Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 76, April 22, 2009, Pages 18285-18448 Page: 18,341

Federal Register/Vol. 74, No. 76/Wednesday, April 22, 2009/Proposed Rules

commercial information indicating that
the petitioned action may be warranted.
We are to base this finding on
information provided in the petition,
supporting information submitted with
the petition, and information otherwise
available in our files at the time we
make the determination. To the
maximum extent practicable, we are to
make this finding within 90 days of our
receipt of the petition and publish our
notice of the finding promptly in the
Federal Register.
Our process for making this 90-day
finding under section 4(b)(3)(A) of the
Act is limited to a determination of
whether the information in the petition
presents "substantial scientific and
commercial information," which is
interpreted in our regulations as "that
amount of information that would lead
a reasonable person to believe that the
measure proposed in the petition may
be warranted" (50 CFR 424.14(b)). We
reviewed the petition, supporting
information provided by the petitioner,
and information in our files, and we
evaluated that information to determine
whether the sources cited support the
claims made in the petition. The
petition and supporting information
identified numerous factors affecting the
Tehachapi slender salamander
including: road construction, residential
and commercial development, mining,
grazing, and flood control projects
(Factor A); lack of regulatory
mechanisms protecting the species and
its habitat (Factor D); and climate
change and environmental, genetic, and
demographic stochastic events (Factor
E). Of the factors listed above, we
conclude that substantial information
was provided that road construction,
residential and commercial
development, livestock grazing, and
mining (Factor A) may threaten
Tehachapi slender salamanders. We also
found that the species may be
threatened by the inadequacy of existing
regulatory mechanisms (Factor D) and
stochastic events (Factor E).
On the basis of information provided
in the petition and other information
readily available to us, we have
determined that the petition presents
substantial scientific or commercial
information that listing the Tehachapi
slender salamander may be warranted.
Therefore, we are initiating a status
review to determine if listing the species
is warranted. During the status review,
we will consider threats to the
Tehachapi slender salamander under all
of the listing factors above. To ensure
that the status review is comprehensive,
we are soliciting scientific and
commercial data and other information

regarding this species.

The petitioner also requested that
critical habitat be designated for the
Tehachapi slender salamander. We
always consider the need for critical
habitat designation when listing species.
If we determine in our 12-month finding
following the status review of the
species that listing the Tehachapi
slender salamander is warranted, we
will address the designation of critical
habitat at the time of the proposed
rulemaking.
Significant Portion of the Species'
Range
The petitioner seeks to list the entire
Tehachapi slender salamander species.
During our status review we will
evaluate whether the best available
scientific and commercial information
supports listing the species throughout
its entire range, or whether there may be
a significant portion of the range that
may be threatened or endangered. As a
result, we will defer our analysis and
determination of issues of significant
portion of range to our status review and
the 12-month finding.
A 90-day finding is not a status
assessment of the species and does not
constitute a status review under the Act.
Our final determination as to whether a
petitioned action is warranted is not
made until we have completed a
thorough status review of the species,
which is conducted following a positive
90-day finding. Because the Act's
standards for 90-day and 12-month
findings are different, a positive 90-day
finding does not mean that the 12-
month finding also will be positive.
References Cited
A complete list of all references cited
is available, upon request, from our
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office (see
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section above).
Author
The primary author of this notice is
the staff of the Ventura Fish and
Wildlife Office (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section above).
Authority
The authority for this action is the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Dated: April 15, 2009.
Rowan W. Gould,
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. E9-9220 Filed 4-21-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-55-P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
[FWS-R3-ES-2009-0017; 92210-1117-
0000-FY09-B4]
RIN 1018-AW47
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
and Plants; Revised Critical Habitat for
the Hine's Emerald Dragonfly
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Revised proposed rule;
reopening of public comment period,
proposal to designate additional critical
habitat unit.
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
reopening of the public comment period
on our July 26, 2006, proposed rule on
the designation of critical habitat for the
Hine's emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora
hineana) under the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (Act). At this
time the Service is reconsidering
designating critical habitat on the
Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan
and the Mark Twain National Forest in
Missouri as identified in the July 26,
2006, proposal. During the process of
reconsidering the exclusion of these
Federal lands, critical habitat designated
by the September 5, 2007, final rule
remains in place, while the Federal
lands as described in the July 2006
proposed rule are considered as
proposed critical habitat. Through this
notice, the Service is also taking the
opportunity pursuant to section
4(a)(3)(B) of the Act to propose a new
unit on the Mark Twain National Forest
that was not known to be occupied by
the Hine's emerald dragonfly at the time
of the September 5, 2007, final rule but
has since been discovered. The
reopened comment period will provide
all interested parties with an additional
opportunity to submit written
comments on the proposed rule,
specifically regarding the new proposed
unit and the exclusion of U.S. Forest
Service lands from the 2007 final
designation. Comments previously
submitted on the proposed critical
habitat designation need not be
resubmitted; they have already been
incorporated into the public record and
will be fully considered in the final
decision.
DATES: We will consider comments
received on or before June 22, 2009.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments

by one of the following methods:

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