Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2002/01/14/02-665/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-reclassification-of-scutellaria-montana
Timestamp: 2017-08-24 02:07:32
Document Index: 337765042

Matched Legal Cases: ['§\u200917', '§\u200917', '§\u200927', '§\u200970', '§\u200927', '§\u200912', '§\u200912', '§\u200970', '§\u200913', '§\u200960', '§\u200966', '§\u200911', '§\u200917']

Federal Register :: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reclassification of Scutellaria montana
A Rule by the Fish and Wildlife Service on 01/14/2002
1662-1668 (7 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/02-665 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/02-665
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 1662
Bridges (1984) stated, “The genus Scutellaria can be easily recognized by its distinctive calyx, with a protrusion, or ‘cap’ on the upper lobe.” Scutellaria montana could be confused with other species of Scutellaria. Bridges (1984) also listed some important characters of Scutellaria montana: (1) A terminal inflorescence; (2) a large corolla at least 2.5 cm (1 in) long; (3) tapering or truncate (ending abruptly) leaf bases, never cordate (heart-shaped); (4) a midstem with at least some stipitate (short stemmed) glandular hairs; (5) no sessile (without a footstalk of any kind) glands on the upper leaf surface; (6) a fairly densely pubescent (hairy) lower leaf surface, often with glandular hairs; and (7) a corolla tube lacking an annulus within.
According to Bridges (1984), the geological strata underlying the occurrences of Scutellaria montana include most of the major slope-forming formations of the region—shale, chert, limestone, and sandstone from Cambrian to Pennsylvanian in age. Most occurrences in Tennessee occur on the Upper Mississippian Pennington Formation and Lower Pennsylvanian sandstone and shale. Most of the Start Printed Page 1663occurrences in the Lookout Mountain portion of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park are found on Fort Payne, St. Lewis, Warsaw, Monteagle, and Bangor Formations that underlie the Pennington Formations (McKerrow and Pyne 1993). The Georgia portion of the Ridge and Valley is underlain by Paleozoic rock such as sandstone, shale, and limestone (Lipps and DeSelm 1969). The Georgia occurrences are found on Mississippian Formations including Rome, Red Mountain, and Rockwood (Collins, unpublished). Occurrence elevations range from 189 meters (620 feet) to 562 m (1,844 ft) above sea level.
Murray County has two nonself-sustaining populations, all on private land, and there are currently two nonviable populations (three occurrences) known from Chattooga County, Georgia. One population has only three plants (on U.S. Forest Service [USFS] land), and the other two occurrences that make up the other population are described as having only four plants and “dozens” of plants. A single, nonviable population (10 plants) occurs on NPS land in Dade County, Georgia, near the Lookout Mountain population in Tennessee, and a single nonviable population (~60 plants) of unknown ownership has been found in Whitfield County.
Marion County, Tennessee, now has 2 populations ranging in size from about 50 plants to more than 40,000 plants at Start Printed Page 1664the Tennessee River Gorge. The Tennessee River Gorge population is made up of 8 subpopulations, 2 of which contain more than 20,000 plants. All of the smaller Marion County site (55 plants) is protected, and 6 of the 8 subpopulations in the Tennessee River Gorge are protected (less than 1 percent of the plants are not protected).
On July 12, 2000, we published the proposed rule to reclassify Scutellaria montana from endangered to threatened status in the Federal Register (65 FR 42973), under the authority of the Act. Additionally, we announced this proposal in letters (110) dated July 17, 2000, and in legal notices published in the Rome News Tribune, Rome, Georgia, on July 23, 2000; the Walker County Messenger, LaFayette, Georgia, and the Catoosa County News, Ringgold, Georgia, on July 26, 2000; the Jasper Start Printed Page 1665Journal, Jasper, Tennessee, on July 27, 2000; and the Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, Tennessee, on July 28, 2000. Those documents notified affected congressional offices, the governors of Tennessee and Georgia, Federal and State agencies, local governments, scientific organizations, and interested parties of the proposed action and requested comments and information that might contribute to the development of a final determination. We also announced the proposed downlisting through a press release on July 18, 2000, that was also made available on the Service's Southeast Regional home page on the Internet (southeast.fws.gov).
Issue 2: In the proposed rule we stated that “* * * Scutellaria montana was not a significant component of the commercial trade in native plants. Significant commercial trade in Scutellaria montana is not currently known to occur or expected in the future, and no significant import or export is expected.” One comment letter pointed out that at least one named cultivar of this species is ready to be placed in commercial trade. They also stated that Scutellaria montana is unlikely to be collected in the wild and that both Tennessee and Georgia have provisions in their respective State agencies to require permitting as needed in all in-State commerce.
Issue 3: Under 50 CFR, subpart G, § 17.71(a) “Seeds of cultivated specimens of species treated as threatened shall be exempt from all the provisions of § 17.61, provided that a statement that the seeds are of ‘cultivated origin’ accompanies the seeds or their container during the course of any activity otherwise subject to these regulations.” One comment letter stated that “cuttings” as well as seeds should be included in this exemption, as this is a common way plants enter the horticultural trade.
Though this species is under less threat than when listed, largely due to Start Printed Page 1666the discovery of additional populations, and 22 (46 percent) of the 48 known populations are currently being afforded protection through ownership by conservation organizations, county parks, historic sites, or Federal land (11 of these protected populations are considered self-sustaining), threats to the species' habitat and future security still exist. Further, nearly 80 percent of the known plants continue to occur at only two sites in the Tennessee River Gorge population.
Though there is less protection afforded to threatened plants than to endangered plants under section 9 of the Act, most of the legal protections conferred under the ESA will remain in place following final reclassification of Scutellaria montana. Both Georgia (Ga. Code Ann. §§ 27-3-130 et seq.) and Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 70-8-301 et seq.) have rare plant protection laws that also protect this species. Georgia has separate laws covering endangered plant and animal species. (Ga. Code Ann. §§ 27-3-130 et seq.; §§ 12-6-171 et seq.) Listing under both acts is limited to scientific and commercial criteria. Habitat acquisition is authorized but not required. The acts do not require recovery plans or agency consultation. Violations constitute a misdemeanor. In addition, the Georgia Environmental Policy Act requires the assessment of major proposed agency impacts on biological resources. (Ga. Code Ann. § 12-16-1 et seq.)
In Tennessee, the Rare Plant Protection and Conservation Act authorizes investigation, listing, and education efforts. (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 70 8-301 et seq.) Listing is based on scientific and commercial data only. The act cannot be used to interfere with, delay, or impede any public works project. Penalties include fines up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment of up to six months. Tennessee does not have an “environmental protection act.” However, by statute, any person or agency planning an energy project must submit an analysis of the environmental impacts of the project. (Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-18-103) In addition, any person conducting oil and gas activities must prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts. (Tenn. Code Ann. § 60-1-202) Tennessee has private land conservation programs. For example, conservation easements are authorized by statute. (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-9-301 et seq.) Owners of land subject to a conservation easement are not liable for injury to a third person using the land. (Tenn. Code Ann. § 11-10103) A Forest Stewardship Program assists private landowners with conservation issues. In addition, the Tennessee Biodiversity Program encourages private landowners to protect critical areas. While considerable progress has been made towards recovery of Scutellaria montana under these regimes, some threats, such as habitat modification, remain sufficiently serious that the species still requires protection under the Act until the number of total and protected populations can be further increased. Such additional increases in the total number of populations, particularly those under protection, may sufficiently reduce the risk of extinction, even under these current State laws, that concerns under Factor D are no longer an obstacle to delisting Scutellaria montana.
Scutellaria montana also produces fewer seeds per fruit compared with other members of the genus. Kemp and Knauss (1990) found that the fruit averaged 2.2 to 2.3 seeds rather than the 4 seeds that are possible. Similarly, Cruzan (in Shea and Hogan 1998) found pollen present on 60 percent of the styles, but only 15 percent of these flowers set fruit, with an average of two seeds per fruit. As mentioned previously, the long floral tube and a sucrose-hexose ratio near 50 percent (Cruzan and Case, in prep.) are indicative of a historical association with moths or long-tongued bees as the primary pollinator (Baker and Baker 1979, Southwick 1992, Kearns and Inouye 1993). However, after several hundred hours of observations over 4 years, Cruzan and Hopkins (in prep.) found these pollinators appeared to be rare or lacking and believed that the low seed production is largely because of the lack of pollen deposition on stigmas (Cruzan and Hopkins, in prep.), indicating a possible loss of, or decline in, an associated pollinator(s). The loss/decline of an associated pollinator, particularly one able to travel relatively Start Printed Page 1667long distances, could also explain the apparent inbreeding noted at smaller and more isolated populations of this self-compatible species (Cruzan and Vege, in prep.).
We have carefully assessed the best scientific and commercial information available regarding the past, present, and future threats faced by Scutellaria montana in determining this final rule. Based on this evaluation, the preferred action is to reclassify Scutellaria montana from an endangered species to a threatened species. The recovery plan for Scutellaria montana states that the species is qualified for downlisting to threatened: “* * * If numbers of discrete populations increase to 25 (because of the discovery/establishment of additional populations) or the number of protected and managed self-sustaining populations becomes 10 or more (distributed throughout the known geographic range) * * * ” The criteria for downlisting have been met through both the number of known populations (48) and the number of viable (self-sustaining), protected populations (11) distributed between both States in the species' range.
Baker, H. G., and I. Baker. 1979. Sugar rations in nectar. Phytochemical Start Printed Page 1668Bulletin 12:43-45. In M. B. Cruzan and S. Vega. In prep. Population Size and Fragmentation Thresholds for the Maintenance of Genetic Diversity in the Endemic Scutellaria montana (Lamiaceae).
2. Amend § 17.12(h) by revising the entries for