Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Notices 66297 

enrolled property, even if such 

alteration or modification results in the 

incidental take of listed species to such 

an extent that it returned the species 

back to the originally agreed upon 

baseline conditions. 

We listed the Taylor’s checkerspot as 

an endangered species on October 3, 

2013 (78 FR 61452), with critical 

habitat. Historically, the Taylor’s 

checkerspot butterfly was likely 

distributed throughout grassland habitat 

found on prairies, grassland bluffs, and 

grassland openings within a forested 

matrix. Habitat has been lost through 

conversion and degradation of habitat, 

particularly from agricultural and urban 

development, successional changes 

where grassland habitat reverted more 

towards forest characteristics, and the 

spread of invasive plants. In Oregon, the 

Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly is 

presently only known to occur at two 

sites. Both sites are located in Benton 

County on grassland hills within a 

forested matrix in the Willamette 

Valley. 

Proposed Action 

Crestmont Farm and the Service 

jointly developed the proposed SHA for 

the conservation of the Taylor’s 

checkerspot butterfly. The physical area 

addressed by this SHA encompasses 

approximately 27 acres that lie within a 

suspended, high-voltage powerline 

corridor. The area covers the majority of 

the known population of Taylor’s 

checkerspot butterfly at this site. 

Current vegetative conditions are typical 

of powerline corridor areas and include 

a mixture of grassland, shrubs, and 

young trees, with a fairly linear border 

of managed conifer forest. Management 

actions taken under the SHA are 

intended to maintain existing habitat 

conditions as well as increase the 

distribution and abundance of Taylor’s 

checkerspot butterfly through 

enhancement of adjacent or nearby, 

unoccupied grassland habitat. Providing 

additional habitat areas can also 

increase the likelihood of persistence of 

the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly by 

offering microhabitat variations that 

may provide a range of habitat 

conditions that is not equally adversely 

affected by weather, plant community 

changes, predator populations, etc. The 

Service will coordinate a variety of 

management activities with Crestmont 

Farm pursuant to this SHA. These 

management activities generally 

include: (1) Controlling/reducing nonnative grasses; (2) controlling/reducing 

woody vegetation encroachment; (3) 

increasing the density and diversity of 

larval host plants, native nectar species, 

and other native species; and (4) 

maintaining suitable habitat conditions. 

In addition, the SHA provides for 

research and monitoring to occur. 

The draft EAS now available for 

public review (see ADDRESSESindicates 

that the proposed SHA and permit 

decision may be eligible for a categorical 

exclusion under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We are making the 

permit application package, including 

the SHA, and draft EAS, available for 

public review and comment. 

Public Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

materials by one of the methods listed 

in the ADDRESSES section. We request 

data, comments, new information, or 

suggestions from the public, other 

concerned governmental agencies, the 

scientific community, Tribes, industry, 

or any other interested party on our 

proposed Federal action, including 

adequacy of the SHA pursuant to the 

requirements for permits at 50 CFR parts 

13 and 17 and adequacy of the EAS 

pursuant to NEPA. 

Public Availability of Comments 

All comments and materials we 

receive become part of the public record 

associated with this action. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comments, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. All submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, will be 

made available for public disclosure in 

their entirety. Comments and materials 

we receive, as well as supporting 

documentation, will be available for 

public inspection by appointment, 

during normal business hours, at our 

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Authority 

We provide this notice in accordance 

with the requirements of section 10(c) of 

the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and 

NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and their 

implementing regulations (50 CFR 

17.22, and 40 CFR 1506.6, respectively). 

Rollie White, 

Acting Deputy Regional Director, Pacific 

Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27890 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2017–N103; FXES11130000– 

189–FF08E00000] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for 

Franciscan Manzanita (Arctostaphylos 

franciscana) 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of document availability. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, announce the 

availability of the Draft Recovery Plan 

for Franciscan Manzanita 

(Arctostaphylos franciscana) for public 

review and comment. The draft recovery 

plan includes objective, measurable 

criteria for downlisting the species to 

threatened, and site-specific actions 

necessary to reclassify the species from 

endangered to threatened on the Federal 

Lists of Endangered and Threatened 

Wildlife and Plants. 

DATES: We must receive any comments 

on the draft recovery plan on or before 

February 25, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: You may obtain a copy of 

the draft recovery plan from our website 

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

species/recovery-plans.html. 

Alternatively, you may contact the 

Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2800 

Cottage Way, Suite W–2605, 

Sacramento, CA 95825 (telephone 916– 

414–6700). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jennifer Norris, Field Supervisor, at the 

above street address or telephone 

number (see ADDRESSES). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background 

Recovery of endangered or threatened 

animals and plants to the point where 

they are again secure, self-sustaining 

members of their ecosystems is a 

primary goal of our endangered species 

program and the Endangered Species 

Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 

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

improvement of the status of listed 

species to the point at which listing is 

no longer appropriate under the criteria 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
66298 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Notices 

specified in section 4(a)(1) of the ESA. 

The ESA requires the development of 

recovery plans for listed species, unless 

such a plan would not promote the 

conservation of a particular species. 

Pursuant to section 4(f) of the ESA, a 

recovery plan must, to the maximum 

extent practicable, include (1) a 

description of site-specific management 

actions as may be necessary to achieve 

the plan’s goals for the conservation and 

survival of the species; (2) objective, 

measurable criteria which, when met, 

would support a determination under 

section 4(a)(1) that the species should be 

removed from the List of Endangered 

and Threatened Species; and (3) 

estimates of the time and costs required 

to carry out those measures needed to 

achieve the plan’s goal and to achieve 

intermediate steps toward that goal. 

The Service has revised its approach 

to recovery planning; the revised 

process is called Recovery Planning and 

Implementation (RPI). The RPI process 

is intended to reduce the time needed 

to develop and implement recovery 

plans, increase recovery plan relevancy 

over a longer timeframe, and add 

flexibility to recovery plans so they can 

be adjusted to new information or 

circumstances. Under RPI, a recovery 

plan will include statutorily required 

elements (objective, measurable criteria, 

site-specific management actions, and 

estimates of time and costs), along with 

a concise introduction and our strategy 

for how we plan to achieve species 

recovery. The RPI recovery plan is 

supported by a separate Species Status 

Assessment, or in cases such as this one, 

a species biological report that provides 

the background information and threat 

assessment, which are key to recovery 

plan development. The essential 

component to flexible implementation 

under RPI is producing a separate 

working document called the Recovery 

Implementation Strategy 

(implementation strategy). The 

implementation strategy steps down 

from the more general description of 

actions described in the recovery plan to 

detail the specific, near-term activities 

needed to implement the recovery plan. 

The implementation strategy will be 

adaptable by being able to incorporate 

new information without having to 

concurrently revise the recovery plan, 

unless changes to statutory elements are 

required. 

Franciscan manzanita was thought to 

be extirpated in the wild prior to the 

discovery of a single plant in 2009. 

There is still only a single known wild 

specimen, although the species also 

exists in cultivation to a limited extent. 

We listed Franciscan manzanita 

throughout its entire range on 

September 5, 2012 (77 FR 54434). The 

species has been known to occur only 

on the San Francisco peninsula in areas 

with serpentine soils, bedrock outcrops, 

greenstone, and mixed Franciscan rock. 

In addition to these serpentine soils, 

cool air temperatures, and summer fog 

are the primary habitat requirements for 

the species. 

The most significant threat to 

Franciscan manzanita is habitat loss 

from urbanization, which continues to 

impact remnant suitable habitat. Other 

threats include competition from 

invasive native and nonnative plants, 

potential infestation by Phytophthora 

sp., damage from herbivores such as the 

California vole, climate change, visitor 

use, vandalism, stochastic events, and 

the effects of small population size, 

water stress, and hybridization with 

closely related species. 

Recovery Plan Goals 

The purpose of a recovery plan is to 

provide a framework for the recovery of 

species so that protection under the ESA 

is no longer necessary. A recovery plan 

includes scientific information about 

the species and provides criteria that 

enable us to gauge whether downlisting 

or delisting the species is warranted. 

Furthermore, recovery plans help guide 

our recovery efforts by describing 

actions we consider necessary for each 

species’ conservation and by estimating 

time and costs for implementing needed 

recovery measures. 

The goal of this draft recovery plan is 

to improve the status of Franciscan 

manzanita so that it can be downlisted. 

Due to the current lack of information 

about the species’ biology and habitat 

requirements, the magnitude of current 

threats, and the existence of only a 

single plant in the wild, it is not 

currently practicable to determine 

appropriate delisting criteria; therefore, 

we focus on meeting the goal of 

downlisting. To meet the recovery goal 

of downlisting, the following objectives 

have been identified: 

1. Establish additional stands of 

Franciscan manzanita using cuttings 

and layers from the wild plant originally 

found on Doyle Drive. 

2. Establish stands of Franciscan 

manzanita using cuttings and layers 

from plants collected from the Laurel 

Hill Cemetery that represent other 

genotypes, and plant these individuals 

sufficiently close to the wild Franciscan 

manzanita clones so that outcrossing 

occurs among the genetically distinct 

individuals. 

3. Protect and manage habitat around 

extant and newly established plants (via 

vegetation control, irrigation 

supplementation, disease prevention, 

herbivore removal, and other means). 

4. Protect suitable habitat for future 

establishment of Franciscan manzanita 

populations. 

As Franciscan manzanita meets 

reclassification criteria, we will review 

its status and consider it for downlisting 

on the Federal Lists of Endangered and 

Threatened Wildlife and Plants. 

Public Comments Solicited 

We solicit written comments on the 

draft recovery plan described in this 

notice. All comments received by the 

date specified in DATES will be 

considered in development of a final 

recovery plan for Franciscan manzanita. 

You may submit written comments and 

information by mail or in person to the 

Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office at 

the above address (see ADDRESSES). 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Authority 

We developed this draft recovery plan 

under the authority of section 4(f) of the 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f). 

Lawrence Rabin, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest 

Region. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27825 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[AA–6657–A; AA–6657–C; AA–6657–F; AA– 

6657–I; AA–6657–A2; 

19X.LLAK.944000.L14100000.HY0000.P] 

Alaska Native Claims Selection 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of decision approving 

lands for conveyance. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) hereby provides 

constructive notice that it will issue an 

appealable decision approving 

conveyance of the surface estate in 

certain lands to Saguyak Incorporated, 

for the native village of Clarks Point, 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1