Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 139 / Thursday, July 19, 2018 / Notices 34155 

goals, and objectives differ slightly, they 

are substantively similar. 

Mission: To support the Service’s 

mission by connecting people to fish, 

wildlife, and their habitats through 

strategic implementation of 

transportation programs. 

Goals and Objectives: Each of these 

long-range transportation plans has six 

substantively similar goals: Safety; 

access, mobility, and connectivity; asset 

management; environmental protection; 

visitor experience; and partnership. 

Region 8 has an additional seventh goal: 

Planning. Under each goal, each Region 

presents distinct objectives that move 

the Service to the goal. Please see the 

individual draft LRTPs for more 

information. 

Next Steps 

After the comment period ends, the 

Service will analyze the comments 

received and consider them in 

preparation of final LRTPs. 

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. 

Gregory J. Sheehan, 

Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15415 Filed 7–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2017–N132; FXES11130000– 

189–FF08E00000] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for the 

Southern California Distinct Population 

Segment of the Mountain Yellowlegged Frog (Rana muscosa) 

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 the Southern California Distinct 

Population Segment of the Mountain 

Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) for 

public review and comment. The draft 

recovery plan includes objective, 

measurable criteria, and site-specific 

management actions as may be 

necessary to reclassify the species from 

endangered to threatened and also for 

removal from the Federal List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. 

DATES: We must receive any comments 

on the draft recovery plan on or before 

September 17, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Document availability: You 

may obtain a copy of the recovery plan 

from our website at http://www.fws.gov/ 

endangered/species/recoveryplans.html. Alternatively, you may 

contact the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife 

Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

2177 Salk Avenue, Suite 250, Carlsbad, 

California 92008 (telephone 760–431– 

9440). 

Comment submission: If you wish to 

comment on the draft recovery plan, 

you may submit your comments in 

writing by any one of the following 

methods: 

• U.S. mail: Field Supervisor, at the 

above address; 

• Hand-delivery: Carlsbad Fish and 

Wildlife Office, at the above address; or 

• Email: fw8cfwocomments@fws.gov. 

For additional information about 

submitting comments, see the ‘‘Public 

Comments Solicited’’ section below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mendel Stewart, 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 (Act; 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 necessary under the criteria 

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

The Act 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 Act, 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. 

The Service listed the southern 

California distinct population segment 

of mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana 

muscosa) (hereafter ‘‘southern R. 

muscosa’’) as endangered in 2002 (67 

FR 44382, July 2, 2002), and critical 

habitat was designated for the species in 

2006 (71 FR 54344, September 14, 

2006). Historically, southern R. muscosa 

was widely distributed in at least 166 

known populations in watersheds 

across four mountain ranges in southern 

California. Currently, the species is 

restricted to 10 small, isolated 

populations in the headwaters of 

streams or tributaries within the San 

Gabriel, San Bernardino, and San 

Jacinto Mountains. Primary habitat for 

the southern R. muscosa includes 

streams with permanent (perennial) 

water that have steep gradients with 

numerous pools, rapids, and small 

waterfalls. The smallest creeks are likely 

not inhabited by southern R. muscosa 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
34156 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 139 / Thursday, July 19, 2018 / Notices 

because they lack adequate depth to 

provide refuge or overwintering habitat. 

Southern Rana muscosa is impacted 

by a number of threats, including: 

Recreational activities (hiking, 

mountain climbing, camping, 

swimming, stocking of trout resulting in 

predation, and suction dredge mining 

for gold), dumping of trash and release 

of toxic or hazardous materials into 

occupied stream reaches, wildfire, 

predatory nonnative species (trout), the 

potential for disease, threats associated 

with small population size (genetic, 

demographic, and environmental 

stochasticity, and natural catastrophes), 

illegal marijuana cultivation, fire 

management activities, nonnative 

plants, climate change, and 

contaminants. 

Recovery Strategy 

The purpose of a recovery plan is to 

provide a framework for the recovery of 

a species so that protection under the 

Act 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 recovery plan is to 

control or ameliorate impacts from 

current threats to the southern Rana 

muscosa such that the taxon no longer 

requires protections afforded by the Act 

and, therefore, warrants delisting. 

Continued outreach with our partners is 

needed to ensure long-term protections 

are afforded to the southern R. muscosa 

and its habitat. The site-specific 

management actions identified in the 

draft recovery plan are as follows: 

(1) Conduct research to inform 

management actions throughout the 

range of the species; 

(2) Create and implement a protocol 

for rangewide surveys and monitoring; 

(3) Ameliorate Factor A threats 

associated with present or threatened 

destruction, modification, or 

curtailment of the habitat or range 

throughout each of the three Recovery 

Units; 

(4) Ameliorate Factor C threats 

associated with predation and disease in 

each of the three Recovery Units; 

(5) Ameliorate Factor E threats 

associated with other natural or 

manmade factors affecting the 

continued existence of southern Rana 

muscosa in each of the three Recovery 

Units; 

(6) Use reestablishment and 

population augmentation to increase 

abundance and expand distribution in 

the wild. 

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 southern Rana 

muscosa. You may submit written 

comments and information by mail, 

email, or in person to the Carlsbad 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 recovery plan and 

publish this notice under the authority 

of section 4(f) of the Act, 16 U.S.C. 

1533(f). 

Angela Picco, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest 

Region. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15362 Filed 7–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of the Secretary 

[DOI–2018–0004; 18XD4523WC DS68644000 

DWCHF0000.000000 DQ.FPPJB.18000000] 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of a modified system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of 

the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 

the Department of the Interior proposes 

to modify the Department of the Interior 

system of records titled, ‘‘Payroll, 

Attendance, Retirement, and Leave 

Records—Interior, DOI–85.’’ This 

system of records allows the Department 

of the Interior to manage human 

resources and payroll functions; ensure 

proper payment for salary and benefits; 

track time worked, leave, or other 

absences for reporting and compliance 

purposes; and meet regulatory 

requirements such as specialized pay, 

garnishments, and special appointment 

programs. The Department of the 

Interior is updating this system of 

records notice to (1) add new proposed 

routine uses, (2) modify existing routine 

uses to provide clarification, (3) modify 

the categories of records and categories 

of individuals covered by the system, 

and (4) update system location, 

authority for maintenance of the system, 

storage, retrievability, safeguards, 

retention and disposal, system manager 

and address, notification procedures, 

records access and contesting 

procedures, and records source 

categories. This modified system will be 

included in the Department of the 

Interior’s inventory of record systems. 

DATES: This modified system will be 

effective upon publication. New or 

modified routine uses will be effective 

August 20, 2018. Submit comments on 

or before August 20, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by docket number DOI–2018– 

0004, by any of the following methods: 

• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Teri Barnett, Departmental 

Privacy Officer, U.S. Department of the 

Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Room 7112, 

Washington, DC 20240. 

• Hand-delivering comments to Teri 

Barnett, Departmental Privacy Officer, 

U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C 

Street NW, Room 7112, Washington, DC 

20240. 

• Email: DOI_Privacy@ios.doi.gov. 

All submissions received must include 

the agency name and docket number. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change to http://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teri 

Barnett, Departmental Privacy Officer, 

U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C 

Street NW, Room 7112, Washington, DC 

20240, email at DOI_Privacy@

ios.doi.gov or by telephone at (202) 208– 

1605. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Department of the Interior (DOI), 

Interior Business Center (IBC) maintains 

the ‘‘Payroll, Attendance, Retirement, 

and Leave Records—Interior, DOI–85’’ 

system of records. This system helps 

DOI manage human resources and 

payroll functions; ensure proper 

payment for salary and benefits; track 

time worked, leave, or other absences 

for reporting and compliance purposes; 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES