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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Peer review and public comments.
During the proposed rule stage, we sought the expert opinions of 11
appropriate specialists regarding the species status assessment report. We received responses from five specialists, which informed our determinations.
Information we received from peer review is incorporated into this final rule. We also considered all comments and information we received from the public during two comment periods.
Previous Federal Actions Please refer to the proposed listing and critical habitat rule 84 FR 23644;
May 22, 2019 for the Carolina madtom and Neuse River waterdog, and the document reopening the May 22, 2019, proposed rules public comment period 85 FR 45839; July 30, 2020, for detailed descriptions of previous Federal actions concerning these species.

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Supporting Documents Species status assessment SSA
teams prepared SSA reports for the Carolina madtom and Neuse River waterdog. The SSA teams were composed of Service biologists, in consultation with other species experts.
The SSA reports each represent a compilation of the best scientific and commercial data available concerning the status of the species, including the impacts of past, present, and future factors both negative and beneficial affecting the species. The SSA reports and other materials relating to this rule can be found on the Services Southeast Region website at https www.fws.gov/
southeast/, at http
www.regulations.gov under Docket No.
FWSR4ES20180092, and at the Raleigh Ecological Services Field Office see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Summary of Changes From the Proposed Rule This final rule incorporates several changes to our proposed rule 84 FR
23644; May 22, 2019 based on the comments we received. These changes are summarized in the document that reopened the proposed rules public comment 85 FR 45839; July 30, 2020, as well as below under Summary of Comments and Recommendations.
Minor, nonsubstantive changes and corrections are made throughout this rule in response to comments. Based on these comments, we also incorporate as appropriate new information into our SSA reports, including updated survey information. However, the information we received during the public comment period on the proposed rule did not change our determination that the
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Carolina madtom is an endangered species and the Neuse River waterdog is a threatened species.
We received substantive comments on the proposed rule issued under section 4d of the Act 4d rule for the Neuse River waterdog and the critical habitat designations for both species.
We have made changes to this rule as a result of the public comments we received. We modified the language in the Neuse River waterdog 4d rule for each exception for incidental take. In summary, we modified the exception for species restoration efforts by State wildlife agencies to include monitoring, which is necessary to determine the success of captive propagation and stocking efforts; for channel restoration projects to add language that would require surveys for and relocation of Neuse River waterdogs observed prior to commencement of restoration action; for bank stabilization projects to add a requirement that appropriate native vegetation, including woody and herbaceous species appropriate for the region and habitat, be used for stabilization; and for forestry-related actions to reflect alternative language provided by the North Carolina Forest Service NCFS see 28 Comment under Summary of Comments and Recommendations, below. In terms of critical habitat, for the Carolina madtom, we updated ownership information for the Eno River critical habitat Unit 4, we modified the occupancy determination from unoccupied to occupied for critical habitat Unit 6 Contentnea Creek based on new data for the species see 8
Comment under Summary of Comments and Recommendations, below. For the Neuse River waterdog, we added two occupied critical habitat units Unit 3
Bens Creek and Unit 18Tuckahoe Swamp and modified to add or remove areas to/from five units Unit 1Upper Tar River, Unit 4Fishing Creek Subbasin, Unit 6Middle Tar River Subbasin, Unit 10Middle Creek, and Unit 17Trent River of the critical habitat designation, for a total of 779
miles, an increase of 41 miles from the proposed designation.
As indicated in the document that reopened the proposed rules public comment 85 FR 45839; July 30, 2020, we have also changed the way in which the provisions of the 4d rule for the Neuse River waterdog will appear at 50
CFR 17.43f. Specifically, we no longer set forth a blanket statement applying all prohibitions and provisions of 50
CFR 17.31 and 17.32 to the Neuse River waterdog. Instead, we set forth specific prohibitions and exceptions to those prohibitions in the 4d rule, but the
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substance of the prohibitions and the exceptions to those prohibitions, as included in the May 22, 2019, proposed rule 84 FR 23644, has not changed.
Summary of Comments and Recommendations In the proposed rule published on May 22, 2019 84 FR 23644, and in the document published on July 30, 2020
85 FR 45839 that reopened the comment period on the May 22, 2019, proposed rule, we requested that all interested parties submit written comments on the proposals. We also contacted appropriate Federal and State agencies, scientific experts and organizations, and other interested parties and invited them to comment on the proposals. Newspaper notices inviting general public comment were published in the Raleigh News and Observer on June 3, 2019, and on August 9, 2020. We did not receive any requests for a public hearing. All substantive information provided during the comment periods has either been incorporated directly into the final determinations or is addressed below.
For topics we received comments on during both comment periods e.g., the forestry exception language in the 4d rule, we identify whether the comments were received as part of the initial comment period May 22July 22, 2019 or the reopened comment period July 30August 31, 2020.
Peer Reviewer Comments In accordance with our joint policy on peer review published in the Federal Register on July 1, 1994 59 FR 34270, and our August 22, 2016, memorandum updating and clarifying the role of peer review of listing actions under the Act, we sought peer review of the SSA
reports. We sent the Carolina madtom SSA report to six independent peer reviewers and the Neuse River waterdog SSA to five independent peer reviewers;
all peer reviewers had expertise that included familiarity with Carolina madtom or Neuse River waterdog and their habitats, biological needs, and threats. We received responses from four of the peer reviewers for the Carolina madtom and one of the peer reviewers for the Neuse River waterdog.
We reviewed all comments we received from the peer reviewers for substantive issues and new information regarding the information contained in the SSA reports. The peer reviewers generally concurred with our methods and conclusions, and provided additional information, clarifications, and suggestions to improve the final SSA reports. Peer reviewer comments are addressed in the following summary
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