resources, and suitability of adjacent lands, found the release site to have suitability ratings similar to existing release sites Yurok Tribe 2020, entire.
3 The causes for California condor extirpation from the region are either no longer active or are being addressed through a mixture of regulatory and proactive voluntary conservation
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measures see Addressing Causes of Extirpation, below.
4 The extent of effects of existing and proposed actions and activities within the NEP on the reintroduced population have been evaluated in an environmental assessment and are compatible with conservation of the California condor NPS et al. 2018, entire.
5 The reintroduced population will receive ongoing demographic support from a managed captive population and an active field monitoring and management program Similar population support has allowed population growth and establishment at all of the other California condor release sites.
6 The reintroduced population will be integrated with the California Condor Recovery Program to ensure that California condors released in Redwood National Park have an appropriate sex ratio and age-structure and include representatives of the founder genomes.
7 There is broad institutional and partner support for a California condor reintroduction in Redwood National Park and Yurok ancestral territory.
On June 14, 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding between 16 parties was finalized. The purpose of the MOU was to formalize an agreement to assess the potential to recover California condors in the Pacific Northwest and to work to seek funding to support that effort if it proved feasible. Signatories to the MOU
included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service NPS, Bureau of Land Management, Yurok Tribe, California Department of Fish and Wildlife CDFW, California Department of Parks and Recreation CDPR, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ODFW, Oregon Zoo, Sequoia Park Zoo, Ventana Wildlife Society, Oakland Zoo, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pacific Power Company, Green Diamond Resource Company, and Hells Canyon Preservation Council. In 2018, the U.S. Forest Service also signed this MOU.
Based on all of these considerations, we anticipate that reintroduced California condors are likely to become established and persist within the NEP.
Addressing Causes of Extirpation Investigating the causes for decline and extirpation of California condors is necessary to understand whether the threats have been sufficiently curtailed such that reintroduction efforts are likely to be successful. Evaluation of various hypotheses for the extirpation of California condors in the Pacific Northwest revealed that secondary poisoning related to predator control
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and extermination campaigns, direct persecution, and possibly lead poisoning from spent ammunition were the primary causes DElia and Haig 2013, pp. 119122. Two of these primary drivers of regional extirpation predator poisoning and direct persecutionare no longer the primary threats to the California condor.
According to the most comprehensive assessment of California condor deaths from 1992 through 2009, of the 76
deaths where a definitive cause was determined, there were no confirmed cases of secondary poisoning related to predator control although there was one possible case involving glycol toxicosis and only five cases of condors directly persecuted by gunshot or arrow Rideout et al. 2012, pp. 108, 110.
Based on multiple lines of evidence, the primary threat to the recovery of the California condor is lead poisoning from spent ammunition see Biological Information, above. Regulations banning lead ammunition for taking wildlife in California are in effect see Biological Information, above. In addition, voluntary efforts to reduce lead exposure in wildlife are ongoing in Oregon and Nevada see Biological Information, above. Finally, the reintroduction program will carefully monitor the population and conduct regular health checks to evaluate whether reintroduced California condors are being exposed to lead, the rate of exposure, and how this situation compares to other portions of the species range. When necessary, California condors with elevated lead levels will be treated for lead poisoning.
While the threat from lead ammunition is still present in the experimental population area, it is being addressed through a mixture of regulatory and proactive voluntary measures see Biological Information, above;
therefore, we will not request further regulation of lead ammunition for this experimental population. Sources of mortality will be carefully monitored, and if high mortality rates are preventing the establishment of a selfsustaining population, we will work with our conservation partners to implement additional voluntary measures to address threats, as we have at other California condor release sites.
If a formal evaluation indicates the project is experiencing a 40 percent or greater mortality rate over multiple years or released California condors are not finding food on their own, serious consideration will be given to terminating the project.

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