4212 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 18 /Wednesday, January 28, 1998 / Proposed Rules

Dated: December 30, 1997.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 98–2012 Filed 1–27–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 226

[I.D. No. 101097A]

Designated Critical Habitat; Central

California Coast and Southern Oregon/

Northern California Coast Coho

Salmon

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of

comment period.

SUMMARY: NMFS is reopening the public

comment period on proposed

regulations to designate critical habitat

for Central California Coast and

Southern Oregon/Northern California

Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus

kisutch). These proposals were made on

November 25, 1997, under provisions of

the Endangered Species Act of 1973

(ESA). NMFS has received several

requests for additional time to complete

the review and compilation of

information. NMFS finds the requests to

be reasonable and hereby reopens the

comment period until April 26, 1998.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule

must be received on or before April 26,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent

to: Garth Griffin, NMFS, Protected

Resources Division, 525 NE Oregon St.

- Suite 500, Portland, OR 97232–2737;

or Craig Wingert, NMFS, Southwest

Region, Protected Species Management

Division, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite

4200, Long Beach, CA 90802–4213.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Garth Griffin at (503) 231–2005, Craig

Wingert at (562) 980–4021, or Joe Blum

at (301) 713–1401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 31, 1996, NMFS

published its determination to list the

Central California Coast Evolutionarily

Significant Unit (ESU) of coho salmon

as threatened under the ESA (61 FR

41514). Subsequently, on May 6, 1997,

NMFS published its determination to

list the Southern Oregon/Northern

California Coast coho salmon ESU as

threatened under the ESA (62 FR

24588). On November 25, 1997 (62 FR

62741), NMFS published a proposed

rule identifying critical habitat for each

ESU and identified a 90-day comment

period (which ends January 26, 1998) to

solicit information relevant to the

proposal. During the comment period,

three public hearings were held between

December 8–11, 1997 in Gold Beach,

Oregon; Eureka, California; and Santa

Rosa, California.

Requests for an extension of the

public comment period have been

received from a California Congressional

representative, as well as several county

and private organizations and private

citizens in northern California and

southern Oregon. Reasons given for

these requests included additional time

required under state law to assemble

county governments for a review of the

proposal, and time needed to assess the

scope and impact of the proposed rule.

NMFS finds the requests to be

reasonable and hereby reopens the

comment period.

Critical habitat is defined as the

specific areas within the geographical

area occupied by the species, on which

are found those physical and biological

features essential to the conservation of

the species and which may require

special management considerations or

protections (ESA section 3(5)(A)(I)).

Critical habitat shall not include the

entire geographical area occupied by the

species unless failure to designate such

areas would result in the extinction of

the species.

Proposed critical habitat for the

Central California Coast ESU

encompasses accessible reaches of all

rivers (including estuarine areas and

tributaries) between Punta Gorda and

the San Lorenzo River (inclusive) in

California. Also included are two rivers

entering San Francisco Bay: Mill Valley

Creek and Corte Madera Creek.

Proposed critical habitat for the

Southern Oregon/Northern California

Coast ESU encompasses accessible

reaches of all rivers (including estuarine

areas and tributaries) between the

Mattole River in California and the Elk

River in Oregon, inclusive.

The areas described in the proposed

rule represent the current freshwater

and estuarine range of the listed species.

Marine habitats are also vital to the

species and ocean conditions are

believed to have a major influence on

coho salmon survival. However, there

does not appear to be a need for special

management consideration or protection

of this habitat. Therefore, NMFS is not

proposing to designate critical habitat in

marine areas at this time. For both

ESUs, critical habitat includes all

waterways, substrate, and adjacent

riparian zones below longstanding,

naturally impassable barriers (i.e.,

natural waterfalls in existence for at

least several hundred years). NMFS has

identified twelve dams in the range of

these ESUs (see proposed rule) that

currently block access to habitats

historically occupied by coho salmon.

However, NMFS has not designated

these inaccessible areas as critical

habitat because areas downstream are

believed to be sufficient for the

conservation of the ESUs. The economic

and other impacts resulting from this

critical habitat designation are expected

to be minimal.

NMFS is soliciting information,

comments and/or recommendations on

any aspect of this proposal from all

concerned parties (see ADDRESSES);

comments must be received by April 26,

1998. In particular, NMFS is requesting

any data, maps, or reports describing

areas that currently or historically

supported coho salmon populations and

that may require special management

considerations. NMFS will consider all

information received before reaching a

final decision.

Date: January 22, 1998.

Patricia A. Montanio,

Deputy Director, Office of Protected

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–2074 Filed 1–27–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F