[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 56 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15281-15283]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7203]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------


DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
50 CFR Part 17


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding 
for a Petition to List the Southern Rocky Mountain Population of the 
Boreal Toad as Endangered

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of 12-month petition finding.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a 12-
month finding for a petition to list the southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad (Bufo boreas boreas) under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended. After review of all available 
scientific and commercial information, the Service finds that listing 
this species is warranted but precluded by other higher priority 
actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and 
Plants.

DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on March 15, 
1995. Comments, questions, or information regarding status and threats 
to the boreal toad may be submitted until further notice.

ADDRESSES: Comments, questions, or information concerning this finding 
may be submitted to the Assistant Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, 764 Horizon Drive, South Annex A, Grand Junction, 
Colorado 81506-3946. The petition, finding, and supporting documents 
are available for public inspection, by appointment, 
[[Page 15282]] during normal business hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Terry Ireland (see ADDRESSES above) at telephone (303) 243-2778.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that, for any petition to 
revise the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants that 
contains substantial scientific and commercial information, the Fish 
and Wildlife Service (Service) make a finding within 12 months of the 
date of the receipt of the petition on whether the petitioned action is 
(a) not warranted, (b) warranted, or (c) warranted but precluded from 
immediate proposal by other pending proposals of higher priority. 
Notice of such 12-month findings are to be published promptly in the 
Federal Register. This notice meets the latter requirement for the 
Service's 12-month administrative finding regarding the petition 
discussed below. Information contained in this notice is a summary of 
the information in the 12-month finding, which is the Service's 
decision document.
    On September 30, 1993, the Service received a petition dated 
September 27, 1993, from the Biodiversity Legal Foundation located in 
Boulder, Colorado, and Dr. Peter Hovingh, a professor at the University 
of Utah. The petition requested that the southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the ``western boreal toad'' (Bufo boreas boreas) be 
listed as endangered and that critical habitat be designated. A 90-day 
finding announced in the Federal Register on July 22, 1994 (59 FR 
37439), indicated that the petition presented substantial information 
indicating that the requested action may be warranted.
    The finding also announced a public comment period extending to 
September 20, 1994. Forty-three comment letters were received. Two 
commenters provided scientific information on status, threats, and 
genetics of the boreal toad and concluded that listing was warranted. A 
third commenter provided a hypothesis for boreal toad declines. The 
other 40 letters opposed Federal listing and 9 provided information on 
status or regulatory protection afforded to the southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad. Several residents of the Laramie, 
Wyoming, area were concerned about restriction of mosquito spraying. 
The Service does not believe that mosquito spraying in Laramie 
contributed to declines of the boreal toad because Laramie lies below 
2,300 meters (7,500 feet) which is the lower elevational range 
inhabited by the boreal toad.
    Boreal toads were once common throughout much of the high 
elevations in Colorado (Burger and Bragg 1946, Smith et al. 1965, 
Hammerson 1989) and in the Sierra Madre, Medicine Bow, and southern 
Laramie Mountains of southeast Wyoming (Baxter and Stone 1985). Boreal 
toads were found at only three localities at the southern periphery of 
their range in the San Juan Mountains of New Mexico: Lagunitas, 
Canjilon and Trout Lakes (Campbell and Degenhardt 1971, Jones 1978, New 
Mexico Department of Game and Fish 1988). Altitudinal distribution 
ranges from 2,300 meters (7,500 feet) Baxter 1952) to approximately 
3,700 meters (12,000 feet) (C. Pague, Colorado Natural Heritage 
Program, in litt. 1994).
    Declines in boreal toad demes (a small group or population of 
organisms that interbreed) were first documented in New Mexico in 1984 
(Woodward and Mitchell 1985), in Colorado in 1974 (Carey 1993), and in 
southern Wyoming in 1986 (Corn et al. 1989). Boreal toads are now 
extirpated from the three known historic sites in New Mexico (Stuart 
and Painter 1994). Corn et al. (1989) found that boreal toads were 
absent from 83 percent of locations in Colorado and Wyoming previously 
known to contain toads. Recent surveys revealed several previously 
unknown locations and extant historical locations of nonbreeding 
individuals and several breeding sites; but survey data indicated that 
boreal toads are absent from approximately 96 percent of localities 
that contained known historical records of suitable habitat.
    Physical and climatic conditions separate the southern Rocky 
Mountain population of the boreal toad from populations in western 
Wyoming and northeastern Utah. Because of this geographic isolation, 
the Service believes that the southern Rocky Mountain population of the 
boreal toad can be listed as a distinct vertebrate population segment 
under the Act.

Summary of Factors Affecting the Species

    The following information is a summary and discussion of the five 
factors or listing criteria as set forth in section 4(a)(1) of the 
Endangered Species Act (Act), as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and 
regulations (50 CFR part 424) promulgated to implement the listing 
provisions of the Act and their applicability to the current status of 
the southern Rocky Mountain population of the boreal toad.
    A. The present or threatened destruction, modification, or 
curtailment of its habitat or range. The southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad is found primarily on public land within 
State forests, national forests, and lands administered by the Bureau 
of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service. 
The use of these lands ranges from recreational to intensive timber and 
grazing management and watershed alteration activities. Activities that 
destroy, modify, or curtail habitat are likely to contribute to the 
continued decline in toad numbers; however, the Service does not 
believe that recreational or habitat management activities brought 
about rangewide decline of the southern Rocky Mountain population of 
the boreal toad.
    B. Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or 
educational purposes. The boreal toad has no commercial value and any 
recreational values are low and nonconsumptive. Scientific and 
educational collecting is not thought to have been widespread over the 
past decade. Overutilization is not currently thought to contribute to 
declines in the southern Rocky Mountain population of the boreal toad.
    C. Diseases or predation. Carey (1987, 1993) indicated that the 
proximate cause of the widespread decline of boreal toads in northern 
New Mexico and west-central Colorado was a result of infection by 
Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria (red-leg disease). However, A. hydrophila 
is common in the microfauna carried by amphibians, and it does not 
cause infection or death in healthy individuals. As a result, toads 
likely were stressed by adverse environmental factors, such as acid 
rain, pollution, or increased ultraviolet radiation, and later 
succumbed to A. hydrophila infection (Carey 1987). Competition and 
predation by native and nonnative species occurs but is probably a 
minor impact.
    D. The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms. The boreal 
toad is listed as endangered by Colorado and New Mexico and is a 
nongame animal in Wyoming. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has formed 
a recovery team and is in the final stages of preparing a State 
recovery plan (Tom Nesler, Colorado Division of Wildlife, pers. comm. 
1994). In 1993 the Colorado Division of Wildlife entered into a 
cooperative agreement with the Service for research on the boreal toad 
and has also initiated a conservation agreement with a private mining 
company whose land contains boreal toad breeding sites. [[Page 15283]] 
    A conservation agreement will be developed for the southern Rocky 
Mountain population of the boreal toad between the Service, Forest 
Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, National 
Biological Survey, Colorado Division of Wildlife, and perhaps other 
agencies. The agreement will serve as a commitment by the various 
agencies to work toward recovery of the southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad. A cooperatively formulated conservation 
strategy that complements the Colorado Division of Wildlife's recovery 
plan and that implements the conservation agreement has been 
recommended by the Forest Service (Elizabeth Estill, U.S. Forest 
Service, in litt. 1994).
    A sensitive species policy has been developed under the National 
Forest Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.) which directs the U.S. 
Forest Service to manage for sensitive or candidate species such as the 
boreal toad. In 1988, policies were developed by both the National Park 
Service and the Bureau of Land Management to conserve federally listed 
or rare species, thus ensuring that their actions do not impact boreal 
toads. Other Federal resource laws that may provide protection for the 
boreal toad are the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661 
et seq.), Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344 et seq.) and Clean Air Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1857 et seq.).
    E. Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued 
existence. Factors, such as acid rain, pollution, and increased 
ultraviolet radiation, may be causing declines of the southern Rocky 
Mountain population of the boreal toad. The extent of natural 
population fluctuation remains unknown and may be working 
synergistically with other environmental or anthropogenic factors to 
cause declines in toad populations. Fishery management activities also 
may cause decline or extirpation in localized areas.

Finding

    The service has reviewed the petition, the literature cited in the 
petition, other available literature and information, comments received 
following the 90-day finding, and consulted with biologists and 
researchers familiar with the boreal toad. On the basis of the best 
scientific and commercial information available, which is discussed 
above under the five listing factors, the Service finds the petitioned 
action is warranted but precluded by work on other species having 
higher priority for listing.
    Section 4(b)(3)(B)(iii) of the Act states that the Service may make 
a warranted but precluded finding if it can demonstrate that (1) an 
immediate proposed rule is precluded by other pending proposals, and 
that (2) expeditious progress is being made on other listing actions. 
Expeditious progress in listing endangered and threatened species is 
being made and is reported annually in the Federal Register. 
Furthermore, on September 21, 1983 (48 FR 43098), the Service published 
in the Federal Register its system for prioritizing species for 
listing. The system considers magnitude of threat, immediacy of threat, 
and taxonomic distinctiveness in assigning species numerical listing 
priorities on a scale of 1 to 12. The southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad is assigned a listing priority of 3 
because noted declines exist throughout its range (magnitude is high), 
as far as can be determined the threat(s) still exists (it is 
imminent), and for taxonomic purposes populations are treated as 
subspecies.
    Although a priority 3 is a relatively high listing priority, there 
are three candidate species in Colorado that appear to be more in need 
of listing, thus precluding the listing of the southern Rocky Mountain 
population of the boreal toad at this time. One candidate is the 
mountain plover (Charadrius montanus) for which the Service is 
preparing a proposed rule. The Service regards the magnitude and 
immediacy of threat to the mountain plover to be at the same level as 
they are for the boreal toad; however, the mountain plover is a full 
species and is being considered for listing throughout its range, 
resulting in a higher listing priority of 2. The Service has been 
petitioned to list the Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius 
preblei). If a warranted finding is made, the listing priority for the 
mouse will likely be 3, the same as the boreal toad; however, the 
mouse's entire range is being considered for listing, not just a 
portion, and there are fewer individual mice than boreal toads. A 
plant, Phacelia submutica (DeBeque phacelia), also has a higher listing 
priority (2) than the boreal toad. Consequently, listing of the boreal 
toad will follow listing of the other three species unless it is 
determined that listing one or more of those species is not warranted 
or that listing the boreal toad is not warranted.
    The petitioners requested that critical habitat be designated for 
the southern Rocky Mountain population of the boreal toad. Designation 
of critical habitat is not petitionable under the Act; however, 
critical habitat will be proposed at the time the population is 
proposed for listing unless it is not determinable or not prudent.
    As required by section 4(b)(3)(C)(i) of the Act, the Service will 
reassess the warranted but precluded finding after 1 year.
    The Service's 12-month finding contains more detailed information 
regarding the above decisions. A copy may be obtained from the Western 
Colorado Office (see ADDRESSES section).

Reference Cited

    A complete list of all references cited is available upon 
request from the Western Colorado Office (see ADDRESSES section).
    Author: The primary author of this document is Terry Ireland, 
Western Colorado Office (see ADDRESSES section).

    Authority: The authority for this action is the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544).

    Dated: March 15, 1995.
Mollie H. Beattie,
Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 95-7203 Filed 3-22-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M