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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules Louisiana v. Verity, 853 F.2d 322 5th Cir. 1988. As noted in the legislative history when the Act was initially enacted, once an animal is on the threatened list, the Secretary has an almost infinite number of options available to him with regard to the permitted activities for those species. He may, for example, permit taking, but not importation of such species, or he may choose to forbid both taking and importation but allow the transportation of such species H.R. Rep. No. 412, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess. 1973.
Exercising this authority under section 4d, we have developed a proposed rule that is designed to address the specific threats and conservation needs of the Northern DPS
of the lesser prairie-chicken. Although the statute does not require us to make a necessary and advisable finding with respect to the adoption of specific prohibitions under section 9, we find that this rule as a whole satisfies the requirement in section 4d of the Act to issue regulations deemed necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie-chicken. As discussed above under Summary of Biological Status and Threats, we have concluded that the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie-chicken is likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future primarily due to threats associated with habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. The provisions of this proposed 4d rule would promote conservation of the Northern DPS of the lesser prairiechicken by encouraging management of the landscape in ways that meet the conservation needs of the lesser prairiechicken and identifying the prohibitions needed to conserve the lesser prairiechicken. We believe it is appropriate to extend the standard section 9
prohibitions for endangered species to the Northern DPS of the lesser prairiechicken in order to conserve the species.
While developing this proposed 4d rule, the Service considered exceptions to the standard section 9 prohibitions for endangered species that would facilitate essential conservation actions needed for the Northern DPS. We consider essential conservation efforts to include restoration actions, utilization of prescribed fire, and compatible grazing management as the primary essential conservation actions needed to conserve the lesser prairiechicken.
For the purposes of this rule and our SSA analysis we consider restoration actions to be actions that convert areas that are otherwise not habitat for lesser prairie-chickens to areas which are
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lesser prairie-chicken habitat. These actions are essential for the species as this is the only way to offset habitat loss and fragmentation. For the lesser prairie-chicken, the primary restoration actions consist of woody vegetation removal in and adjacent to grasslands this does not include the removal of sand shinnery oak specifically, Quercus havardii species or sand sagebrush specifically, Artemisia filifolia species, removal of existing anthropogenic features such as existing energy infrastructure, roads, fences, windmills, and other anthropogenic features, and converting cropland to grassland. We have determined that an exception under this 4d rule is not needed for these restoration actions as they occur on lands already impacted or altered in ways that they no longer represent lesser prairie-chicken habitat and thus there is no potential for a section 9 violation.
We also considered the value provided by the implementation of prescribed fire on the landscape. Prior to extensive Euro-American settlement, frequent fires helped confine trees like eastern red cedar to river and stream drainages and rocky outcroppings.
However, settlement of the Southern Great Plains altered the historical ecological context and disturbance regimes. The frequency and intensity of these disturbances directly influenced the ecological processes, biological diversity, and patchiness typical of Great Plains grassland ecosystems, which evolved with frequent fire that helped to maintain prairie habitat for lesser prairie-chicken Collins 1992, pp.
20032005; Fuhlendorf and Smeins 1999, pp. 732, 737.
Following Euro-American settlement, fire suppression allowed trees, such as eastern red cedar, to begin invading or encroaching upon neighboring grasslands. Implementation of prescribed fire is often the best method to control or preclude tree invasion of grasslands. However, to some landowners and land managers, burning of grassland can be perceived as unnecessary for meeting their management goals, costly and burdensome to enact, undesirable for optimizing production for cattle, and likely to create wind erosion or blowouts in sandy soils.
Consequently, wildfire suppression is common, and relatively little prescribed burning occurs on private land. Often, prescribed fire is employed only after significant tree invasion has already occurred and landowners consider forage production for cattle to have diminished. Preclusion of woody vegetation encroachment on grasslands
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of the southern Great Plains using fire requires implementing fire at a frequency that mimics historical fire frequencies of 214 years Guyette et al.
2012, p. 330 and thus further limits the number of landowners implementing fire in a manner that would truly preclude future encroachment. We have determined that there is a potential for short-term adverse impacts, but we want to encourage the use of prescribed fire on the landscape; thus, we provide an exception for this action below.
Finally, we considered the need for compatibly managed grazing activities that result in the vegetation structure and composition needed to support the lesser prairie-chicken. The habitat needs for the lesser prairie-chicken vary across the range, and grazing can affect these habitats in different ways. It is important that grazing be managed at a given site to account for a variety of factors specific to the local ecological site including past management, soils, precipitation and other factors. This management will ensure that the resulting vegetative composition and structure will support the lesser prairiechicken. Grazing management that alters the vegetation community to a point where the composition and structure are no longer suitable for lesser prairiechicken can contribute to habitat loss and fragmentation within the landscape, even though these areas may remain as prairie or grassland. Livestock grazing, however, is not inherently detrimental to the lesser prairie-chicken provided that grazing management results in a plant community with species and structural diversity suitable for the lesser prairie-chicken. When livestock grazing is managed compatibly, it can be an invaluable tool necessary for managing healthy grasslands benefiting the lesser prairie-chicken.
While developing this proposed 4d rule, we found that determining how to manage grazing in a manner compatible with the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie chicken is highly site specific based on conditions at the local level;
thus, broad determinations within this proposed 4d rule would not be beneficial to the species or local land managers. While the 4d rule was one approach considered to promote conservation of the Northern DPS of the lesser prairie-chicken by encouraging management of grassland landscapes in ways that support both long-term viability of livestock enterprises, and concurrent conservation of lesser prairie-chicken, we determined that other mechanisms would be more appropriate to support this action.
Besides a 4d rule, other mechanisms supporting conservation opportunities
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