41742 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–15878 Filed 8–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2021–0012; 

FF09E21000 FXES11110900000 212] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; 12-Month Determination on 

a Petition To Revise Critical Habitat for 

the Mount Graham Red Squirrel 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: 12-Month determination. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 

12-month determination on a petition to 

revise critical habitat for the Mount 

Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus 

hudsonicus grahamensis) under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). The petition requests 

that the Service expand the subspecies’ 

critical habitat designation to include 

currently occupied mixed conifer 

habitat and all historically occupied 

habitat outside the current critical 

habitat designation. Our 12-month 

determination is that we intend to 

assess revisions to the subspecies’ 

critical habitat after a species status 

assessment and revised recovery plan 

for the Mount Graham red squirrel are 

completed. 

DATES: The determination announced in 

this document was made on August 3, 

2021. 

ADDRESSES: This determination is 

available on the internet at http://

www.regulations.gov at Docket No. 

FWS–R2–ES–2021–0012. Information 

and supporting documentation that we 

received and used in preparing this 

finding is available for public inspection 

pursuant to current COVID–19 

restrictions. You may contact the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona 

Ecological Services Field Office, Tucson 

Sub-Office, 201 N Bonita, Suite 141, 

Tucson, AZ 85745 for further 

information about these restrictions. 

Please submit any new information, 

materials, comments, or questions 

concerning this finding to the above 

mailing address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona 

Ecological Services Field Office, Attn: 

Jeff Humphrey, to the mailing address in 

ADDRESSES, telephone: 602–242–0210, 

or email: incomingazcorr@fws.gov. 

Persons who use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD) may call the 

Federal Relay Service at 800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Section 4(b)(3)(D)(ii) of the Act (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) states that within 12 

months after receiving a petition to 

revise a critical habitat designation that 

is found to present substantial 

information indicating that the 

requested revision may be warranted, 

the Secretary will determine how he or 

she intends to proceed with the 

requested revision, and will promptly 

publish notice of such intention in the 

Federal Register. 

Previous Federal Actions 

On June 3, 1987, we published in the 

Federal Register (52 FR 20994) a final 

rule listing the Mount Graham red 

squirrel (red squirrel) as an endangered 

subspecies of the red squirrel, or pine 

squirrel (T. hudsonicus species account: 

Steele 1998, p. 1), pursuant to the Act. 

We concluded that the Mount Graham 

red squirrel was endangered because its 

range and habitat had been reduced and 

its habitat was at risk due to a number 

of factors, including the proposed 

construction of an astrophysical 

observatory, occurrences of forest fires, 

proposed construction and 

improvement of roads, and recreational 

development at high elevations. The 

rule concluded that red squirrels might 

also suffer due to resource competition 

with the introduced Abert’s, or tasseleared, squirrel (Sciurus aberti). 

On January 5, 1990, we published in 

the Federal Register (55 FR 425) a final 

rule designating approximately 769 

hectares (ha) (1,900 acres (ac)) in three 

separate units as critical habitat for the 

Mount Graham red squirrel. Critical 

habitat encompasses the Mount Graham 

Red Squirrel Refugium, which resulted 

from a July 1988 biological opinion and 

subsequent Arizona-Idaho Conservation 

Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100–696, November 

18, 1988), on Hawk and Plain View 

peaks (about 688 ha (1,700 ac)), as well 

as areas outside the Refugium on 

Heliograph and Webb Peaks (about 81 

ha (200 ac)). The main attribute of 

critical habitat at that time was existing 

dense stands of mature (about 300 years 

old) spruce-fir forest, which has since 

been damaged by drought, insects, 

wildfire, and associated wildfiresuppression activities. 

On January 11, 2006, we initiated a 5- 

year review of the Mt. Graham red 

squirrel (71 FR 1765); that 5-year review 

was completed on January 15, 2008. On 

May 27, 2011, we announced the 

availability of, and requested public 

comments on, a draft recovery plan, first 

revision, for the Mount Graham red 

squirrel (76 FR 30957). 

Petition History 

On December 14, 2017, we received a 

petition from the Center for Biological 

Diversity, Maricopa Audubon Society, 

and the Mount Graham Coalition 

requesting that critical habitat for the 

Mount Graham red squirrel be revised 

under the Act, on an emergency basis. 

The petition requests that the Service 

expand the subspecies’ critical habitat 

designation to include currently 

occupied mixed conifer habitat and all 

historically occupied habitat outside the 

current critical habitat designation. In 

general, the petitioners recommend 

expanding the current designation of 

critical habitat to include mixed conifer 

and spruce-fir forest above 7,500 feet (ft) 

(2,286 meters (m)), including specific 

areas currently occupied by the Mount 

Graham red squirrel at Grant Hill, Riggs 

Lake, Turkey Flat, and Columbine. The 

petition clearly identified itself as such 

and included the requisite identification 

information for the petitioners, required 

at 50 CFR 424.14(c). Because the Act 

does not provide for petitions to revise 

critical habitat in an emergency, we 

considered it as a petition to revise 

critical habitat for the red squirrel. 

We published our 90-day finding on 

the petition to revise critical habitat for 

the Mount Graham red squirrel on 

September 6, 2019 (84 FR 46927). We 

determined that the petition presented 

substantial scientific information 

indicating that revising critical habitat 

for the Mount Graham red squirrel 

under the Act may be warranted, thus 

initiating the review that led to this 12- 

month determination. 

This 12-month determination 

addresses the petition’s request to revise 

the Mount Graham red squirrel’s 

currently designated critical habitat. 

Species Information 

Mount Graham red squirrels are found 

only in the high-elevation forests of the 

Pinalen ̃ o Mountains in the Safford 

Ranger District of the Coronado National 

Forest in southeastern Arizona. The 

subspecies inhabits upper elevation, 

mature to old-growth associations in 

mixed conifer and spruce-fir forests 

above approximately 7,500 ft (2,286 m). 

Mount Graham red squirrels are 

highly territorial (C.C. Smith 1968, pp. 

33–34) and create middens within their 

territory. The middens in each squirrel’s 

territory consist of piles of cone scales 

in which squirrels cache live, unopened 

cones as a food source for overwintering and during times of cone 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 41743 

failure (M.C. Smith 1968, pp. 308–309; 

Finley 1969, all; Steele and Koprowski 

2001, p. 67). Placement of these 

middens tends to be on gentler, nonsoutherly-facing slopes in healthier, 

older forested areas with higher canopy 

closure, basal area, and number of large 

live trees (Finley 1969, p. 237; 

Zugmeyer and Koprowski 2009, p. 179; 

Hatten 2014, p. 111). This type of 

placement allows specific moisture 

levels to be maintained within the 

midden, thereby creating prime storage 

conditions for cones and other food 

items, such as mushrooms, acorns, and 

bones (Finley 1969, p. 237; Brown 1984, 

pp. 66–67; USFWS 1993, pp. 5–7; 

Zugmeyer and Koprowski 2009, p. 179). 

They also seem to prefer areas with 

snags, piles and tangles of downed 

timber, and a higher volume of logs that 

provide cover and safe travel routes, 

especially in winter, when open travel 

across snow exposes them to increased 

predation, as the species does not 

hibernate. Wood et al. (2007, p. 2362) 

determined that midden site selection 

occurs not only at the microclimate 

level (where conditions are appropriate 

for cone storage), but also on a larger 

scale that encompasses other features 

found on the landscape, usually in areas 

with a high number of healthy trees and 

correspondingly high seedfall. There 

appears to be no differentiation in 

selection of midden sites based on sex 

(Alanen et al. 2009, pp. 204–205). 

Within their territory, Mount Graham 

red squirrels build nests in hollow trees, 

in hollow snags, in hollow logs, outside 

trees in nests of grass or foliose lichens 

(called dreys or bolus nests), or in holes 

in the ground (C.C. Smith 1968, p. 58; 

Leonard and Koprowski 2009, p. 132). 

Nests may be built in natural hollows or 

abandoned cavities made by other 

animals, such as woodpeckers, and 

enlarged by squirrels (USFWS 1993, p. 

11). Nest site selection by Mount 

graham red squirrels is strongly 

influenced by stand composition, 

particularly density of corkbark fir, 

mature (large) trees, and decaying logs 

(Merrick et al. 2007, p. 1961). The 

availability of larger snags and cavitycontaining trees, especially aspen, is of 

particular importance for this 

population, as they provide preferred 

nesting locations (Merrick et al. 2007, p. 

1961). 

Critical Habitat 

Current Critical Habitat Designation 

On January 5, 1990, we published a 

final rule (55 FR 425) designating 

critical habitat for the Mount Graham 

red squirrel as mature spruce-fir forest 

in: 

1. Hawk Peak-Mount Graham Area. 

The area above the 10,000-ft (3,048-m) 

contour surrounding Hawk Peak and 

Plain View Peak, plus the area above the 

9,800-ft (2,987-m) contour that is south 

of lines extending from the highest 

point of Plain View Peak eastward at 90° 

(from true north) and southwestward at 

225° (from true north). 

2. Heliograph Peak Area. The area on 

the north-facing slope of Heliograph 

Peak that is above the 9,200-ft (2,804-m) 

contour surrounding Heliograph Peak 

and that is between a line extending at 

15° (from true north) from a point 160 

ft (49 m) due south of the horizontal 

control station on Heliograph Peak and 

a line extending northwestward at 300° 

(from true north) from that same point. 

3. Webb Peak Area. The area on the 

east facing slope of Webb Peak that is 

above the 9,700-ft (2,957-m) contour 

surrounding Webb Peak and that is east 

of a line extending due north and south 

through a point 160 ft (49 m) due west 

of the horizontal control station on 

Webb Peak. 

12-Month Determination 

Pursuant to the provisions of the Act 

regarding revision of critical habitat and 

petitions for revision, we now publish 

notice of how we intend to proceed with 

the requested revision. As described 

below under How the Service Intends to 

Proceed, we intend to assess potential 

revisions to the subspecies’ critical 

habitat after a species status assessment 

(SSA) and a revision of the Mount 

Graham red squirrel’s recovery plan are 

complete. 

How the Service Intends To Proceed 

Section 4(b)(3)(D)(ii) of the Act states 

that if we find that a petition presents 

substantial information indicating that a 

revision to critical habitat may be 

warranted, then within 12 months of 

receiving the petition we are to indicate 

how we intend to proceed with the 

requested revision and promptly 

publish a notice of our intention in the 

Federal Register. We intend that any 

revisions to critical habitat for the 

Mount Graham red squirrel be as 

accurate and comprehensive as possible. 

Therefore, completing the SSA and a 

revised recovery plan will inform any 

future revisions to critical habitat for the 

red squirrel. Once the SSA and revised 

recovery plan are complete, a 

rulemaking process will be initiated if 

revisions to the subspecies’ critical 

habitat are determined to be 

appropriate. 

The currently designated critical 

habitat, as well as areas that support the 

subspecies but are outside of the current 

critical habitat designation, will 

continue to be subject to conservation 

actions implemented under section 

7(a)(1) of the Act. Actions affecting the 

Mount Graham red squirrel or its 

designated critical habitat are subject to 

the regulatory protections afforded by 

section 7(a)(2) of the Act, which 

requires Federal agencies, including the 

Service, to ensure that actions they 

fund, authorize, or carry out are not 

likely to jeopardize the continued 

existence of any listed species or result 

in the destruction or adverse 

modification of critical habitat. 

References Cited 

A complete list of references cited in 

this rulemaking is available on the 

internet at http://www.regulations.gov 

and upon request from the Arizona 

Ecological Services Field Office (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Author 

The primary authors of this document 

are the staff members of the Arizona 

Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Martha Williams, 

Principal Deputy Director, Exercising the 

Delegated Authority of the Director, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–16247 Filed 8–2–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R8–ES–2019–0006; 

FF09E21000 FXES11110900000 212] 

RIN 1018–BC62 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Endangered Species 

Status for the Sierra Nevada Distinct 

Population Segment of the Sierra 

Nevada Red Fox 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), determine 

endangered species status under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), 

as amended, for the Sierra Nevada 

Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of 

the Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes 

vulpes necator) (hereafter referred to in 


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