46710 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 171 / Thursday, September 4, 1997 / Proposed Rules

in the record for treating southeast

Alaska wolves as a distinct subspecies,

Canis lupus ligoni, and, therefore,

believes that it is reasonable to review

the status of wolves in southeastern

Alaska as a listable entity under the

Endangered Species Act.

The Alexander Archipelago wolf

occurs on the mainland in southeast

Alaska from Dixon Entrance to Yakutat

Bay and on all the major islands in the

Alexander Archipelago except

Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof

islands. Wolves in southeast Alaska are

relatively isolated by the Pacific Ocean

and the Coast Mountain Range. Six

rivers or passes penetrate the Coastal

Mountains and may allow some

interchange between wolves in

southeast Alaska and those in British

Columbia, Canada. Wolves in Alaska

and coastal British Columbia may also

interchange along the coastal mainland;

however, the amount of interchange

between Alaska and British Columbia

wolves has not been studied.

The current population of Alexander

Archipelago wolves is thought to be

stable at moderate to high densities. The

population size of wolves in southeast

Alaska is not known with certainty but

probably numbers between 750 and

1,500 individuals. About 67 percent of

the population is estimated to live on

the islands in the central and southern

portion of the archipelago.

Potential threats to the species’

persistence include human-caused

mortality, disease, loss of prey as a

result of timber harvest, and loss of prey

as the result of severe winter weather.

Results from a recent scientific study

indicate that hunting and trapping of

wolves may have exceeded sustainable

levels on Prince of Wales and Kosciusko

Islands, Alaska. In response to that

study, the Alaska Board of Game and

the Federal Subsistence Board revised

hunting and trapping regulations in

southeast Alaska to limit annual wolf

harvest to acceptable levels.

Canine diseases have been

documented in other North American

wolf populations. Evidence from these

other populations indicates that

although disease may cause mortality, it

is unlikely to have an effect on the

population of Alexander Archipelago

wolves.

The Service considers potential loss

of prey the most serious threat. Wolves

are capable of exploiting a variety of

ungulate and nonungulate prey. Within

the major island groups in southeast

Alaska, where wolves are most

abundant and logging is most prevalent,

Sitka black-tailed deer and, to a lesser

extent, beaver are the most commonly

used prey. On the mainland, goats are

the most commonly used ungulate prey.

Moose and elk have very limited

distributions in southeast Alaska and

are probably used where available.

Logging on the Tongass National

Forest has been concentrated in high

volume forests since industrial scale

logging began in 1955. These forests are

important winter habitat for deer

because the multilayered canopies

intercept snow and allow deer access to

highly nutritious forage that is not

available in most clearcuts and secondgrowth forests. Much of the harvest has

occurred within the major island groups

and adjacent mainland occupied by

wolves. The projected logging of old

growth in southeast Alaska will result in

a decline of deer in southeast Alaska.

Effects of logging will be particularly

evident during winters with heavy snow

that persists on the forest floor for long

periods of time. Because wolves are

inextricably tied to their prey, declines

in deer are expected to eventually result

in declines of wolves.

Despite the anticipated population

decline, the Service believes that wolves

in southeast Alaska will not be in

danger of extinction within the

foreseeable future because we expect the

population decline to stop at an

acceptable level. Additionally, wolves

are known to persist at low numbers in

healthy populations and to be resilient

to the activities of man because of their

high reproductive rate and high

dispersal capability. The Service,

therefore, concludes that the Alexander

Archipelago wolf is unlikely to become

endangered throughout all or a

significant portion of its range in the

foreseeable future.

Authors: The primary authors of this

document are Teresa Woods, Fish and

Wildlife Biologist, 907/786–3505, and

Tony DeGange, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, 907/786–3492, of the Fish and

Wildlife Service, Alaska Regional

Office.

Authority

The authority for this section is the

Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531

et seq.).

Dated: August 28, 1997.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 97–23501 Filed 9–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

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.

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
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 171 / Thursday, September 4, 1997 / Proposed Rules 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 longterm 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 oldgrowth 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.).
46712 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 171 / Thursday, September 4, 1997 / Proposed Rules

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