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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 149 / Friday, August 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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CFR part 424 set forth the procedures for determining whether a species meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species. The Act defines endangered species as a species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and threatened species as a species likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The Act requires that we determine whether a species meets the definition of endangered species or threatened species because of any of the following factors: 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.
Status Throughout All of Its Range After evaluating threats to the species and assessing the cumulative effect of the threats under the section 4a1
factors, we found that significant threats identified at the time of listing 52 FR
21478, June 5, 1987 have been eliminated or reduced. The main threat at many sites is habitat destruction, habitat succession, and competition with nonnative invasive species Factor A. Management to benefit running buffalo clover has been implemented since the time of listing and has shown to be effective. Twenty-two populations are under some form of management that addresses the needs of running buffalo clover. Because all of the managed populations occur on publicly owned lands, we expect management will continue in the foreseeable future.
Delisting criterion 3 from the recovery plan was intended to ensure that habitat-based threats for the species are addressed. Although this criterion has not been met as specified in the recovery plan, we believe that its intention has been met between the 22
sites managed specifically for the conservation of the species plus the 66
additional locations on Federal and State lands.
Additionally, the discovery of new populations at unmanaged sites indicates that the species does not wholly rely on management to maintain populations as we believed when the recovery criterion was drafted. The 22
populations currently under management agreements in conjunction with the 66 other populations on publicly owned lands are sufficient to eliminate or adequately reduce threats
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to the species now and into the foreseeable future. During our analysis, we found that other factors believed to be threats at the time of listing including overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes Factor B, disease and predation Factor C, and inbreeding depression and poor seed quality and dispersal Factor Eare no longer considered threats, and we do not expect any of these conditions to substantially change into the foreseeable future. Since listing, we have become aware of the potential for the effects of climate change Factor E to affect all biota, including running buffalo clover, but the magnitude and frequency of this potential threat are generally unknown at this time. While available information in the most recent 5-year review indicates that running buffalo clover may be responding to a change in temperatures or precipitation patterns, the lack of a declining trend in running buffalo clover populations suggests the effects of ongoing climate change are not a threat to the species within the foreseeable future. Thus, after assessing the best available information, we determine that running buffalo clover is not in danger of extinction now or likely to become so in the foreseeable future throughout all of its range.
Status Throughout a Significant Portion of Its Range Under the Act and our implementing regulations, a species may warrant listing if it is in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Having determined that running buffalo clover is not in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future throughout all of its range, we now consider whether it may be in danger of extinction or likely to become so in the foreseeable future in a significant portion of its rangethat is, whether there is any portion of the species range for which it is true that both 1 the portion is significant; and 2 the species is in danger of extinction now or likely to become so in the foreseeable future in that portion. Depending on the case, it might be more efficient for us to address the significance question or the status question first. We can choose to address either question first. Regardless of which question we address first, if we reach a negative answer with respect to the first question that we address, we do not need to evaluate the other question for that portion of the species range.
In undertaking this analysis for running buffalo clover, we chose to address the status question firstwe
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considered information pertaining to the geographic distribution of both the species and the threats that the species faces to identify any portions of the range where the species is endangered or threatened.
For running buffalo clover, we considered whether the threats are geographically concentrated in any portion of the species range at a biologically meaningful scale. We examined the following threats: Habitat destruction, habitat succession, and competition with nonnative invasive species, including cumulative effects.
Threats from habitat destruction have been identified at running buffalo clover sites across its range. Habitat succession is a natural process that occurs in multiple habitat types across the species range. Nonnative invasive species are widespread across the range of running buffalo clover. We found no concentration of threats in any portion of the running buffalo clovers range at a biologically meaningful scale.
Therefore, no portion of the species range can provide a basis for determining that the species is in danger of extinction now or likely to become so in the foreseeable future in a significant portion of its range, and we find the species is not in danger of extinction now or likely to become so in the foreseeable future in any significant portion of its range. This is consistent with the courts holdings in Desert Survivors v. Department of the Interior, No. 16cv01165JCS, 2018 WL
4053447 N.D. Cal. Aug. 24, 2018, and Center for Biological Diversity v. Jewell, 248 F. Supp. 3d, 946, 959 D. Ariz.
2017.
Determination of Status Our review of the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that running buffalo clover does not meet the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species in accordance with sections 36
and 320 of the Act. Therefore, we are removing running buffalo clover from the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants.
Effects of This Rule This rule revises 50 CFR 17.12h to remove the running buffalo clover from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants. Because critical habitat has not been designated for this species, this rule does not affect 50 CFR
17.96. On the effective date of this rule see DATES, above, the prohibitions and conservation measures provided by the Act, particularly through sections 7 and 9, no longer apply to this species, and Federal agencies are no longer required
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