33034 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 116 /Wednesday, June 17, 1998 / Proposed Rules

biology, distribution, and status of the

Cowhead Lake tui chub in northeastern

California.

DATES: Comments from all interested

parties must be received by August 3,

1998. All comments received by the

closing date will be considered in the

final decision on this proposal.

ADDRESSES: Written comments,

materials and data, and available reports

and articles concerning this proposal

should be sent directly to the Field

Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and

Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, 3310 El Camino Avenue, Suite

130, Sacramento, California 95821.

Comments and materials received will

be available for public inspection, by

appointment, during normal business

hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ann

Chrisney, at the address listed above

(telephone 916/979–2725, facsimile

916/979–2723).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Cowhead Lake tui chub is a fish

that is found only in Cowhead Slough

and connected ditches within the bed of

Cowhead Lake in extreme northeastern

Modoc County, California. Prior to being

drained for agricultural purposes,

Cowhead Lake is thought to have

contained the majority of the Cowhead

Lake tui chub population. The entire

population appears to occur in a very

confined area of 5.4 kilometers (3.4

miles) of Cowhead Slough and

connected drainage within the bed of

Cowhead Lake. There are no additional

populations. Protection of the habitat

within this limited range is required to

conserve the Cowhead Lake tui chub.

This subspecies is threatened

throughout its range by a variety of

impacts, including loss of habitat from

agricultural activities, the risk of disease

and contamination, loss of genetic

variability and by naturally occurring

random events.

On March 30, 1998, the Service

published in the Federal Register a rule

proposing endangered status for the

Cowhead Lake tui chub (63 FR 15152).

The original comment period closed

May 29, 1998.

There have been requests from five

parties, including private organizations

and private citizens, to reopen the

comment period for this listing

proposal. The Service is seeking

additional information concerning:

(1) The size, number, or distribution

of populations of this subspecies; and

(2) Other biological, commercial, or

other relevant data on any threat (or lack

thereof) to this subspecies.

Written comments may be submitted

until August 3, 1998 to the Service

office in the ADDRESSES section.

Author

The primary author of this notice is

Ann Chrisney (see ADDRESSES section).

Authority

The authority for this action is the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16

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

Dated: June 9, 1998.

Don Weathers,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1.

[FR Doc. 98–15929 Filed 6–16–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 227

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

and Plants; 90-Day Finding for a

Petition To List the Spruce Creek Snail

of Florida as Threatened and

Designate Critical Habitat

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior; National Marine Fisheries

Service, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration,

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of 90-day petition

finding.

SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service

and National Marine Fisheries Service

(Services) announce a 90-day finding on

a petition to list the Spruce Creek snail

(Melongena sprucecreekensis) under the

Endangered Species Act, as amended.

The Services find the petition did not

present substantial scientific or

commercial information indicating that

listing this species may be warranted.

DATES: The finding announced in this

document was made on May 11, 1998,

and concurred with by NFMS on May

28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Questions, comments, data,

or information concerning this petition

should be submitted to the Field

Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, 6620 Southpoint Drive South,

Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216;

Regional Administrator, National

Marine Fisheries Service, 9721

Executive Center Drive, St. Petersburg,

Florida 33702–2432, or Chief,

Endangered Species Division, Office of

Protected Resources, National Marine

Fisheries Service, 1315 East West

Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland

20910. The petition finding, supporting

data, and comments are available for

public inspection, by appointment,

during normal business hours at the

above addresses.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

Michael M. Bentzien, Assistant Field

Supervisor, Jacksonville, Florida;

telephone 904/232–2580, ext. 106;

facsimile 904/232–2404 or Colleen

Coogan, Fishery Biologist, St.

Petersburg, Florida, telephone 813/570–

5312; facsimile 813/570–5517 (see

ADDRESSES section).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered

Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended

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

Services to make a finding on whether

a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a

species presents substantial scientific or

commercial information to demonstrate

that the petitioned action may be

warranted. This finding is to be based

on all information available to the

Services at the time the finding is made.

To the maximum extent practicable, this

finding shall be made within 90 days

following receipt of the petition, and

promptly published in the Federal

Register. If the finding is that

substantial information was presented,

the Services are also required to

promptly commence a review of the

status of the species involved, if one has

not already been initiated under the

Service’s internal candidate assessment

process.

On December 12, 1994, the Fish and

Wildlife Service received a petition

dated December 5, 1994, from R. P.

Haviland, corresponding secretary of the

Environmental Council of Volusia and

Flagler counties, Florida. The petition

requested the Service to list the Spruce

Creek snail, Melongena

sprucecreekensis, as a threatened

species and designate its critical habitat.

The petition stated that this recently

described snail is restricted to Spruce

Creek and associated waters in Volusia

County, Florida, and is threatened by

ongoing and potential development and

natural factors.

The Fish and Wildlife Service

received a previous petition in 1985 to

list the species, then known as the

Spruce Creek Kings Crown snail, as

endangered. The Service found that

petitioned action was not warranted due

to the species’ uncertain taxonomic
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 116 /Wednesday, June 17, 1998 / Proposed Rules 33035

status, and published its finding on July

18, 1985 (50 FR 29238). In a follow-up

letter to the petitioner, Mr. John Tucker

of Cocoa, Florida, the Service indicated

that a scientific description of the

species in a peer-reviewed journal

would increase the likelihood that it

could make a positive finding on any

future petition to list this species.

Tucker (1994) subsequently described

the Spruce Creek snail as a distinct

species.

A 1974 Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU) between the

Services sets forth jurisdictional

responsibilities and listing procedures

under the Act. As applied to the

following petition, the MOU stipulates

that the agencies shall jointly determine

whether to list the petitioned species,

and publish the results in a single

Federal Register document.

Because of the joint jurisdiction of

this species, the National Marine

Fisheries Service agreed to process this

petition according to the Fish and

Wildlife Service’s Listing Priority

Guidance for Fiscal Years 1998 and

1999, published on May 8, 1998 (63 FR

25502). The guidance clarifies the order

in which the FWS will process

rulemakings giving highest priority (Tier

1) to processing emergency rules to add

species to the Lists of Endangered and

Threatened Wildlife and Plants (Lists);

second priority (Tier 2) to processing

final determinations on proposals to add

species to the Lists, processing new

proposals to add species to the Lists,

processing administrative findings on

petitions (to add species to the Lists,

delist species, or reclassify listed

species), and processing a limited

number of proposed or final rules to

delist or reclassify species; and third

priority (Tier 3) to processing proposed

or final rules designating critical habitat.

Processing of this petition is a Tier 2

action.

The Spruce Creek snail is a large

predatory gastropod belonging to the

family Melongenidae. Its light-colored

shell has two to three, brown to grey

bands of varying width, and a distinct

ratio of shell spines on its shoulder and

anterior end (Tucker 1994). The snail

occurs in brackish waters over a muddy

sand substrate, where it feeds almost

exclusively on oysters and often

congregates in large numbers within

oyster bars (congregation of oysters).

The species, with an estimated

population of less than 25,000 total

individuals, is known only from five

local areas within Spruce Creek and

adjacent estuaries in Volusia County,

Florida. Its prehistoric range is thought

to have included neighboring Brevard

County and may have extended as far

south as Palm Beach County (Tucker in

litt. 1985).

The petition suggests that stormwater

runoff carrying fertilizers, pesticides,

and silt; dredging canals and boat

channels; diking and draining mangrove

swamps; removing seagrasses or

mangroves to install revetments; and

destruction of freshwater swamps pose

threats to the snail and its habitat. Sea

level rises and storm surges are natural

factors cited as additional potential

threats. The petitioner believes siltation

produced by residential development

along the adjacent Rose Bay drainage is

responsible for the absence of oyster

beds and possibly Spruce Creek snails

from that area. Tucker (in litt. 1985)

found the snail to be less common

within parts of the Spruce Creek

drainage near upland development. The

petition concludes that future

development or habitat alteration could

lead to the extinction of the Spruce

Creek snail.

The Services have reviewed the

petition, the literature cited in the

petition, and information available in

the Services’ files, and made a 90-day

finding. On the basis of the best

scientific and commercial information

available, the Services find the petition

does not present substantial information

indicating that listing the Spruce Creek

snail may be warranted. The petition

does not provide data on historic

distribution and abundance, population

trends, and the species’ full range of

habitat requirements. The threats

discussed in the petition are speculative

and are not correlated to any known

population decline. The known range of

the Spruce Creek snail is within

Outstanding Florida Waters designated

by the Florida Environmental

Regulation Commission, pursuant to

Chapter 62–302 of the Florida

Administrative Code. This designation

imposes water quality standards that, if

maintained, should be compatible with

the continued existence of oysters and

the petitioned species.

The petitioner’s request for

designation of critical habitat is not

subject to the Act’s petition provisions

and is, therefore, not considered in this

notice.

Reference Cited

Tucker, J.K. 1994. The crown conch

(Melongena: Melongenidae) in Florida and

Alabama with the description of

Melongena sprucecreekensis, n. sp. Bull.

Florida Mus. Nat. Hist. Biol. Sci.

36(7):181–203.

Authors: The primary author of this

document is Mr. John F. Milio, FWS,

Jacksonville Field Office (see ADDRESSES

section).

Authority

The authority for this action is the

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

et seq.).

Dated: May 11, 1998.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

Dated: May 28, 1998.

Rolland A. Schmitten,

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–16133 Filed 6–16–98; 8:45 am]

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