Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the Apache Trout From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Fish and Wildlife Service</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 17</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2022-0115; FXES1113090FEDR-245-FF09E22000]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1018-BG94</RIN> <SUBJECT>Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the Apache Trout From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or USFWS), are removing the Apache trout ( <E T="03">Oncorhynchus apache</E> ), a fish native to Arizona, from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Our review indicates that the threats to the Apache trout have been eliminated or reduced to the point that the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Accordingly, the prohibitions and conservation measures provided by the Act, particularly through section 4 and 7, will no longer apply to the Apache trout. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective October 7, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The proposed rule and this final rule, the post-delisting monitoring plan, the comments we received on the proposed rule, and supporting documents are available at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2022-0115. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Heather Whitlaw, Field Supervisor, Arizona Ecological Services Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 9828 North 31st Ave #C3, Phoenix AZ 85051-2517; telephone 602-242-0210, <E T="03">incomingAZcorr@fws.gov.</E> 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-of-contact in the United States. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Executive Summary</HD> <E T="03">Why we need to publish a rule.</E> Under the Act, a species warrants removal from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants if it no longer meets the definition of an endangered species (in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range) or a threatened species (likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range). The Apache trout is listed as threatened, and we are delisting it because we have determined it does not meet the Act's definition of an endangered or threatened species. Delisting a species can be completed only by issuing a rule through the Administrative Procedure Act rulemaking process (5 U.S.C. 551 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ). <E T="03">What this document does.</E> This rule removes the Apache trout from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (List) due to the species' recovery. <E T="03">The basis for our action.</E> Under the Act, we may determine that a species is an endangered species or a threatened species because of any of five factors: (A) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; (C) disease or predation; (D) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or (E) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. The determination to delist a species must be based on an analysis of the same factors. Under the Act, we must review the status of all listed species at least once every five years. We must delist a species if we determine, on the basis of the best available scientific and commercial data, that the species is neither a threatened species nor an endangered species. Our regulations at 50 CFR 424.11(e) identify four reasons why we might determine a species shall be delisted: (1) The species is extinct, (2) the species has recovered to the point at which it no longer meets thedefinition of an endangered species or a threatened species, (3) new information that has become available since the original listing decision shows the listed entity does not meet thedefinition of an endangered species or a threatened species, or (4) new information that has become available since the original listing decision shows the listed entity does not meet thedefinition of a species. Here, we have determined that the Apache trout has recovered to the point at which it no longer meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species; therefore, we are delisting it. Specifically, our analysis indicates that the Apache trout now consists of multiple, sufficiently resilient populations across subbasins encompassing a large percentage of the species' historical range. Due to conservation efforts undertaken to date, the Apache trout now encompasses 30 confirmed genetically pure populations across 3 basins and 6 subbasins. Twenty-five of the 30 pure populations of Apache trout are located in whole (22) or in part (3) on Tribal lands, where longstanding policy has and will continue to result in significant protections of the watersheds and these populations. We consider the Apache trout to be a conservation-reliant species, which we define in this case as a species that has met recovery criteria but requires continued active management to sustain the species and associated habitat in a recovered condition (see Scott et al. 2010, entire), given that the Apache trout requires active management to maintain suitable habitat. To address this management need for conservation activities to address long-term management of this species, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Trout Unlimited, and the Service developed, and are implementing, the Apache trout Cooperative Management Plan (CMP; USFWS 2021, entire) and are committed to the continuing long-term management of this species. Management of conservation barriers and removal of nonnative trout following the CMP, which will not be impacted by this delisting determination, will ensure that the Apache trout maintains sufficient resiliency, redundancy, and representation to maintain viability into the future. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Previous Federal Actions</HD> Please refer to the proposed rule to delist the Apache trout published on August 11, 2023, (88 FR 54548) for a detailed description of previous Federal actions concerning this species. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Peer Review</HD> A species status assessment (SSA) team prepared an SSA report for the Apache trout (USFWS 2022a, entire). The SSA team was composed of Service biologists, in consultation with other species experts from WMAT, AZGFD, USFS, and Trout Unlimited. The SSA report represents a compilation of the best scientific and commercial data available concerning the status of the species, including the impacts of past, present, and future factors (both negative and beneficial) affecting the species. In accordance with our joint policy on peer review published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on July 1, 1994 (59 FR 34270), and our August 22, 2016, memorandum updating and clarifying the role of peer review of listing and recovery actions under the Act, we solicited independent scientific review of the information contained in the Apache trout SSA report. As discussed in the proposed rule, we sent the SSA report to three independent peer reviewers and received three responses. The peer reviews can be found at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> In preparing the proposed rule, we incorporated the results of these reviews, as appropriate, into the SSA report, which was the foundation for the proposed rule and this final rule. A summary of the peer review comments and our responses can be found in the proposed rule (88 FR 54548; August, 11, 2023). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Changes From the Proposed Rule</HD> In preparing this final rule, we reviewed and fully considered all comments we received during the comment period from the peer reviewers and the public on the proposed rule to reclassify the Apache trout. Minor, nonsubstantive changes and clarifications were made to the SSA report and this final rule in response to comments. The information we received during the peer review and public comment period on the proposed rule did not change our analysis, rationale, or determination for delisting the Apache trout. Below is a summary of the clarifications made in this final rule. (1) We made revisions to the <E T="03">Recovery Plan Implementation,</E> below, to provide more clarity on various management and conservation actions that have been taken to benefit the Apache trout. With regard to management of the Apache trout and Apache trout habitat, we clarified that: projects on Apache Sitgreaves National Forest (ASNF) lands require National Environmental Policy Act review; and the WMAT, AZGFD, ASNF, USFWS, and Trout Unlimited are all signatories to the 2021 Apache Trout Cooperative Management Plan (USFWS 2021, entire). (2) We included recent confirmation of the one population listed as “pure-suspected” in the SSA report. This population has been analyzed and was found to be genetically pure since the publication of the proposed rule on August 11, 2023 (88 FR 54548) (Mussmann 2024, pers. comm.). (3) We noted “put-and-take opportunities” provided by AZGFD and WMAT that are intended to generate public support for Apache trout recovery. (4) We clarified that Apache trout recovery streams on Tribal lands h ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 137k characters. 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