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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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8 Whether we could improve or modify our approach to designating critical habitat in any way to provide for greater public participation and understanding, or to better accommodate public concerns and comments.
Please include sufficient information with your submission such as scientific journal articles or other publications to allow us to verify any scientific or commercial information you include.
Please note that submissions merely stating support for, or opposition to, the action under consideration without providing supporting information, although noted, will not be considered in making a final critical habitat determination You may submit your comments and materials concerning this proposed rule by one of the methods listed in ADDRESSES. We request that you send comments only by the methods described in ADDRESSES.
If you submit information via http
www.regulations.gov, your entire submissionincluding any personal identifying informationwill be posted on the website. If your submission is made via a hardcopy that includes personal identifying information, you may request at the top of your document that we withhold this information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
We will post all hardcopy submissions on http www.regulations.gov.
Comments and materials we receive, as well as supporting documentation we used in preparing this proposed rule, will be available for public inspection on http www.regulations.gov.
Because we will consider all comments and information we receive during the comment period, our final designation may differ from this proposal. Based on the new information we receive and any comments on that new information, our final designation may not include all areas proposed, may include some additional areas that meet the definition of critical habitat, and may exclude some areas if we find the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion.
Public Hearing Section 4b5 of the Act provides for a public hearing on this proposal, if requested. Requests must be received by the date specified in DATES. Such requests must be sent to the address shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. We will schedule a public hearing on this proposal, if requested, and announce the date, time, and place of the hearing, as well as how to obtain reasonable accommodations, in the
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Federal Register and local newspapers at least 15 days before the hearing. For the immediate future, we will provide these public hearings virtually using webinars that will be announced on the Services website, in addition to the Federal Register. The use of these virtual public hearings is consistent with our regulation at 50 CFR
424.16c3.
Previous Federal Actions On December 22, 2015, we proposed to list the Miami tiger beetle as an endangered species under the Act 80
FR 79533 in the Federal Register. On October 5, 2016, we published our final determination in the Federal Register 81 FR 68985 and added the Miami tiger beetle as an endangered species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife at 50 CFR 17.11h. At the time of our proposal we determined that critical habitat was prudent, but not determinable because we lacked specific information on the impacts of our designation. In our final listing rule, we stated we were in the process of obtaining information on the impacts of the designation. All previous Federal actions are described in detail in the proposal to list the Miami tiger beetle as an endangered species under the Act 80
FR 79533, December 22, 2015.
Additional information may be found in the final rule to list the Miami tiger beetle as an endangered species 81 FR
68985, October 5, 2016.
Critical Habitat Background Critical habitat is defined in section 3
of the Act as:
1 The specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species, at the time it is listed in accordance with the Act, on which are found those physical or biological features a Essential to the conservation of the species, and b Which may require special management considerations or protection; and 2 Specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species at the time it is listed, upon a determination that such areas are essential for the conservation of the species.
Our regulations at 50 CFR 424.02
define the geographical area occupied by the species as an area that may generally be delineated around species occurrences, as determined by the Secretary i.e., range. Such areas may include those areas used throughout all or part of the species life cycle, even if
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not used on a regular basis e.g., migratory corridors, seasonal habitats, and habitats used periodically, but not solely, by vagrant individuals.
Additionally, our regulations at 50 CFR
424.02 define the word habitat as follows: for the purposes of designating critical habitat only, habitat is the abiotic and biotic setting that currently or periodically contains the resources and conditions necessary to support one or more life processes of a species.
Conservation, as defined under section 3 of the Act, means to use and the use of all methods and procedures that are necessary to bring an endangered or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to the Act are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated taking.
Critical habitat receives protection under section 7 of the Act through the requirement that Federal agencies ensure, in consultation with the Service, that any action they authorize, fund, or carry out is not likely to result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area. Such designation also does not allow the government or public to access private lands. Such designation does not require implementation of restoration, recovery, or enhancement measures by nonFederal landowners. Where a landowner requests Federal agency funding or authorization for an action that may affect a listed species or critical habitat, the Federal agency would be required to consult with the Service under section 7a2 of the Act. However, even if the Service were to conclude that the proposed activity would result in destruction or adverse modification of the critical habitat, the Federal action agency and the landowner are not required to abandon the proposed activity, or to restore or recover the species; instead, they must implement reasonable and prudent alternatives to avoid destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat.
Under the first prong of the Acts definition of critical habitat, areas within the geographical area occupied
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