Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

[Federal Register: February 17, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 33)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 8104-8107]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17fe00-44]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of 90-Day Finding for a Petition To List the Yellow-billed Cuckoo as Endangered and Commencement of a Status Review

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of 90-day petition finding.

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) as endangered, with critical habitat, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended. We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information to indicate that the listing of the yellow-billed cuckoo may be warranted. Therefore, we are initiating a status review to determine if the petitioned action is warranted. To ensure that the review is comprehensive, we are soliciting information and data regarding this species.

DATES: The finding in this document was made on February 7, 2000. To be considered in the status review and subsequent 12-month finding for the petition, your information and comments must be received by April 17, 2000.

ADDRESSES: You may submit data, information, comments, or questions concerning this finding to the Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W- 2605, Sacramento, California 95825. The petition finding, supporting data, and comments are available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Miller at the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES section above), or at 916/414-6600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that we make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species presents substantial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. To the maximum extent practicable, we must make this finding within 90 days of the receipt of the petition and publish it promptly in the Federal Register. If the finding is that substantial information was presented, we are also required to promptly commence a review of the status of the involved species. This finding is based on information contained in the petition, supporting information submitted with the petition, and information otherwise available to us at the time the finding was made. While the Act does not provide for petitions to designate critical habitat, the specific critical habitat designation is petitionable under the Administrative Procedures Act. As required by section 4(a)(3) of the Act, we will consider critical habitat designation if we determine that listing is warranted.

The processing of this petition conforms with our Listing Priority Guidance published in the Federal Register on October 22, 1999 (64 FR57114). The guidance clarifies the order in which we will process rulemakings. Highest priority is processing emergency listing rules for any species determined to face a significant and imminent risk to its well-being (Priority 1). Second priority (Priority 2) is processing final determinations on proposed additions to the lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. Third priority is processing new proposals to add species to the lists. The processing of administrative petition findings (petitions filed under section 4 of the Act) is the fourth priority. The processing of this 90-day petition finding is a Priority 4 action and is being completed in accordance with the current Listing Priority Guidance.

We were previously petitioned to list the western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis) in 1986 as endangered in the States of California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada (Manolis et al. 1986). We received this petition from Dr. Tim Manolis, Western Field Ornithologists, and it was cosigned by the Animal Protection Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Sacramento River Preservation Trust, Friends of the River, Planning and Conservation League, Davis Audubon Society, Sacramento Audubon Society, and the Sierra Club. We published a 90-day finding on January 21, 1987, in the Federal Register (52 FR 2239) that the petition presented substantial information indicating that the requested action may be warranted. We acknowledged, in that finding, the difficulties in defining distinct, biologically defensible populations of western yellow-billed cuckoos for possible listing, and the existence of gaps in available information as to its status in certain parts of its range. We published a 12-month finding on December 29, 1988, in the Federal Register (53 FR 52746) that the petitioned action was not warranted, finding that the petitioned area did not encompass either a distinct subspecies or a distinct population segment. The finding cited--(1) a study of geographic variation in the species that concluded the morphological differences between eastern and western birds were too small to merit separate subspecies (Banks 1988), and (2) that the petitioned area did not encompass a distinct population segment. It noted that yellow-billed cuckoos near a State line within the petitioned area, such as on the California side of the lower Colorado River, are part of the same population and interbreed with birds immediately across the same State border and outside the petitioned area.

We received another petition on February 9, 1998, and dated February 2, 1998, to list the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) as an endangered species. The petition was submitted by Robin Silver, Kieran Suckling, and David Noah Greenwald of Southwest Center for Biological Diversity on behalf of 22 groups. The 22 groups are the Maricopa Audubon Society, Tucson Audubon Society, Huachuca Audubon Society, White Mountain Audubon Society, White Mountain Conservation League, Wildlife Damage Review, Sky Island Alliance, San Pedro 100, Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, T and E Inc., Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Environmental Protection Information Center, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Wetlands Action Network, Rangewatch, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Oregon Natural Resources Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Wild Utah Forest Campaign, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club. The petitioners requested that we list the yellow-billed cuckoo as endangered, stating that they believe the yellow-billed cuckoo ``is endangered in a significant portion of its range (i.e., the western United States).'' The petitioners also stated they ``believe this range of endangerment is coterminous with a valid subspecies, the western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis)'' and that they would concur with a decision to list only this subspecies. The petitioners also requested that critical habitat be designated. Included in the petition was supporting information relating to the species' taxonomy and ecology, adequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms for the species, the historic and present distribution, current status, and causes of decline in the western United States. This notice announces our 90-day finding for the 1998 petition.

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Last revision March 31, 2000.