29272 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 93 / Friday, May 13, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2021–0103; 

FXES111303WOLF0–223–FF02ENEH00] 

RIN 1018–BE52 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Proposed Revision to the 

Regulations for the Nonessential 

Experimental Population of the 

Mexican Wolf 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of 

availability of a final supplemental 

environmental impact statement and a 

draft record of decision. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 

availability of the final supplemental 

environmental impact statement (FSEIS) 

on the proposed revisions to the 

regulations for the nonessential 

experimental population designation of 

the Mexican wolf and our draft record 

of decision, under the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended. Our intended action is to 

revise the regulations established in our 

2015 final rule under section 10(j) of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended, for the nonessential 

experimental population of the Mexican 

wolf. In the FSEIS, we analyzed the 

environmental consequences of three 

alternatives, including the proposed 

action and no action alternative, for our 

proposed rule. The action would be 

implemented through a final rule. 

DATES: The Service will issue the record 

of decision (ROD) no earlier than 30 

days after the publication date of this 

document announcing the availability of 

the FSEIS. 

ADDRESSES: Document availability: The 

FSEIS and draft ROD are available 

electronically on https://

www.regulations.gov in Docket No. 

FWS–R2–ES–2021–0103. The FSEIS 

will also be available for public 

inspection, by appointment, during 

normal business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 

p.m.) at the New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna Road 

NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brady McGee, Mexican Wolf Recovery 

Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office, 2105 Osuna Road, 

NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113; by 

telephone at 505–761–4748; or by 

facsimile 505–761–2542. Individuals in 

the United States who are deaf, 

deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a 

speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, 

TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. You may 

also visit the Mexican Wolf Recovery 

Program’s website at https://

www.fws.gov/program/mexican-wolf for 

information about our proposed revision 

to the experimental population 

designation for the Mexican wolf. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Reviewing Documents 

With this Federal Register document, 

we announce the availability of the final 

supplemental environmental impact 

statement (FSEIS) and our draft record 

of decision (ROD) for the proposed 

revision to the regulations for the 

nonessential experimental population of 

the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi). 

We developed the FSEIS and our draft 

ROD in compliance with the agency 

decision-making requirements of the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.). We have described all alternatives 

in detail, and we have evaluated them 

in our FSEIS. Our draft ROD is based on 

our review of the alternatives and their 

environmental consequences as 

described in our FSEIS. You may obtain 

a copy of the FSEIS and draft ROD as 

described above in ADDRESSES. 

Background 

On April 15, 2020 (85 FR 20967), we 

published a notice of intent to prepare 

a supplemental environmental impact 

statement in conjunction with a 

proposed rule to revise the existing 

nonessential experimental designation 

of the Mexican wolf in the Mexican 

Wolf Experimental Population Area 

(MWEPA) in Arizona and New Mexico 

under section 10(j) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (‘‘10(j) 

rule’’). The revised rule and 

supplemental environmental impact 

statement have been developed in 

response to a court-ordered remand by 

the District Court of Arizona of our 2015 

10(j) rule to revise the nonessential 

experimental population designation 

and management of Mexican wolves in 

the MWEPA. In the scoping notice, we 

explained that we would address the 

issues on remand in a revised rule by 

establishing population and genetic 

objectives for the MWEPA that support 

the long-term conservation and recovery 

of the Mexican wolf and by ensuring our 

take provisions support the genetic 

health of the population, in addition to 

making a new essentiality determination 

(85 FR 20967, April 15, 2020, p. 20969). 

On October 29, 2021 (86 FR 59953), 

we published the proposed rule and 

draft supplemental environmental 

impact statement (DSEIS) for a 90-day 

public comment period ending January 

27, 2022, and we announced three 

public information sessions and two 

public hearings. The DSEIS analyzed 

three alternatives, including the 

proposed action, a second alternative, 

and the no action alternative. These 

alternatives evaluated a revised 

population objective, a new genetic 

objective, and the temporary restriction 

of three take provisions on land use, 

biological resources, economic activity 

associated with livestock production 

and big game hunting, human health 

and public safety, and environmental 

justice. 

Next Steps 

We developed our FSEIS after 

assessing and considering all comments 

on the DSEIS and proposed rule both 

individually and collectively. Our 

responses to the substantive comments 

that we received on the DSEIS are 

provided as an appendix to the FSEIS. 

After full consideration of all 

information and comments received on 

the proposed rule and DSEIS, we will 

base the final rule on the best available 

information. 

Authors 

The primary authors of this document 

are the staff members of the New 

Mexico Ecological Services Field Office 

(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

Signing Authority 

The Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, approved this document and 

authorized the undersigned to sign and 

submit the document to the Office of the 

Federal Register for publication 

electronically as an official document of 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Martha Williams, Director, approved 

this document on May 10, 2022, for 

publication. 

Madonna Baucum, 

Regulations and Policy Chief, Division of 

Policy, Risk Management, and Analytics of 

the Joint Administrative Operations, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–10382 Filed 5–12–22; 8:45 am] 

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