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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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our critical habitat regulations. This change will save taxpayer resources and make the critical habitat designations published in the Code of Federal Regulations more user-friendly.
Background On May 1, 2012, we published a final rule 77 FR 25611 revising our regulations related to publishing textual descriptions of proposed and final critical habitat boundaries in the Federal Register for codification in the Code of Federal Regulations CFR. In the interest of making the process of designating critical habitat more userfriendly for affected parties and the public as a whole, as well as more efficient and cost effective, we maintained the publication of maps of proposed and final critical habitat designations but made optional the inclusion of any textual description of the boundaries of the designation in the Federal Register for codification in the CFR. The boundaries of critical habitat as mapped or otherwise described in the Regulation Promulgation section of a rulemaking that is published in the Federal Register is the official delineation of the critical habitat designation. This approach began with critical habitat designations published after the effective date of the final rule May 31, 2012.
Specifically, for critical habitat rules published after May 31, 2012, the maps, as clarified or refined by any textual language within the rule, establish the legal boundaries of a critical habitat. Each critical habitat area is shown on a map, with more-detailed information discussed in the preamble or the rulemaking documents published in the Federal Register. The map published in the CFR is generated from the coordinates and/or plot points corresponding to the location of the boundaries. These coordinates and/or plot points are included in the administrative record for the designation and are available to the public online and at the Service field office responsible for the designation. In addition, if the Service concludes that additional tools or supporting information are appropriate and would help the public understand the official boundary map, we make the additional tools and supporting information available on our internet site and at the Service field office responsible for the critical habitat designation.
The preamble to the May 1, 2012, final rule 77 FR 25611 explained how the Service would handle boundaries for critical habitat that had already been designated before May 31, 2012; the rule states that for existing critical habitat
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designations, we also intend to remove the textual descriptions of final critical habitat boundaries set forth in the CFR
in order to save the annual reprinting cost, but we must do so in separate rulemakings to ensure that removing the textual descriptions does not change the existing boundaries of those designations 77 FR 25618. We have now begun applying this approach to critical habitat designations promulgated prior to May 31, 2012. This rule is the third, and final, in a series of rules based on our evaluation of the maps in each critical habitat designation at 50 CFR 17.95, 17.96, and 17.99 to remove the textual descriptions without changing the existing boundaries of those designations if we determine the maps will be sufficient to inform the public of the boundaries of the designations and can therefore stand as the official delineation of the designation.
On October 27, 2017, we published a final rule 82 FR 49751 removing textual descriptions of critical habitat boundaries from those designations for plants on the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Niihau, and Hawaii at 50 CFR 17.99.
That final rule established that the map, as clarified or refined by any textual language within the rule, constitutes the definition of the boundaries of the critical habitat for the applicable designation. It did not alter the locations of any boundaries.
On April 27, 2018, we published a final rule 83 FR 18698 removing textual descriptions of critical habitat boundaries from those designations for mammals, birds, amphibians, fishes, clams, snails, arachnids, crustaceans, and insects for which the maps were determined to be sufficient to stand as the official delineation of critical habitat at 50 CFR 17.95. That final rule established that the map, as clarified or refined by any textual language within the rule, constitutes the definition of the boundaries of the critical habitat for the applicable designation. For critical habitat designations at 50 CFR 17.95a b and di with maps that did not meet our sufficiency criteria, we added a statement The map provided is for informational purposes only. to clarify that the textual descriptions, not the maps, in those entries are the official delineation of critical habitat. The rule did not alter the locations of any boundaries.
This revision to 50 CFR 17.96 is the third, and final, rule in a series of rules to remove the textual descriptions of critical habitat boundaries from those designations for which the maps have been determined to be sufficient to
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stand as the official delineation of critical habitat.
This Rule For 50 CFR 17.96, we evaluated the maps in each entry to determine whether or not the maps can stand as the official delineation of the designation. All of the entries in 50 CFR
17.96 fall within 17.96a critical habitat for flowering plants. In each entry we looked for a combination of certain map elementsincluding, but not limited to, the name of the species or of the grouping of species, the unit number and/or name, the names of counties and/or States shown, a clear map key, and an appropriate map scaleto determine whether or not the maps are sufficient to serve as the official delineation of the designation.
In this rule, we are removing the textual descriptions of critical habitat boundaries from those entries at 50 CFR
17.96a that have maps sufficient to stand as the official delineation of the designation. In those entries, we are removing the word Note: or NOTE:
or Note: if it precedes a map that will now stand as the official delineation of the critical habitat designation. For critical habitat designations at 50 CFR
17.96a with maps that do not meet our sufficiency criteria, we are adding a statement The map provided is for informational purposes only. to clarify that the textual descriptions, not the maps, in those entries are the official delineation of critical habitat.
For certain designations, we are retaining the textual descriptions of the boundaries of either the entire designated critical habitat unit or of the areas excluded from the critical habitat designation to clarify or refine the provided map, in accordance with 50
CFR 17.94. We determined that for some designations, providing textual descriptions of the boundaries enhanced the clarity of the designation, so we have opted to retain those textual descriptions. In addition, we found that in some instances retaining the textual description of an excluded area is necessary because the relevant maps do not adequately show the excluded areas, which can be very small within a much larger critical habitat unit.
Retaining those textual descriptions ensures that the public has accurate and complete information regarding critical habitat units and areas excluded from critical habitat designation.
This rule does not increase, decrease, or in any other way alter the critical habitat designations from which we are removing the textual descriptions of boundaries. This administrative action will save taxpayer resources. The
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