Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 81 / Thursday, April 26, 2012 / Notices 24975 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R6–ES–2011–N276; 

FXES11130600000C2–123–FF06E00000] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Revised Recovery Plan for 

the Utah Prairie Dog 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of document availability. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service) announces the 

availability of a final revised recovery 

plan for the Utah prairie dog (Cynomys 

parvidens). This species is federally 

listed as threatened under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). 

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the 

final recovery plan are available online 

at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ 

species/recovery-plans.html. Paper 

copies of the final revised recovery plan 

are available by request from the Utah 

Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 2369 West Orton Circle, Suite 

50, West Valley City, UT 84119; 

telephone 801–975–3330. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Larry Crist, Field Supervisor, at the 

above address, or telephone 801–975– 

3330. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Recovering an endangered or 

threatened animal or plant to the point 

where it is again a secure, selfsustaining member of its ecosystem is a 

primary goal of the Service’s 

endangered species program. To help 

guide the recovery effort, the Service 

prepares recovery plans for the federally 

listed species native to the United States 

where a plan will promote the 

conservation of the species. Recovery 

plans describe site-specific actions 

necessary for the conservation of the 

species; establish objective, measurable 

criteria which, when met, would result 

in a determination that the species no 

longer needs the protection of the Act 

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and provide 

estimates of the time and cost for 

implementing the needed recovery 

measures. 

The Act requires recovery plans for 

listed species unless such a plan would 

not promote the conservation of a 

particular species. Section 4(f) of the 

Act, as amended in 1988, requires that 

public notice and opportunity for public 

review and comment be provided 

during recovery plan development. We 

made the draft recovery plan available 

for public comment and peer review 

from September 17, 2010, to November 

16, 2010 (75 FR 57055). We have 

considered all information received 

during the public comment and peer 

review period in the preparation of the 

final revised recovery plan for the Utah 

prairie dog. The Service and other 

Federal agencies also will take these 

comments and reviews into 

consideration in the course of 

implementing the final approved 

recovery plan for the Utah prairie dog. 

In this final revised plan, we have 

summarized and responded to the 

issues raised by both the public and the 

requested peer reviewers in an appendix 

to the plan, and incorporated changes to 

the plan as appropriate. 

The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys 

parvidens), found only in southwestern 

and central Utah, was listed as an 

endangered species on June 4, 1973 (38 

FR 14678). At the time of listing, the 

species was threatened by habitat 

destruction and modification, 

overexploitation, disease, and 

predation. Subsequently, Utah prairie 

dog populations increased significantly 

in portions of their range, and on May 

29, 1984 (49 FR 22330), the species was 

reclassified as threatened with a special 

rule to allow regulated take of the 

species. This special rule was amended 

on June 14, 1991 (56 FR 27438), to 

increase the amount of regulated take 

allowed throughout the species’ range. 

Recent Utah prairie dog population 

trends appear to be relatively stable, 

although the species remains vulnerable 

to several serious threats. These include 

habitat loss, plague, changing climatic 

conditions, unauthorized take, and 

disturbance from recreational and 

economic land uses. 

The recovery of Utah prairie dogs will 

rely on effective conservation responses 

to the issues facing the species, which 

remain varied and complex. These 

issues include plague, urban expansion, 

grazing, cultivated agriculture, 

vegetative community changes, invasive 

plants, off-highway vehicle and 

recreation uses, climate change, energy 

resource exploration and development, 

fire management, poaching, and 

predation. Strategically, these issues can 

be reduced to two overriding concerns: 

loss of habitat and plague. The recovery 

strategy for the Utah prairie dog focuses 

on the need to address colony loss and 

disease through a program that 

encompasses threats abatement, 

population management, research, and 

monitoring. We emphasize conserving 

extant colonies, many of which occur on 

non-Federal lands; establishing 

additional colonies on Federal and nonFederal lands via habitat improvement 

or translocations; controlling the 

transmission of plague; and monitoring 

habitat conditions. 

Authority 

We developed our final recovery plan 

under the authority of section 4(f) of the 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f). We publish this 

notice under section 4(f) of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: April 20, 2012. 

Stephen Guertin, 

Regional Director, Denver, Colorado. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10033 Filed 4–25–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Renewal of Agency Information 

Collection for Indian Reservation 

Roads; Request for Comments 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is seeking 

comments on renewal of Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approval for the collection of 

information for Indian Reservation 

Roads. The information collection is 

currently authorized by OMB Control 

Number 1076–0161, which expires July 

31, 2012. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

June 25, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the information collection to LeRoy 

Gishi, Chief, Division of Transportation, 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street 

NW., MS–4513 MIB, Washington, DC 

20240; facsimile: (202) 219–1193 email: 

LeRoy.Gishi@bia.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

LeRoy Gishi, (202) 513–7711. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

This collection allows Federally 

recognized Tribal governments to 

participate in the Indian Reservation 

Roads (IRR) program as defined in 25 

U.S.C. 204(a)(1). The information 

collected determines the allocation of 

IRR program funds to Indian tribes as 

described in 25 U.S.C. 202 (d)(2)(A). 

II. Request for Comments 

The BIA requests your comments on 

this collection concerning: (a) The 

necessity of this information collection 


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