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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules reasonable and prudent alternative are similarly variable.
Regulations at 50 CFR 402.16 set forth requirements for Federal agencies to reinitiate formal consultation on previously reviewed actions. These requirements apply when the Federal agency has retained discretionary involvement or control over the action or the agencys discretionary involvement or control is authorized by law and, if subsequent to the previous consultation: 1 If the amount or extent of taking specified in the incidental take statement is exceeded; 2 if new information reveals effects of the action that may affect listed species or critical habitat in a manner or to an extent not previously considered; 3 if the identified action is subsequently modified in a manner that causes an effect to the listed species or critical habitat that was not considered in the biological opinion; or 4 if a new species is listed or critical habitat designated that may be affected by the identified action. In such situations, Federal agencies sometimes may need to request reinitiation of consultation with us, but the regulations also specify some exceptions to the requirement to reinitiate consultation on specific land management plans after subsequently listing a new species or designating new critical habitat. See the regulations for a description of those exceptions.

funded, or authorized by a Federal agency, should result in consultation for the Miami tiger beetle. These activities include, but are not limited to:
1 Actions that would significantly alter the hydrology or substrate, such as ditching or filling. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, road construction or maintenance, and residential, commercial, or recreational development.
2 Actions that would significantly alter vegetation structure or composition, such as preventing the ability to conduct prescribed burns, residential and commercial development, and recreational facilities and trails.
3 Actions that would introduce chemical pesticides into the pine rockland ecosystem in a manner that impacts the Miami tiger beetle. Such activities may include but are not limited to mosquito control and agricultural pesticide applications.
4 Actions that would introduce nonnative species that would significantly alter vegetation structure or composition or the life history of the Miami tiger beetle. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, release of parasitic or predator species flies or wasps for use in agriculture-based biological control programs.

Application of the Destruction or Adverse Modification Standard The key factor related to the destruction or adverse modification determination is whether implementation of the proposed Federal action directly or indirectly alters the designated critical habitat in a way that appreciably diminishes the value of the critical habitat as a whole for the conservation of the listed species. As discussed above, the role of critical habitat is to support physical or biological features essential to the conservation of a listed species and provide for the conservation of the species.
Section 4b8 of the Act requires us to briefly evaluate and describe, in any proposed or final regulation that designates critical habitat, activities involving a Federal action that may violate section 7a2 of the Act by destroying or adversely modifying such habitat, or that may be affected by such designation.
Activities that the Service may, during a consultation under section 7a2 of the Act, consider likely to destroy or adversely modify critical habitat, or activities that may affect critical habitat, when carried out,
Application of Section 4a3 of the Act
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Exemptions Section 4a3Bi of the Act 16
U.S.C. 1533a3Bi provides that:
The Secretary shall not designate as critical habitat any lands or other geographical areas owned or controlled by the Department of Defense DoD, or designated for its use, that are subject to an integrated natural resources management plan INRMP prepared under section 101 of the Sikes Act 16
U.S.C. 670a, if the Secretary determines in writing that such plan provides a benefit to the species for which critical habitat is proposed for designation. No DoD lands with a completed INRMP are within the proposed critical habitat designation.
We are not aware of any DoD lands within the boundaries of the proposed designation or that would be directly affected by the designation if finalized as proposed. We have determined that the Corps, a branch of the DoD, retains ownership over a 121-ac 49-ha parcel proposed for designation of critical habitat in Unit 14; of this parcel, 85 ac 34 ha are forested but not managed for preservation of natural resources. These Corps lands are not considered a military instillation under the Sikes Act subject to an INRMP, so they do not
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meet the standards of section 4a3Bi of the Act. As a result, we are not exempting any lands from this designation of critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle pursuant to section 4a3Bi of the Act.
Consideration of Impacts Under Section 4b2 of the Act Section 4b2 of the Act states that the Secretary shall designate and make revisions to critical habitat on the basis of the best available scientific data after taking into consideration the economic impact, national security impact, and any other relevant impact of specifying any particular area as critical habitat.
The Secretary may exclude an area from critical habitat if we determine that the benefits of such exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying such area as part of the critical habitat, unless we determine, based on the best scientific data available, that the failure to designate such area as critical habitat will result in the extinction of the species. In making that determination, the statute on its face, as well as the legislative history, are clear that the Secretary has broad discretion regarding which factors to use and how much weight to give to any factor. Under section 4b2 of the Act, we may exclude an area from designated critical habitat based on economic impacts, impacts on national security, or any other relevant impacts. In considering whether to exclude a particular area from the designation, we identify the benefits of including the area in the designation, identify the benefits of excluding the area from the designation, and evaluate whether the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion. If the analysis indicates that the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion, the Secretary may exercise discretion to exclude the area only if such exclusion would not result in the extinction of the species. We have not proposed any areas for exclusion from critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle. However, the final decision on whether to exclude any areas will be based on the best scientific data available at the time of the final designation, including information obtained during the comment period and information about the economic impact of designation. Accordingly, we have prepared a draft economic analysis concerning the proposed critical habitat designation, which is available for review and comment see ADDRESSES.
We describe below the process that we undertook for taking into consideration each category of impacts and our analyses of the relevant impacts.

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