Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of Roanoke Logperch 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-R5-ES-2023-0181; FXES11130900000-234-FF09E22000]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1018-BH61</RIN> <SUBJECT>Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of Roanoke Logperch 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), are removing the Roanoke logperch ( <E T="03">Percina rex</E> ), a freshwater fish in the perch family (Percidae), from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. After a review of the best scientific and commercial data available, we find that delisting the species is warranted. Our review indicates that the threats to the Roanoke logperch 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 sections 7 and 9, will no longer apply to the Roanoke logperch. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective August 21, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> This final rule is available on the internet at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Comments and materials we received are available for public inspection at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov at</E> Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2023-0181. <E T="03">Availability of supporting materials:</E> This rule and supporting documents, including the 5-year review, the recovery plan, and the species status assessment (SSA) report, are available at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2023-0181. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Troy Andersen, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Ecological Services Field Office; telephone 804-728-0695; email address: <E T="03">troy_andersen@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">Previous Federal Actions</HD> Please refer to the proposed rule to delist the Roanoke logperch published on April 2, 2024 (89 FR 22649), 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 Roanoke logperch. The SSA team was composed of Service biologists, in consultation with other species experts. 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 in listing and recovery actions under the Act ( <E T="03">https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/peer-review-policy-directors-memo-2016-08-22.pdf</E> ), we solicited independent scientific review of the information contained in the Roanoke logperch SSA report. As discussed in the proposed rule, we sent the SSA report to nine 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 (89 FR 22649; April 2, 2024). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Changes From the Proposed Rule</HD> In preparing this final rule, we reviewed and fully considered all public comments received during the comment period, and we make no substantive changes from the April 2, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 22649). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Comments and Recommendations</HD> In the proposed rule published on April 2, 2024 (89 FR 22649), we requested that all interested parties submit written comments on the proposal by June 3, 2024. We also contacted appropriate Federal and State agencies, Tribal entities, scientific experts and organizations, and other interested parties and invited them to comment on the proposal. A newspaper notice inviting general public comment was published in the Roanoke Times on April 12, 2024, and in the Greensboro News on April 17, 2024. We did not receive any requests for a public hearing. All substantive information received during comment periods has either been incorporated directly into this final determination or is addressed below. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Comments From States</HD> <E T="03">(1) Comment:</E> The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission expressed their continued commitment to propagation, field survey, and eDNA work in the Dan River basin. However, they expressed concern about the availability of Federal funding mechanisms to support the post-delisting monitoring plan for Roanoke logperch. <E T="03">Our response:</E> The Service appreciates the continued commitment of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to Roanoke logperch conservation. There are no specific Federal funds to support post-delisting monitoring plans; however, funding from a wide variety of sources may be used to support this work. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Public Comments</HD> <E T="03">(2) Comment:</E> Multiple comments were received stating that the Service failed to consider the impacts of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project on the species, that the pipeline threatened the species, that we needed to reassess the populations based on the commenters' observations of impacts they reported to be from the MVP project, or that we needed to incorporate impacts from the MVP project into model simulations specifically. <E T="03">Our response:</E> The impacts of the MVP project, such as sedimentation and vegetation removal, on the recovery of the Roanoke logperch were assessed in the jeopardy analysis of the Service's biological opinion for the MVP (Service, 2023, p. 52) which included sedimentation modeling, and in the SSA (Service 2022a, pp. 27-28). The Service's jeopardy analysis concluded that the MVP project is not anticipated to reduce appreciably the suitable habitat available for recovery or the recovery potential for the species. Additionally, one commenter requesting reassessment based on their observations did not provide adequate information to allow us to respond specifically to the data available in the vicinity of their location. <E T="03">(3) Comment:</E> One commenter stated that they believe there was a perceived increase in Roanoke logperch distribution and abundance due to increases in our ability to sample these ecosystems. <E T="03">Our response:</E> As stated in the SSA report, “The known geographic distribution of RLP [Roanoke logperch] has expanded dramatically over time, from 4 streams by the end of the 1940s to 14 streams by the time of its ESA [the Act] listing in 1989 to 31 streams currently. Because survey effort also increased dramatically over this time, we cannot determine whether RLP's [Roanoke logperch's] range increased because of true range expansion via dispersal, new discovery of existing but undiscovered populations, or both” (Service 2022a, p. 1). The species' present-day distribution was evaluated in making our determination that the Roanoke logperch is recovered and no longer needs protections provided by the Act. Nevertheless, the listing of the species spurred not only greater survey effort (an action identified in the 1992 recovery plan (Service 1992, pp. 12-13)). but also increased habitat restoration—inextricably linking these efforts to recovery. <E T="03">(4) Comment:</E> Two commenters mentioned dams as an obstacle to Roanoke logperch recovery, including one commenter who mentioned the lack of dam removals. <E T="03">Our response:</E> Dams are known to be a threat to Roanoke logperch, and the presumed effects to Roanoke logperch from these barriers were analyzed in the SSA report and evaluated in determining if the species is recovered. Multiple dams have been removed within the range of the Roanoke logperch between 2009 and 2020, as detailed in table 4 (p. 25) and figure 6 (p. 24) in the SSA report. Some dams present within the range of the Roanoke logperch provide one-way passage downstream for the species. <E T="03">(5) Comment:</E> One commenter stated that they disagreed with the delisting, as they believe the Roanoke logperch still faces significant conservation challenges pertaining to the quality and connectivity of the habitat and the resiliency of the reproductive population. <E T="03">Our response:</E> The threats facing the Roanoke logperch identified in the SSA report were evaluated in determining the species is recovered. It is not necessary for all threats to a species to be eliminated to delist a species; a determination of whether a species should be delisted is made solely on the question of whether it meets the Act's definition of an “endangered species” or a “threatened species.” We have determined that Roano ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 88k characters. 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