[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 171 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46710-46712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-23502]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding 
for a Petition To List the Queen Charlotte Goshawk as Endangered and To 
Designate Critical Habitat

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of 12-month petition finding.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a 12-month 
finding for a petition to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk (Accipiter 
gentilis laingi) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. 
After review of all available scientific and commercial information, 
the Service finds that listing this subspecies as endangered or 
threatened is not warranted.

DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on August 28, 
1997.

ADDRESSES: Data, information, comments, or questions concerning this 
petition should be sent to the Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Ecological Services Field Office, 3000 Vintage Blvd., Suite 
201, Juneau, Alaska 99801-7100. The petition finding, supporting data, 
and comments are available for public inspection, by appointment, 
during normal business hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Lindell, Fish and Wildlife 
Biologist, at the above address, or by calling 907/586-7240.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that, for any petition to 
revise the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants that 
contains substantial scientific and commercial information, the Service 
make a finding on whether the petitioned action is (a) not warranted, 
(b) warranted, or (c) warranted but precluded from immediate proposal 
by other pending proposals of higher priority.
    On May 9, 1994, the Fish and Wildlife Service received a petition 
dated May 2, 1994, from the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, 
Greater Gila Biodiversity Project, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, 
Greater Ecosystem Alliance, Save the West, Save America's

[[Page 46711]]

Forests, Native Forest Network, Native Forest Council, Eric Holle, and 
Don Muller, to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk as endangered under the 
Endangered Species Act. The petition was based largely upon the present 
and impending effects of timber harvest in the Tongass National Forest 
on the Queen Charlotte goshawk. On August 26, 1994, the Service 
published a positive 90-day finding (59 FR 44124) that substantial 
information was presented in the petition indicating that the requested 
action may be warranted.
    In accordance with the Service's listing petition procedures, the 
positive 90-day finding initiated a more thorough 12-month evaluation, 
and based on this evaluation the Service determined on May 19, 1995, 
that listing was not warranted (60 FR 33784).
    On November 17, 1995, the Southwest Center for Biological 
Diversity, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Save the West, Save America's 
Forests, Native Forest Network, Native Forest Council, Eric Holle, and 
Don Muller filed a complaint in United States District Court, District 
of Columbia, against the Department of the Interior and the Service for 
their refusal to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk and designate 
critical habitat. On September 25, 1996, the United States District 
Court remanded the 12-month finding to the Secretary of the Interior, 
instructing him to reconsider the determination ``on the basis of the 
current forest plan, and status of the goshawk and its habitat, as they 
stand today'' (95 CV 02138 DDC).
    Accordingly, the Service began to reconsider the status of the 
subspecies on the basis of the 1979 Tongass Land Management Plan, which 
was at that time the ``current forest plan.'' A public comment period 
opened on December 5, 1996 (61 FR 64497) and was extended through April 
4, 1997 (61 FR 69065; 62 FR 6930; and 62 FR 14662) to gather all 
available information for review. Prior to a final determination, 
however, the USDA Forest Service issued the 1997 Tongass Land 
Management Plan Revision, which superseded the 1979 version of the 
plan. In keeping with the United States District Court's order that a 
finding be based upon the ``current forest plan,'' the District Court 
granted an extension until August 31, 1997, so that the petitioners, 
public, and Service could reconsider the status of the Queen Charlotte 
goshawk under the revised Tongass Land Management Plan. Therefore, the 
Service reopened the public comment period from June 12 to July 28, 
1997 (62 FR 32070). We based this finding, therefore, upon all 
available information on the subspecies throughout its range, as well 
as long-term habitat projections for the Tongass National Forest 
included in the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan Revision.
    The northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) occurs in boreal and 
temperate forests of North America, Europe, and Asia. This notice 
pertains exclusively to the Queen Charlotte goshawk (A. g. laingi), a 
subspecies that occurs in the coastal temperate rainforests of 
southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. Although some 
uncertainty surrounds the exact range of the subspecies and the zones 
of intergradation between it and A. g. atricapillus (which is the 
subspecies that occurs in adjacent areas), the distribution of the 
Queen Charlotte goshawk is currently described as the islands and 
mainland of southeast Alaska south of Icy Strait and Lynn Canal, and 
the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
    Queen Charlotte goshawks are difficult to census, and no reliable 
population estimates or population trend data are available. However, 
recent research has shown that the Queen Charlotte goshawk has a strong 
association with productive old-growth forest, where it usually nests, 
spends the majority of its time, and which provides habitat for most of 
the hawk's important prey species. Therefore, harvest of productive 
old-growth forest is likely to adversely affect the Queen Charlotte 
goshawk, and an interagency team of experts recently concluded that the 
goshawk's abundance has likely declined in recent years as a result of 
habitat loss. In 1994, the Alaska Region of the Forest Service 
designated the Queen Charlotte goshawk as a sensitive species, and the 
Alaska Department of Fish and Game designated the subspecies as a 
``species of special concern.'' The Committee on the Status of 
Endangered Wildlife in Canada designated the Queen Charlotte goshawk as 
``vulnerable'' in Canada in 1995, and the Province of British Columbia 
added the subspecies to their ``red list'' of candidates for endangered 
or threatened status.
    The Service has identified four factors associated with timber 
harvest have been identified as potential threats to the subspecies' 
persistence. They are loss of nesting habitat, a reduction in foraging 
success, increased predation, and a reduction in dispersal and gene 
flow. However, there is little information on these threats, so 
assessment of their effects on goshawks at the population level remain 
largely speculative. As a result, in evaluating the Queen Charlotte 
goshawk's status, the Service has relied primarily upon consideration 
of the proportion of productive old-growth forest that has been, and is 
projected to be, affected by logging.
    In southeast Alaska, when habitat projections for the Tongass 
National Forest (derived from the 1997 Revision to the Tongass Land 
Management Plan) were added to estimates for private and State lands, 
approximately 57 percent of the original productive old-growth forest 
is contained within large reserves where timber harvest is prohibited. 
In the matrix, which is the area outside of reserves where harvest can 
take place, another 18 percent of the original productive old-growth 
forest will be maintained by measures intended to protect beach and 
estuary fringes, riparian corridors, and other resources. Thus, a total 
of 75 percent of the original preferred habitat will remain intact. 
Although fragmentation may compromise habitat quality in some areas, 
the Service believes that large reserves will provide sufficient 
habitat for goshawks to ensure that the subspecies will persist 
throughout southeast Alaska in well-distributed local populations.
    In British Columbia, approximately 64 percent of the original 
productive old-growth forest will be protected on the Queen Charlotte 
Islands, with 20 percent in reserves and 44 percent maintained within 
the matrix. On Vancouver Island, considerably less of the original old-
growth will be protected: 13 percent of the old-growth is contained 
within reserves and 23 percent will be protected in the matrix, for a 
total of 36 percent of the total. There is insufficient information to 
predict the effect of removing 64 percent of the old growth forest on 
goshawk abundance on Vancouver Island. However, given that 75 percent 
and 64 percent of the original productive old growth forest will remain 
intact in southeast Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands, 
respectively, the Service believes with a high degree of certainty that 
Queen Charlotte goshawks will persist and do not warrant listing under 
section 4 of the Endangered Species Act.
    Authors: The primary authors of this document are Ted Swem, 
Wildlife Biologist, Fairbanks Ecological Services Office, 907/456-0441, 
and Teresa Woods, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, 907/786-3505 of the 
Alaska Regional Office.

Authority

    The authority for this section is the Endangered Species Act (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).


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    Dated: August 28, 1997.
Jamie Rappaport Clark.
Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 97-23502 Filed 9-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P