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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules Determination of Status of the Northern DPS of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Our review of the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie-chicken meets the definition of a threatened species.
Therefore, we propose to list the Northern DPS of the lesser prairiechicken as a threatened species in accordance with sections 320 and 4a1 of the Act.

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Available Conservation Measures Conservation measures provided to species listed as endangered or threatened species under the Act include recognition, recovery actions, requirements for Federal protection, and prohibitions against certain practices.
Recognition through listing results in public awareness, and conservation by Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies, private organizations, and individuals. The Act encourages cooperation with the States and other countries and calls for recovery actions to be carried out for listed species. The protection required by Federal agencies and the prohibitions against certain activities are discussed, in part, below.
The primary purpose of the Act is the conservation of endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The ultimate goal of such conservation efforts is the recovery of these listed species, so that they no longer need the protective measures of the Act. Section 4f of the Act calls for the Service to develop and implement recovery plans for the conservation of endangered and threatened species. The recovery planning process involves the identification of actions that are necessary to halt or reverse the species decline by addressing the threats to its survival and recovery. The goal of this process is to restore listed species to a point where they are secure, selfsustaining, and functioning components of their ecosystems.
Recovery planning consists of preparing draft and final recovery plans, beginning with the development of a recovery outline and making it available to the public within 30 days of a final listing determination. The recovery outline guides the immediate implementation of urgent recovery actions and describes the process to be used to develop a recovery plan.
Revisions of the plan may be done to address continuing or new threats to the species, as new substantive information becomes available. The recovery plan also identifies recovery criteria for review of when a species may be ready
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for reclassification from endangered to threatened downlisting or removal from protected status delisting, and methods for monitoring recovery progress. Recovery plans also establish a framework for agencies to coordinate their recovery efforts and provide estimates of the cost of implementing recovery tasks. Recovery teams composed of species experts, Federal and State agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and stakeholders are often established to develop recovery plans. When completed, the recovery outline, draft recovery plan, and the final recovery plan will be available on our website http www.fws.gov/
endangered, or from our Arlington Field Office see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Implementation of recovery actions generally requires the participation of a broad range of partners, including other Federal agencies, States, Tribes, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and private landowners.
Examples of recovery actions include habitat restoration such as restoration of native vegetation, research, captive propagation and reintroduction, and outreach and education. The recovery of many listed species cannot be accomplished solely on Federal lands because their range may occur primarily or solely on non-Federal lands. To achieve recovery of these species requires cooperative conservation efforts on private, State, and Tribal lands.
If this species is listed, funding for recovery actions will be available from a variety of sources, including Federal budgets, State programs, and cost-share grants for non-Federal landowners, the academic community, and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, pursuant to section 6 of the Act, the States of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas would be eligible for Federal funds to implement management actions that promote the protection or recovery of the lesser prairie-chicken. Information on our grant programs that are available to aid species recovery can be found at: http
www.fws.gov/grants.
Although the Southern DPS and the Northern DPS of the lesser prairiechicken are only proposed for listing under the Act at this time, please let us know if you are interested in participating in recovery efforts for the lesser prairie-chicken. Additionally, we invite you to submit any new information on this species whenever it becomes available and any information you may have for recovery planning purposes see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.

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Section 7a of the Act requires Federal agencies to evaluate their actions with respect to any species that is proposed or listed as an endangered or threatened species and with respect to its critical habitat, if any is designated. Regulations implementing this interagency cooperation provision of the Act are codified at 50 CFR part 402. Section 7a4 of the Act requires Federal agencies to confer with the Service on any action that is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a species proposed for listing or result in destruction or adverse modification of proposed critical habitat. If a species is listed subsequently, section 7a2 of the Act requires Federal agencies to ensure that activities they authorize, fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species or destroy or adversely modify its critical habitat. If a Federal action may affect a listed species or its critical habitat, the responsible Federal agency must enter into consultation with the Service.
Some examples of Federal agency actions within the species habitat that may require conference or consultation, or both, as described in the preceding paragraph include: Landscape-altering activities on Federal lands; provision of Federal funds to State and private entities through Service programs, such as the PFW Program, the State Wildlife Grant Program, and the Wildlife Restoration Program; construction and operation of communication, radio, and similar towers by the Federal Communications Commission or Federal Aviation Administration;
issuance of section 404 Clean Water Act permits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; construction and management of petroleum pipeline by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; construction and maintenance of roads or highways by the Federal Highway Administration;
implementation of certain USDA
agricultural assistance programs;
Federal grant, loan, and insurance programs; or Federal habitat restoration programs such as Environmental Quality Incentive Program and CRP; and development of Federal minerals, such as oil and gas.
The Act and its implementing regulations set forth a series of general prohibitions and exceptions that apply to endangered wildlife. The prohibitions of section 9a1 of the Act, codified at 50 CFR 17.21, make it illegal for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to take which includes harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect; or to attempt any of these endangered
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