27954 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 102 / Friday, May 26, 1995 / Proposed Rules

[FR Doc. 95–12964 Filed 5–25–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

and Plants; 90-day Finding for a

Petition To List the Wood Turtle

(Clemmys Insculpta) as Threatened

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of 90-day petition

finding.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service (Service) announces a 90-day

finding for a petition to list the wood

turtle (Clemmys insculpta) as a

threatened species throughout its

historic range in the coterminous United

States under the Endangered Species

Act of 1973, as amended. The Service

finds that the petition does 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 16, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Submit data, information,

comments or questions concerning this

petition to the Field Supervisor, New

England Field Office, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, 22 Bridge Street,

Concord, New Hampshire 03301. The

petition finding, supporting data, and

comments are available for public

inspection, by appointment, during

normal business hours at the address

listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael Amaral at the above address

(603–225–1411); Paul Nickerson at U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, Regional

Office, 300 Westgate Center Drive,

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035 (telephone

413–253–8615); or Robert Adair, U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal

Building, Fort Snelling, Twin Cities,

Minnesota, 55111 (telephone 612–725–

3500).

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 that the

Service 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

Service at the time. To the maximum

extent practicable, this finding is to be

made within 90 days of receipt of the

petition, and the finding is to be

published promptly in the Federal

Register.

The Service has made a 90-day

finding on a petition to list the wood

turtle (Clemmys insculpta) as threatened

and to determine critical habitat. The

petition, dated December 27, 1994, was

submitted to the Service by Restore The

North Woods of Concord,

Massachusetts, the Biodiversity Legal

Foundation, and six individual copetitioners and was received by the

Service on December 29, 1994. In a

letter dated January 10, 1995, Restore

provided two additional documents to

the petition record. This information

was received by the Service on January

12, 1995. The petitioners contend that

the species has undergone a precipitous

decline throughout its range, that there

are a number of threats to the species

which will cause further declines, and,

therefore, that urgent protective

measures are necessary.

The Service has carefully reviewed

the petition, the literature cited in the

petition, recent information submitted

by State wildlife agencies and other

knowledgeable individuals, and all

other information currently available in

the Service’s files. On the basis of the

best scientific and commercial

information available, the Service finds

the petition does not present substantial

information that listing this species may

be warranted. This finding is based on

the inadequacy of existing data to

support the contention that the wood

turtle has undergone rangewide decline

or that the threats identified in the

petition are affecting wood turtle

populations across all or a significant

portion of its range to the extent that the

species is likely to become an

endangered species in the foreseeable

future.

The following is a summary of the

information available on the species’

current status. The wood turtle occurs

in all of the States within its recent

historic range (colonial settlement to

present); appears to be well distributed

within a number of those States, i.e.,

Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine,

Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts and

New York; and is considered as

threatened or endangered by State

wildlife agencies in only 5 of the 17

States in which it occurs.

The petitioners stated that habitat loss

and fragmentation, nest and hatchling

predation, and collection for

commercial markets, as well as other

factors, have resulted in the wood turtle

being ‘‘biologically threatened in its

native habitat in the United States’’

(Restore et. al. 1994). However,

information submitted by the petitioners

and information otherwise available to

the Service indicate that the status of

the wood turtle is not sufficiently

known for a significant portion of its

range to determine the species’ current,

versus historic, distribution. Similarly,

inadequate data was provided to

determine whether the threats identified

for specific study populations cited in

the petition are likely to be causing

rangewide declines in wood turtle

populations.

Wood turtles continue to be

widespread in a number of States, with

viable populations reported from rural

areas. In other States, numerous wood

turtle occurrence records are reported

but population and distribution data are

insufficient to substantiate the need for

State listing as threatened or

endangered. Thus, the wood turtle is not

State-listed as threatened or endangered

throughout the majority of its range in

the United States (Northeast Nongame

Technical Committee 1994).

The petitioners presented information

on the international trade in turtles of

the genus Clemmys, as well as the

domestic trade in wood turtles. This

species was added to Appendix II of the

Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Flora and

Fauna (CITES) on June 11, 1992. While

addition to Appendix II does not

prohibit all international trade in wood

turtles, it does provide a means for strict

regulation of trade in order to avoid use

incompatible with the species’ survival

in the wild. The Service shares the

concern of the petitioners that natural

populations cannot sustain indefinitely

the removal of adult, breeding-age

turtles for the domestic commercial pet

market. However, the Service finds that

the petition fails to present substantial

information indicating that the current

commercial trade in wood turtles is so

extensive that it threatens the species’

existence across its range. The Service

notes that with one exception, New

Hampshire, all States within the range

occupied by the wood turtle now have

laws either prohibiting or severely

restricting the collection of wood turtles

from the wild for commercial trade. The

State of New Hampshire is currently

drafting rules that will limit the

collection of wood turtles to educational

and scientific purposes (James

DiStefano, New Hampshire Department

of Fish and Game, in litt., 1995).

The petition provides information

that some wood turtle populations are

subject to high levels of predation on

eggs, hatchlings and adult turtles.

Raccoon, skunk, opossum, and fox are
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 102 / Friday, May 26, 1995 / Proposed Rules 27955

believed to be the primary predators of

wood turtles and their nests. Predator

populations are lower than they have

been in recent years within the range of

the wood turtle in the East (Krebs et al

1994). While predator populations may

rebound at some point, wood turtles are

currently under less predation pressure

in several of the northeastern States.

Irrespective of the finding on this

petition, the Service concurs with the

petitioners that many aspects of the life

history and breeding ecology of this

species, as well as its popularity with

collectors, could make it vulnerable to

over-exploitation and population

declines.

References Cited

Krebs, J.W., T.W. Strine, J.S. Smith, C.E.

Rupprecht, and J.E. Childs. 1994. Rabies

surveillance in the United States during

1993. Journal of the American Veterinary

Medical Association. vol. 205(12):1695–

1709.

Northeast Nongame Technical Committee.

1994. Legal categories of rare species in

the northeastern states. Unpubl. rep., 25

pp.

Restore: the North Woods, S. Garber, J.

Burger, C. Ernst, J. Harding, S. Tuttle, J.

Davis, and the Biodiversity Legal

Foundation. 1994. Petition for a rule to

list the North American wood turtle

(Clemmys insculpta) as threatened under

the Endangered Species Act 16 U.S.C.

Sec. 1531 et seq. (1993) as amended.

Unpubl. doc., Concord, MA. 42 pp. and

appendices.

Author. The primary author of this

document is Michael Amaral of the Service’s

New England Field Office (see ADDRESSES).

Authority

The authority for this action is the

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

seq.).

Dated: May 16, 1995.

Mollie H. Beattie,

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 95–12919 Filed 5–25–95; 8:45 am]

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