62078 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 204 / Monday, October 23, 2006 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

RIN 1018–AU99 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Determination of Status for 

Lepidium Papilliferum (Slickspot 

Peppergrass) 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of 

comment period and document 

availability. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), notify the 

public of the reinstatement of our July 

15, 2002 proposed rule to list Lepidium 

papilliferum (slickspot peppergrass) as 

endangered under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), 

and announce the reopening of the 

public comment period on that 

proposed listing. 

DATES: We will accept comments from 

all interested parties until 5 p.m. 

Mountain Standard Time on November 

13, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, 

you may submit your comments and 

materials concerning this proposal by 

any one of several methods: 

(1) You may mail or hand-deliver 

written comments and information to 

Field Supervisor, Snake River Fish and 

Wildlife Office, 1387 S. Vinnell Way, 

Boise, ID 83709. 

(2) You may send comments by 

electronic mail (e-mail) to: 

fw1srbocomment@fws.gov. Please see 

the Public Comments Solicited section 

below for file format and other 

information about electronic filing. 

(3) You may fax your comments to 

208–378–5262. 

(4) You may submit comments online 

via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go 

to http://www.regulations.gov and 

follow the instructions for submitting 

comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jeffery Foss, Field Supervisor, Snake 

River Fish and Wildlife Office, 1387 S. 

Vinnell Way, Boise, ID 83709; telephone 

208–378–5243. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Comments Solicited 

We intend that any final action 

resulting from the proposal to list 

Lepidium papilliferum (slickspot 

peppergrass) as endangered under the 

Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) will be as 

accurate and as effective as possible. 

Therefore, comments or suggestions 

from the public, other concerned 

governmental agencies, the scientific 

community, industry, or any other 

interested party concerning the 

proposed rule are hereby solicited. We 

are providing further information for the 

public to consider, including a 

document we prepared entitled ‘‘Draft 

Best Available Biological Information 

for Slickspot Peppergrass (Lepidium 

papilliferum)’’ (BAI), February 27, 2006, 

a number of peer reviews of this 

document, a matrix of the threats data 

to be used in making our listing 

determination, and a list of conservation 

measures for the species currently 

underway. 

Comments particularly are sought 

concerning: 

(1) Whether our proposed application 

of our Policy for Evaluation of 

Conservation Efforts (PECE) can be 

improved. 

(2) Whether the threats matrix 

contains the best available commercial 

and scientific data and if not what other 

data we should consider. 

(3) How might the Service best 

address the issues raised in the peer 

reviews of the Draft BAI. 

(4) Any additional comments on the 

BAI. 

(5) Whether the Service has identified 

all conservation actions underway, if 

any should be added and whether the 

actions are accurately characterized. 

If you wish to comment, you may 

submit your comments and materials 

concerning the proposal by any one of 

several methods (see ADDRESSES

section). Please submit Internet 

comments to fw1srbocomment@fws.gov 

in ASCII file format and avoid the use 

of special characters or any form of 

encryption. Please also include ‘‘RIN 

1018–AU99’’ 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 

(see ADDRESSES). Please note that the 

Internet address 

fw1srbocomment@fws.gov will be 

unavailable at the termination of the 

public comment period. 

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 names and home 

addresses, etc., but if you wish us to 

consider withholding this information, 

you must state this prominently at the 

beginning of your comments. In 

addition, you must present rationale for 

withholding this information. This 

rationale must demonstrate that 

disclosure would constitute a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of privacy. 

Unsupported assertions will not meet 

this burden. In the absence of 

exceptional, documentable 

circumstances, this information will be 

released. We will always make 

submissions from organizations or 

businesses, and from individuals 

identifying themselves as 

representatives of or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety. 

Previous Federal Actions 

For a description of Federal actions 

concerning Lepidium papilliferum that 

occurred prior to January 22, 2004, 

please refer to our withdrawal of the 

proposed rule published in the Federal 

Register on January 22, 2004 (69 FR 

3094). 

On July 15, 2002, we published a 

proposed rule (67 FR 46441) to list 

Lepidium papilliferum as endangered 

under the Act. We accepted public 

comments on the proposal for 60 days, 

until September 13, 2002. We also held 

a public hearing on August 29, 2002. On 

September 25, 2002, and again on July 

18, 2003, we reopened the public 

comment period on the proposed 

listing. On October 30, 2003, we made 

the Candidate Conservation Agreement 

and Best Available Information for 

Slickspot Peppergrass available for 

public review and comment (68 FR 

61821). 

On January 22, 2004, we published a 

document withdrawing our proposed 

rule to list Lepidium papilliferum as 

endangered (69 FR 3094). That 

withdrawal was based on our 

conclusion that there was ‘‘a lack of 

strong evidence of a negative population 

trend,’’ and the formalized conservation 

plans (e.g., the CCA and INRMPs) had 

‘‘sufficient certainty that they will be 

implemented and will be effective such 

that the risk to the species is reduced to 

a level below the statutory definition of 

endangered or threatened.’’

On April 5, 2004, the Western 

Watershed Project filed a complaint 

challenging our decision to withdraw 

the proposed rule to list Lepidium 

papilliferum as endangered (Western 

Watersheds Project v. Jeffery Foss, et al., 

Case No. CV 04–168–S–EJL). On August 

19, 2005, the U.S. District Court for the 

District of Idaho reversed the decision to 

withdraw the proposed rule (which 

effectively reinstated our July 15, 2002, 

proposed rule at 67 FR 46441), with 

directions that the case be remanded to 

the Secretary of the Department of the 

Interior for reconsideration of ‘‘whether 

a proposed rule listing the slickspot 

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 204 / Monday, October 23, 2006 / Proposed Rules 62079 

peppergrass as either threatened or 

endangered should be adopted.’’

Following the August 19, 2005, U.S. 

District Court for the District of Idaho 

remand order, we notified Federal, 

State, and local agencies, county 

governments, elected officials, and other 

interested parties of the District Court’s 

decision in a letter dated October 13, 

2005. We requested new scientific data 

and information, and comments, about 

Lepidium papilliferum, and requested 

that any such comments be submitted 

by November 14, 2005. We also stated 

that scientific information received from 

the public would be utilized in a 

document titled, ‘‘Draft Best Available 

Biological Information for Slickspot 

Peppergrass (Lepidium papilliferum)’’

(BAI). We extended the comment period 

through December 14, 2005, and we 

received a total of 13 comment letters in 

response to our request for additional 

information. From February 27, 2006, 

through March 30, 2006, we opened a 

public comment and peer review 

period, during which we requested 

information on the BAI and on 

conservation efforts for the species. We 

received an additional 33 comments. 

A number of threats and potential 

threats to Lepidium papilliferum were 

identified as a result of past listing 

actions and a number of conservation 

actions to address those threats have 

been identified. In evaluating the 

contributions of these conservation 

actions under the PECE, where the 

Service is party to agreements regarding 

conservation actions for Lepidium 

papilliferum, we propose to consider 

whether the actions contained in those 

agreements are likely to be effective over 

time. For those plans that the Service is 

not a party to, the PECE policy 

evaluation is proposed to be based on 

their consistency with management 

guidance the Service has provided to 

other agencies and cooperators. We 

request that commenter’s address 

whether the foregoing will result in an 

appropriate application of the PECE. 

On October, 2006, the Court directed 

the Service to issue a final listing 

determination by January 4, 2007. The 

Service will complete its review of any 

information and comments submitted 

during this comment period to comply 

with that order. 

Information Available for Review 

Information received, developed, or 

analyzed since the August 19, 2005, 

U.S. District Court remand of our 

proposed listing withdrawal is available 

for review by accessing the following 

Web site: http://www.fws.gov/idahoes/, 

or by contacting the Field Supervisor 

(see ADDRESSES above). This information 

includes the following: 

(1) The document ‘‘Draft Best 

Available Biological Information for 

Slickspot Peppergrass (Lepidium 

papilliferum)’’ (BAI), February 27, 2006. 

(2) Peer review comments on the BAI. 

(3) A threats matrix of the data used 

to make the listing determination; 

(4) A spreadsheet containing a 

description of Lepidium papilliferum 

conservation measures in the CCA, 

including an explanation of how the 

Policy for Evaluation of Conservation 

Efforts (PECE) will be applied in making 

our determinations regarding the 

benefits of the conservation actions. 

Following this public comment 

period, we will be using any new 

information, along with existing 

scientific and commercial information 

in assessing species status. 

Author 

The primary authors of this notice are 

staff of the Snake River Fish and 

Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

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

Dated: October 17, 2006. 

Marshall Jones, 

Acting Director, Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–8833 Filed 10–18–06; 4:25 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

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