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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 149 / Friday, August 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations As a disturbance-adapted species, running buffalo clover benefits from both management as well as natural disturbance activities, such as flooding, grazing by herbivores, trail use by animals, and small forest openings due to disease or insect impacts. Ten Cand D-ranked populations are under management agreements.
27 Comment: One commenter stated that monitoring and collection has shown an expansion of populations in multiple States.
Response: New populations have been found in multiple States since the time of the original listing, as a result of multiple statewide and many projectspecific surveys. For example, an increase in project-specific surveys in Pennsylvania in recent years resulted in most of the new running buffalo clover populations identified there. The newly discovered populations in Pennsylvania are south of a population in West Virginia that we have been aware of since the 2007 Recovery Plan Revision.
In addition, running buffalo clover sites occur in West Virginia southeast of these Pennsylvania populations.
Therefore, these populations most likely have been in existence, and their discovery is not the result of an expansion in the range of this species but rather an increase in the number of project-specific surveys. That said, this new information about these additional sites changes our understanding of the degree to which this species faces threats to its continued existence. The species is not as rare or restricted as was thought at the time of listing, and this is a contributing piece of our overall determination that the species is no longer in danger of extinction, now or in the foreseeable future.
28 Comment: One commenter, citing Leugers 2016, stated that running buffalo clover in Ohio still experiences declines in remaining areas and is in need of more robust management plans.
Response: Leugers 2016 included no information from the 2008 or 2011 5year reviews and did not use the most recent scientific information available.
Since the 2007 Recovery Plan, we have learned much about running buffalo clover. Populations in Ohio include two that are A-ranked and nine that are Branked. Seven sites in Ohio are protected with management agreements for ten running buffalo clover populations.
29 Comment: One commenter stated that additional information is still needed on the best management regimes to maintain flowering populations.
Response: Although recent discoveries of new running buffalo clover sites have expanded our
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understanding of the habitat types where the species can occur, running buffalo clover still requires partial to filtered sunlight and a prolonged pattern of moderate, periodic disturbance to maintain those conditions. A variety of management tools, such as grazing, mowing, trampling, or selective logging, have proven effective at maintaining suitable habitat and sustaining running buffalo clover populations. Natural succession results in increased canopy closure and a decrease in flowering.
Maintaining appropriate habitat should result in continued flowering although the level of flowering may also be impacted by rainfall and various local weather conditions.
30 Comment: One commenter indicated that running buffalo clover will continue to be threatened by ATV
all-terrain vehicle use and fossil fuel development and infrastructure on the Wayne National Forest.
Response: Although ATV use was a problem at one site on the Wayne National Forest in the past, ATV use has not been documented as a threat to this running buffalo clover population since 2009. Running buffalo clover will continue to be managed on the Wayne National Forest as a species of conservation concern.
31 Comment: One commenter indicated that running buffalo clover is damaged by grazing on Federal lands.
Response: We are not aware of any instances where grazing on Federal lands is impacting the running buffalo clover at the population level. Light to moderate grazing can provide the disturbance that running buffalo clover requires. The Depot in Kentucky grazes domesticated animals for management purposes, but no other federally owned properties use grazing by domesticated animals as a management tool. Running buffalo clover does not occur on any federally owned property that permits large-scale grazing.
32 Comment: One commenter stated that there has been no measurable increase or spread of running buffalo clover e.g., to Pennsylvania.
Response: New populations of running buffalo clover are discovered nearly every year. That said, these populations have most likely been in existence for some time, and new populations found in Pennsylvania are not likely to be the result of an expansion in the range of this species.
However, the increase overall in the number of populations known to be in existence changes our understanding of the degree to which the species is in danger of extinction, now or in the future. The original listing of the species was based on the lack of extant
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populations that had been identified at that time in spite of surveys conducted throughout its known range. Since then, multiple statewide and many projectspecific surveys have been conducted and have discovered additional populations of which we were not formerly aware. Currently, 175 extant populations are known.
33 Comment: One commenter indicated that several element occurrence E.O. ranks are erroneous.
Response: We have used the best scientific and commercial data available in the proposed rule and this final rule.
The commenter did not provide any supporting documentation or information for specific EOs.
34 Comment: One commenter indicated that seeds of running buffalo clover maintained in appropriate storage for over 25 years can still be viable after scarification. The commenter stated that recovery work should include vouchering seed from each running buffalo clover population to a seed bank with clear origin and sample size details.
Response: Running buffalo clover seed in the seedbank may be viable for a long time as other rare legumes can be viable in cold storage for decades Albrecht 2017. An extremely small amount of running buffalo clover seed can germinate after being in soil and exposed to outdoor temperatures for over 10 years Baskin 2021. In addition, populations have been absent for up to 4 consecutive years before plants were observed again USFWS 2021, unpublished data. The long-term limit of seed viability in the natural environment has not been determined as Baskins research ended after 11
years. Collection of seed for vouchering purposes may be useful for its conservation and management and should have limited impacts to source populations. Because the best available scientific and commercial data indicate that running buffalo clover has recovered and is no longer an endangered or threatened species, we are finalizing the delisting of the species.
35 Comment: One commenter noted that running buffalo clover grows readily in controlled settings. Another public commenter stated that the survival of transplanted plants in the wild is very low and not a successful recovery option.
Response: Running buffalo clover grows well in a greenhouse environment; however, planting from seed or transplanting in the wild has had very limited success. Collection of seed or other vegetative material should be used only as a last resort to maintain
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