60138 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 194 / Thursday, October 7, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

(ii) There are no specific habitat areas 

essential to the conservation of this 

species. 

(4) Fox, Santa Rosa Island (Urocyon 

littoralis santarosae). 

(i) No primary constituent elements 

have been identified for the Santa Rosa 

Island fox. 

(ii) There are no specific habitat areas 

essential to the conservation of this 

species. 

(b) [Reserved]

Dated: October 1, 2004. 

Julie MacDonald, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks.

[FR Doc. 04–22542 Filed 10–6–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

RIN 1018–AT44 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Designation of Critical 

Habitat for the California Tiger 

Salamander (Ambystoma 

californiense) in Santa Barbara County

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of 

public comment period and notice of 

availability of draft economic analysis. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service) announce the 

availability of a draft economic analysis 

for the proposed designation of critical 

habitat for the California tiger 

salamander (Ambystoma californiense) 

in Santa Barbara County (here after 

referred to as ‘‘California tiger 

salamander’’) under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). 

We are also reopening the public 

comment period for the proposal to 

designate critical habitat for this species 

to allow all interested parties to 

comment on the proposed rule and the 

associated draft economic analysis. 

Comments previously submitted on the 

proposed rule need not be resubmitted 

as they have been incorporated into the 

public record as a part of this reopening 

of the comment period, and will be fully 

considered in preparation of the final 

rule.

DATES: We will accept all comments 

received on or before November 8, 2004. 

Any comments that we receive after the 

closing date may not be considered in 

the final decision on this proposal.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, 

you may submit your comments and 

materials concerning this proposed rule 

by any one of several methods: 

(1) You may submit written comments 

and information to the Field Supervisor, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura 

Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493 Portola 

Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003, or by 

facsimile 805/644–3958. 

(2) You may hand-deliver written 

comments to our office, at the address 

given above. 

(3) You may send comments by 

electronic mail (e-mail) to 

fw1ctsch@r1.fws.gov. Please see the 

Public Comments Solicited section 

below for file format and other 

information about electronic filing. In 

the event that our Internet connection is 

not functional, please submit your 

comments by the alternate methods 

mentioned above. 

Comments and materials received, as 

well as supporting documentation used 

in preparation of the proposed critical 

habitat rule, will be available for public 

inspection, by appointment, during 

normal business hours at the above 

address. You may obtain copies of the 

draft economic analysis for the 

California tiger salamander in Santa 

Barbara County by contacting the 

Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office at the 

above address. The draft economic 

analysis and the proposed rule for 

critical habitat designation also are 

available on the Internet at http://

ventura.fws.gov/. In the event that our 

Internet connection is not functional, 

please obtain copies of documents 

directly from the Ventura Fish and 

Wildlife Office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Katie Drexhage (telephone 805/549–

3811; facsimile 805/549–3233 or 

Michael McCrary (telephone 805/644–

1766; facsimile 805/644–3958), Ventura 

Fish and Wildlife Office, at the address 

listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The California tiger salamander is a 

large and stocky salamander, with a 

broad, rounded snout. Adult males may 

reach a total length of 8.2 inches (in) 

(20.8 centimeters (cm)) while females 

are slightly smaller, reaching about 6.8 

in (17.3 cm) in length. The top of the 

salamander can have white or pale 

yellow spots or bars on a black 

background. The underside varies from 

almost uniform white or pale yellow to 

a varying pattern of white or pale yellow 

and black. This species is restricted to 

California and does not overlap with 

any other species of tiger salamander. 

The Santa Barbara County salamanders 

are geographically separate from all 

other California tiger salamanders. 

Historically, the Santa Barbara County 

California tiger salamanders inhabited 

low-elevation (below 1,400 feet (427 

meters)) vernal pools and ephemeral 

ponds, and associated coastal scrub, 

grassland, and oak savannah plant 

communities of the Santa Maria, Los 

Alamos, and Santa Rita valleys. 

The loss of the California tiger 

salamander’s upland habitat is the 

single most important factor 

contributing to the species’ status. 

Additional threats to this species 

include threats to the aquatic habitat, 

predation and competition by 

introduced or non-native species, 

habitat fragmentation, contaminants, 

hybridization with non-native tiger 

salamanders, disease, and over-grazing. 

On January 19, 2000, we published an 

emergency rule to list the Santa Barbara 

County DPS of the California tiger 

salamander as endangered (65 FR 3096), 

concurrently with a proposed rule (65 

FR 3110) to list the species as 

endangered. We published a final rule 

listing the Santa Barbara County DPS of 

the California tiger salamander as 

endangered on September 21, 2000 (65 

FR 57242). On May 23, 2003, we 

proposed to list the Central California 

population of California tiger 

salamander as a threatened DPS. In the 

same Federal Register notice we also 

proposed to downlist the Sonoma 

County DPS and Santa Barbara County 

DPS of California tiger salamander, from 

endangered to threatened status (68 FR 

28648). The Federal Register notice also 

included a proposed special rule that 

would exempt existing routine ranching 

activities from the prohibitions of the 

Act. On August 4, 2004, we determined 

threatened status for the California tiger 

salamander rangewide (69 FR 47212). 

We also finalized the special rule for the 

species rangewide, which exempts 

existing routine ranching activities.

On February 25, 2003, the 

Environmental Defense Center and 

Center for Biological Diversity filed a 

complaint challenging our failure to 

designate critical habitat for the Santa 

Barbara County DPS of the California 

tiger salamander (Environmental 

Defense Center et al. v. U. S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service et al., EVCD 03–00195 

(C.D.Cal)). By order dated August 7, 

2003, the district court ordered us to 

publish a proposed rule to designate 

critical habitat for the California tiger 

salamander. On January 22, 2004, we 

proposed to designate critical habitat for 

the Santa Barbara DPS of California tiger 

salamander (69 FR 3064). 

Approximately 13,920 acres (5,633 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 194 / Thursday, October 7, 2004 / Proposed Rules 60139

hectares) fall within the boundaries of 

the proposed critical habitat 

designation. Proposed critical habitat is 

located in Santa Barbara County, 

California, as described in the proposed 

rule. The comment period on the 

proposed rule closed March 22, 2004. 

However, on April 13, 2004, we 

reopened the comment period (69 FR 

19394) and announced a public hearing 

that was held on May 11, 2004. 

Critical habitat identifies specific 

areas, both occupied and unoccupied, 

that are essential to the conservation of 

a listed species and that may require 

special management considerations or 

protection. If the proposed rule is made 

final, section 7 of the Act will prohibit 

destruction or adverse modification of 

critical habitat by any activity funded, 

authorized, or carried out by any 

Federal agency. Federal agencies 

proposing actions affecting areas 

designated as critical habitat must 

consult with us on the effects of their 

proposed actions pursuant to section 

7(a)(2) of the Act. 

Section 4 of the Act requires that we 

consider economic and other relevant 

impacts prior to making a final decision 

on what areas to designate as critical 

habitat. We have prepared a draft 

economic analysis for the proposal to 

designate certain areas as critical habitat 

for the California tiger salamander. This 

analysis considers the potential 

economic effects of our proposed 

designation. It also considers the 

economic effects of protective measures 

taken as a result of listing the species 

under the Act, and other Federal, State, 

and local laws that aid habitat 

conservation in areas proposed for 

designation. 

The majority of these areas occur on 

privately owned land. We know of no 

Federal, State, tribal, or military lands 

within proposed critical habitat. A small 

portion of land within one unit is 

owned by local jurisdictions, including 

the county of Santa Barbara and the 

Laguna County Sanitation District. The 

economic analysis addresses the 

impacts of California tiger salamander 

conservation efforts on activities 

occurring on lands proposed for 

designation. The analysis measures lost 

economic efficiency associated with real 

estate development, grazing activities, 

agriculture, vineyards, road 

construction projects, utility and other 

infrastructure projects, as well as the 

California Environmental Quality Act 

(CEQA) requirements, uncertainty, and 

project delay. 

There is a great deal of uncertainty in 

estimating the impact of California tiger 

salamander-related conservation 

activities in the future. For example, the 

economic analysis projects significant 

future cost to private developers as a 

result of California tiger salamander 

conservation activities even though 

these costs have been relatively minimal 

in the past. For some activities the 

analysis estimates an upper-bound cost 

estimate, for others a conservative 

approach is taken to reach a best 

estimate. The implicit lower-bound cost 

estimate predicts no impact. 

Total efficiency costs (e.g., lost 

economic opportunities associated with 

restrictions on land use) for the upper 

bound scenario are estimated to be $411 

million between 2005 and 2030. The 

efficiency costs for the lower bound 

scenario are estimated to be $105 

million between 2005 and 2030. In both 

cases, the real estate industry, in 

particular the owners of developable 

land, is estimated to experience the 

highest cost overall, followed by 

agriculture and road construction 

projects. 

Public Comments Solicited 

We intend any final action resulting 

from this proposal to be as accurate and 

as effective as possible. Therefore, we 

solicit comments or suggestions from 

the public, other concerned 

governmental agencies, the scientific 

community, industry, or any other 

interested party concerning the 

economic analysis or the proposed rule. 

We particularly seek comments 

concerning:

(1) The reasons why any habitat 

should or should not be determined to 

be critical habitat as provided by section 

4 of the Act, including whether the 

benefits of excluding outweigh benefits 

of including any area as critical habitat; 

(2) Specific information on the 

amount and distribution of California 

tiger salamander habitat, and what 

habitat is essential to the conservation 

of this species and why; 

(3) Land use designations and current 

or planned activities in the subject area 

and their possible impacts on proposed 

critical habitat; 

(4) Any foreseeable economic or other 

impacts resulting from the proposed 

designation of critical habitat, in 

particular, any impacts on small 

entities; 

(5) Whether the economic analysis 

identifies all State and local costs. If not, 

what costs are overlooked; 

(6) Whether the economic analysis 

makes appropriate assumptions 

regarding current practices and likely 

regulatory changes imposed as a result 

of the designation of critical habitat; 

(7) Whether the economic analysis 

correctly assesses the effect on regional 

costs associated with land use controls 

that derive from the designation; 

(8) Whether the designation will 

result in disproportionate economic 

impacts to specific areas that should be 

evaluated for possible exclusion from 

the final designation; 

(9) Whether the economic analysis 

appropriately identifies all costs that 

could result from the designation; 

(10) Whether our approach to critical 

habitat designation could be improved 

or modified in any way to provide for 

greater public participation and 

understanding, or to assist us in 

accommodating public concern and 

comments; 

(11) What the likely benefits of 

designating critical habitat are and 

whether the economic analysis 

appropriately captures those economic 

benefits that are susceptible to 

quantification; 

(12) Any suggestions to improve our 

economic analysis particularly with 

regard to its consideration of the 

foreseeable economic benefits of critical 

habitat designation; and 

(13) Any suggestions to improve our 

ability to identify the noneconomic 

benefits of designating a particular area 

as critical habitat to enable a more 

comprehensive and informed analysis of 

the economic and other relevant 

impacts of designation. 

All comments and information 

submitted during the previous comment 

periods on the proposed rule need not 

be resubmitted. If you wish to comment, 

you may submit your comments and 

materials concerning this rule by any 

one of several methods (see ADDRESSES

section). Please submit Internet 

comments to fw1ctsch@r1.fws.gov and 

include ‘‘Attn: California Tiger 

Salamander in SB County Critical 

Habitat’’ in your e-mail subject header, 

and your name and return address in 

the body of your message. If you do not 

receive a confirmation from the system 

that we have received your Internet 

message, contact us directly by calling 

our Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office 

(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section). 

Our practice is to make comments, 

including names and home addresses of 

respondents, available for public review 

during regular business hours. 

Individual respondents may request that 

we withhold their home addresses from 

the rulemaking record, which we will 

honor to the extent allowable by law. 

There also may be circumstances in 

which we would withhold from the 

rulemaking record a respondent’s 

identity, as allowable by law. If you 

wish us to withhold your name and/or 

address, you must state this 

60140 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 194 / Thursday, October 7, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comment. However, we will not 

consider anonymous comments. We 

will make all submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety. 

Comments and materials received will 

be available for public inspection, by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours at the above address. 

Author 

The primary author of this notice is 

the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office 

staff (see ADDRESSES section). 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Dated: September 29, 2004. 

Julie MacDonald, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks.

[FR Doc. 04–22540 Filed 10–6–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P