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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
within the foreseeable future. Delisting a species can only be completed by issuing a rule.
The basis for our action. Under the Act, we can determine that a species is an endangered or threatened species based on any one or more of the following five factors or the cumulative effects thereof: A The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; B
overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; C disease or predation; D
the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or E other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. Based on an assessment of the best available information regarding the status of and threats to water howellia, we have determined that the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species under the Act.
This final rule recognizes that based on the best available science, water howellia has reached recovery.
Collaborative conservation efforts including increased surveys, land transfers, and land management plans have all aided in the discovery of additional occurrences of the species and provided for long-term protection of the species.

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Previous Federal Actions On October 7, 2019, we proposed to remove water howellia from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants i.e., to delist the species 84
FR 53380. For previous Federal actions occurring before October 7, 2019, please see the Previous Federal Actions section of the proposed rule.
Species Description and Habitat Information In this final rule, we discuss only those topics directly related to delisting water howellia. For more information on the description, biology, ecology, and habitat of water howellia, please refer to the final listing rule published in the Federal Register on July 14, 1994 59 FR
35860; the most recent 5-year review for water howellia completed in August of 2013 USFWS 2013, entire; the draft recovery plan for water howellia, completed in September 1996 USFWS
1996, entire; and the proposed delisting rule published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2019 84 FR 53380. These documents are available as supporting materials on http www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWSR6ES2018
0045. We use concepts of resiliency, redundancy, and representation Smith et al. 2018 in considering the species viability. Resiliency is the ability of the
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species to maintain healthy populations that can withstand annual environmental variation and stochastic events. Redundancy is the ability of the species to maintain an adequate number and distribution of populations that can withstand catastrophic events.
Representation is the ability of the species to adapt to changing environmental conditions through genetic, ecological, demographic, and behavioral diversity across its range.
Water howellia was first collected in 1879, along the Columbia River in Multnomah County, Oregon Gray 1880, entire, and is native to the northwestern United States. The taxonomy of water howellia as a full species in a monotypic genus is widely accepted as valid by the scientific community The Plant List 2013, unpaginated; ITIS 2017.
Water howellia is an annual, aquatic herb in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. The entire plant is smooth, possessing no hairs or projections. The stems are fragile, submerged and floating, reaching up to 39 inches in 100 centimeters cm in length. Stems branch several inches from the base, and each branch extends to the water surface. The numerous leaves are narrow and range from 12 in 2550 millimeters mm long.
Water howellia produce two types of flowers: Cleistogamous closed and chasmogamous showy, open for pollination. Small cleistogamous flowers are produced along the stem below the water surface and are selffertilizing. Chasmogamous flowers are produced on the water surface and commonly self-pollinate Lesica et al.
1988, p. 276; Shelly and Moseley 1988, pp. 56.
Suitable water howellia habitat typically includes small, vernal freshwater wetlands and ponds with an annual cycle of filling with water in spring and drying up in summer or autumn USFWS 1996, p. 14. These habitats can be glacial potholes or depressions Shapley and Lesica 1997, p. 8; U.S. Department of Defense USDOD 2017a, p. 1 or river oxbows Lesica 1997, p. 366 in Montana and western Washington, riverine meander scars Idaho NHP 2017, p. 1;
Wiechmann 2014a, p. 3 in Idaho, glacial-flood remnant wetlands Robison 2007, p. 8 in eastern Washington, or landslide depressions Johnson 2013, pers. comm. in California, but are all ephemeral transitory to some degree.
Depending on annual patterns of temperature and precipitation, the drying of the ponds may be complete or partial by autumn; these sites are usually shallow and less than 3 feet ft
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1 meter m in depth. Some ponds supporting water howellia are dependent on complex ground and surface water interactions. Snow melt runoff is important in maintaining suitable conditions in the spring, while localized groundwater flow mitigates water loss from evaporation and plant transpiration later in the summer Reeves and Woessner 2004, pp. 79.
The drying of water howellia habitat in late summer and autumn is important because water howellia seeds only germinate when exposed to air Lesica 1990. Upon air exposure, seeds either germinate in the fall and produce seedlings that overwinter under snowcover, or germinate the following spring, with seeds lying on top of the soil through winter. Water howellia seedlings that overwinter in soil resume growth in spring in northern climates Mincemoyer 2005, p. 3 or begin growing after fall germination in southern climates e.g., California Johnson 2013, pers. comm.. Spring growth in California and low-elevation occurrences in western Washington typically commence in early April, and in eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana by early May. Rangewide, emergent chasmogamous flowers bloom soon after the stems reach the water surface and are typically present from May through July. Seed dispersal starts in June from submerged cleistogamous flowers and extends until late summer from emergent flowers Shelly and Moseley 1988, p. 5.
Decreased germination rates have been documented for seeds residing in the soil longer than 8 months Lesica 1992, pp. 415416. However, monitoring data and observations from Montana U.S. Forest Service USFS
2002, pp. 67; USFWS 1996, pp. 1718
and Washington Gilbert 2008, pers.
comm. show the presence of water howellia after 2 consecutive years with no plant observations, suggesting seeds may remain viable for at least 3 years.
This life-history strategy likely provides a buffer against unfavorable growing conditions in consecutive years.
Composition and depth of substrates in vernal wetlands are also important characteristics of suitable water howellia habitat. Substrates composed of both coarse organic and mineral sediments are correlated with presence of water howellia Lesica 1992, p. 417.
Similarly, water howellia growth in a laboratory setting was highest in coarse organic substrate Lesica 1992, p. 416.
However, mean depth of the organic sediment layer was significantly less in ponds with water howellia, relative to depth in ponds without water howellia Lesica 1992, p. 417. These results
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