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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 246 / Tuesday, December 28, 2021 / Proposed Rules stable between 1950 and 2018 Service 2021, Figure 38, recent events such as the fires in 2020 in the San MateoSanta Cruz Unit CZU 35,009 hectares ha 86,509 acres ac Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties and Santa Clara Unit SCU 160,508 ha 396,624 ac Santa Clara, Alameda, Stanislaus Counties Lightning Complex are examples of expected increasing trends in wildfire activity in the future CALFIRE 2021, entire. Under the lower change scenario, the Central Coast DPSs resiliency would be slightly reduced.
Under the mean change scenario, resiliency would be markedly reduced from current condition due to reductions in population numbers and distribution reduction in redundancy.
This reduction in resiliency under the mean change scenario would put the Central Coast DPS at risk of functional extirpation or extirpation in 40 years.
After evaluating threats to the Central Coast DPS and assessing the cumulative effect of the threats under the Acts section 4a1 factors, we find that the Central Coast DPS of the foothill yellowlegged frog currently sustains numerous populations and contains habitat distributed throughout the DPSs range redundancy. These widely distributed populations provide for the genetic and ecological representation for the DPS
across its range. Therefore, the current resiliency, redundancy, and representation are sufficient to prevent the current threats acting on the Central Coast DPS from causing it to be in danger of extinction anywhere within its range. Thus, the Central Coast DPS
of the foothill yellow-legged frog is not currently in danger of extinction throughout its range, and therefore, the Central Coast DPS does not meet the Acts definition of endangered.
However, based on our projections of future occupancy which are currently low and show poor connectivity, modeled risk of decline assessments from the PVA, and the existing and increased threats in the future on the DPS from increasing water demand, increases in wildfire frequency and intensity due to climate change conditions will further impact abundance and connectivity of populations and cause the DPSs habitat to become increasingly less able to support foothill yellow-legged frog populations into the future. Thus, after assessing the best available information, we conclude that the Central Coast DPS
of the foothill yellow-legged frog is likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all of its range.

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Status of the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS of the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog Throughout a Significant Portion of Their Ranges 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. The court in Center for Biological Diversity v. Everson, 2020
WL 437289 D.D.C. Jan. 28, 2020
Center for Biological Diversity, vacated the aspect of the Final Policy on Interpretation of the Phrase Significant Portion of Its Range in the Endangered Species Acts Definitions of Endangered Species and Threatened Species 79 FR 37578; July 1, 2014
that provided that the Service does not undertake an analysis of significant portions of a species range if the species warrants listing as threatened throughout all of its range. Therefore, we proceed to evaluating whether the North Feather DPS or Central Coast DPS
is endangered in a significant portion of its rangethat is, whether there is any portion of either DPSs range for which both 1 the portion is significant; and 2 the species is in danger of extinction 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 either DPSs range.
Following the courts holding in Center for Biological Diversity, we now consider whether there are any significant portions of the species range where either DPS is in danger of extinction now i.e., endangered. In undertaking this analysis for the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS, we choose to address the status question firstwe consider information pertaining to the geographic distribution of both the species and the threats that the two DPSs face to identify any portions of either DPSs range where either is endangered.
For North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS, we considered whether the threats are geographically concentrated in any portion of the DPSs ranges at a biologically meaningful scale. We examined the following threats for the North Feather DPS: Altered stream hydrology, latent effects from historical mining, nonnative species, impacts to the DPSs habitat agriculture, urbanization, wildfire, recreation, and
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the effects of climate change, including cumulative effects. For the Central Coast DPS, we examined: Altered stream hydrology, disease, drought, nonnative species, impacts to habitat urbanization including roads and recreation, agriculture, trespass cannabis cultivation, extreme floods, and wildfire, and the effects of climate change, including cumulative effects.
The major driving forces of altered stream hydrology, wildfire, disease, nonnative species, and the effects of climate change are occurring throughout each DPS at similar levels and we did not find a concentration of any of these threats in any portion of either the North Feather or Central Coast DPSs range at a biologically meaningful scale.
Thus, there are no portions of the North Feather DPSs or Central Coast DPSs range where the threats facing the species are concentrated to a degree where the species in that portion would have a different status from its overall DPS status. Therefore, no portion of the North Feather DPSs or Central Coast DPSs range provides a basis for determining that the North Feather DPS
or Central Coast DPS is in danger of extinction in a significant portion of its range. We determine that the two DPSs are likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all of their ranges. This does not conflict with the courts holdings in Desert Survivors v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 321 F. Supp. 3d 1011, 107074 N.D. Cal. 2018, and Center for Biological Diversity v. Jewell, 248 F.
Supp. 3d 946, 959 D. Ariz. 2017
because, in reaching this conclusion, we did not need to consider whether any portions are significant and therefore did not apply the aspects of the Final Policys definition of significant that those court decisions held were invalid.
Determination of Status for the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS of the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog Our review of the best scientific and commercial information available indicates that the North Feather DPS
and Central Coast DPS of the foothill yellow-legged frog are likely to become endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout their ranges and thus meet the Acts definition of threatened species.
Therefore, we propose to list the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS of the foothill yellow-legged frog as threatened species in accordance with sections 320 and 4a1 of the Act.

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