80 FR 32365 - Endangered and Threatened Species; Recovery Plans

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 109 (June 8, 2015)

We, NMFS, announce the adoption of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plan (Plan) for the Snake River Sockeye Salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka) evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) which is listed as endangered under the ESA. The geographic area covered by the plan is the Sawtooth Valley in Idaho including the Upper Salmon River and its tributaries, Stanley Lake, Redfish Lake, Yellowbelly Lake, Pettit Lake, and Alturas Lake, and the migration corridor from the Sawtooth Valley to the ocean. As required under the ESA, the Plan contains objective, measurable delisting criteria, site-specific management actions necessary to achieve the plan's goals, and estimates of the time and costs required to implement recovery actions. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Plan for Snake River Sockeye Salmon and our summary of and responses to public comments on the Plan are now available.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 109 (Monday, June 8, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32365-32367]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13854]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD367]


Endangered and Threatened Species; Recovery Plans

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: We, NMFS, announce the adoption of an Endangered Species Act 
(ESA) recovery plan (Plan) for the Snake River Sockeye Salmon 
(Onchorhynchus nerka) evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) which is 
listed as endangered under the ESA. The geographic area covered by the 
plan is the Sawtooth Valley in Idaho including the Upper Salmon River 
and its tributaries, Stanley Lake, Redfish Lake, Yellowbelly Lake, 
Pettit Lake, and Alturas Lake, and the migration corridor from the 
Sawtooth Valley to the ocean. As required under the ESA, the Plan 
contains objective, measurable delisting criteria, site-specific 
management actions necessary to achieve the plan's goals, and estimates 
of the time and costs required to implement recovery actions. The 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Plan for Snake River Sockeye 
Salmon and our summary of and responses to public comments on the Plan 
are now available.

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the Plan and a summary of and response 
to public comments on the Plan are available on-line at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/snake_river/current_snake_river_recovery_plan_documents.html. A CD-ROM of these 
documents can be obtained by emailing a request to Bonnie. 
[email protected] with the subject line ``CD ROM Request for Snake River 
Sockeye Salmon Recovery Plan'' or by writing to NMFS Interior Columbia 
Basin Office, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1201 NE. Lloyd 
Boulevard, Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97232.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rosemary Furfey, NMFS Snake River 
Sockeye Salmon Recovery Coordinator, at (503) 231-2149, or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    We are responsible for developing and implementing recovery plans 
for Pacific salmon and steelhead listed under the ESA of 1973, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Recovery means that the listed 
species and their ecosystems are sufficiently restored, and their 
future secured, to the point that the protections of the ESA are no 
longer necessary. Section 4(f)(1) of the ESA requires that recovery 
plans include, to the extent practicable: (1) Objective, measurable 
criteria which, when met, would result in a determination that the 
species is no longer threatened or endangered; (2) site-specific 
management actions necessary to achieve the plan's goals; and (3) 
estimates of the time required and costs to implement recovery actions.
    We believe it is essential to have local support of recovery plans 
by those whose activities directly affect the listed species and whose 
continued commitment and leadership will be needed to implement the 
necessary recovery actions. We therefore support and participate in 
locally led, collaborative efforts to develop recovery plans that 
involve state, tribal, and federal entities, local communities, and 
other stakeholders. For this Plan for endangered Snake River Sockeye 
Salmon, we worked collaboratively with local state, tribal, and federal 
partners to produce a recovery plan that satisfies the ESA 
requirements. We have determined that this ESA Recovery Plan for Snake 
River Sockeye Salmon meets the statutory requirements for a recovery 
plan and are adopting it as the ESA recovery plan for this endangered 
species.

Development of the Plan

    For the purpose of recovery planning for the ESA-listed species of 
Pacific salmon and steelhead in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, NMFS 
designated five geographically based ``recovery domains.'' The Snake 
River Sockeye Salmon ESU spawning range is in the Interior Columbia 
domain. For each domain, NMFS appointed a team of scientists, nominated 
for their geographic and species expertise, to provide a solid 
scientific foundation for recovery plans. The Interior Columbia 
Technical Recovery Team included biologists from NMFS, other federal 
agencies, states, tribes, and academic institutions.
    A primary task for the Interior Columbia Technical Recovery Team 
was to recommend criteria for determining when each component 
population with an ESU or distinct population segment (DPS) should be 
considered viable (i.e., when they are have a low risk of extinction 
over a 100-year period) and when ESUs or DPSs have a risk of extinction 
consistent with no longer needing the protections of the ESA. All 
Technical Recovery Teams used the same biological principles for 
developing their recommendations; these principles are described in the 
NOAA technical memorandum Viable Salmonid Populations and the Recovery 
of Evolutionarily Significant Units (McElhany et al., 2000). Viable 
salmonid populations (VSP) are defined in terms of four parameters: 
Abundance, productivity or growth rate, spatial structure, and 
diversity.
    For this Plan, we collaborated with state, tribal and federal 
biologists and resource managers to provide technical information that 
NMFS used to write the Plan which is built upon locally-led recovery 
efforts. In addition, NMFS established a multi-state (Idaho, Oregon and 
Washington), tribal and federal partners' regional forum called the

[[Page 32366]]

Snake River Coordination Group that addresses the four ESA-listed Snake 
River salmon and steelhead species. They met twice a year to be briefed 
and provide technical and policy-related information to NMFS. We 
presented regular updates on the status of this Plan to the Snake River 
Coordination Group and posted draft chapters on NMFS' West Coast Region 
Snake River recovery planning Web page.
    In addition to the Plan, we developed and incorporated the Module 
for the Ocean Environment (Fresh et al. 2014) as Appendix B to address 
Snake River Sockeye Salmon recovery needs in the Columbia River 
estuary, plume, and Pacific Ocean. To address recovery needs related to 
the Lower Columbia River mainstem and estuary, we incorporated the 
Columbia Estuary ESA Recovery Plan Module (NMFS 2011) as Appendix C. To 
address recovery needs for fishery harvest management in the Salmon, 
Snake and Columbia Rivers mainstem, Columbia River estuary and ocean, 
we developed and incorporated the Harvest Module (NMFS 2014a) as 
Appendix D. To address recovery needs related to the Columbia River 
Hydropower System, we developed and incorporated the Supplemental 
Recovery Plan Module for Snake River Salmon and Steelhead Mainstem 
Columbia River Hydropower Projects (NMFS 2014b) as Appendix E of this 
Plan.

Contents of Plan

    The Plan contains biological background and contextual information 
that includes description of the ESU, the planning area, and the 
context of the plan's development. It presents relevant information on 
ESU structure, guidelines for assessing salmonid population and ESU-
level status, and a brief summary of Interior Columbia Technical 
Recovery Team products on population structure and species status. It 
also presents NMFS' biological viability criteria and threats criteria 
for delisting.
    The Plan also describes specific information on the following: 
Current status of Snake River Sockeye Salmon; limiting factors and 
threats for the full life cycle that contributed to the species 
decline; recovery strategies and actions addressing these limiting 
factors and threats; key information needs, and a proposed research, 
monitoring, and evaluation program for adaptive management. For 
recovery actions, the Plan includes a table summarizing each proposed 
action, together with the associated location, life stage affected, 
estimated costs, timing and potential implementing entity. It also 
describes how implementation, prioritization of actions, and adaptive 
management will proceed at the population and ESU scales. The Plan also 
summarizes time and costs (Section 9 and Appendix A) required to 
implement recovery actions. In addition to the information in the Plan, 
readers are referred to the recovery plan modules (Appendices B-E) for 
more information on all these topics.

How NMFS and Others Expect To Use the Plan

    We will commit to implement the actions in the Plan for which we 
have authority and funding; encourage other federal and state agencies 
and tribal governments to implement recovery actions for which they 
have responsibility, authority and funding; and work cooperatively with 
the public and local stakeholders on implementation of other actions. 
We expect the Plan to guide us and other federal agencies in evaluating 
federal actions under ESA section 7, as well as in implementing other 
provisions of the ESA and other statutes. For example, the Plan will 
provide greater biological context for evaluating the effects that a 
proposed action may have on a species by providing delisting criteria, 
information on priority areas for addressing specific limiting factors, 
and information on how future populations within the ESU can tolerate 
varying levels of risk.
    When we are considering a species for delisting, the agency will 
examine whether the section 4(a)(1) listing factors have been 
addressed. To assist in this examination, we will use the delisting 
criteria described in section 3.3 of the Plan, which include both 
biological criteria and criteria addressing each of the ESA section 
4(a)(1) listing factors, as well as any other relevant data and policy 
considerations.
    We will also work with the proposed Snake River Sockeye Salmon 
Implementation and Science Team described in section 10 of the Plan to 
develop implementation schedules that provide greater specificity for 
recovery actions to be implemented over five-year periods. This Team 
will also help promote implementation of recovery actions and 
subsequent implementation schedules, and will track and report on 
implementation progress. The Implementation and Science Team, working 
together with NMFS staff, will coordinate the implementation of 
recovery actions among federal, state, tribal entities and local 
stakeholders.

Public Comments Solicited

    Section 4(f) of the ESA, as amended in 1988, requires that public 
notice and an opportunity for public review and comment be provided 
prior to final approval of a recovery plan. Between July 21 and 
September 19, 2014, we made the Plan--including the recovery plan 
modules, which were included as appendices--available for public review 
(79 FR 42298; July 21, 2014). NMFS received a total of six comment 
letters on the proposed Plan from state and federal entities, as well 
as interested individuals.
    We reviewed all comments for substantive issues and new information 
and have responded to the comments, both in the response-to-comments 
document and by making clarifying changes to relevant text in the Plan. 
The Plan and a summary of public comments and responses are available 
on the NMFS West Coast Region Web site at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/snake_river/current_snake_river_recovery_plan_documents.html.

Conclusion

    Section 4(f)(1)(B) of the ESA requires that recovery plans 
incorporate, to the extent practicable, (1) objective, measurable 
criteria which, when met, would result in a determination that the 
species is no longer threatened or endangered; (2) site-specific 
management actions necessary to achieve the plan's goals; and (3) 
estimates of the time required and costs to implement recovery actions. 
We conclude that the Plan meets the requirements of ESA section 4(f) 
and adopt it as the ESA Recovery Plan for Snake River Sockeye Salmon.

Literature Cited

McElhany, P., M.H. Ruckelshaus, M.J. Ford, T.C. Wainwright, and E.P. 
Bjorkstedt. 2000. Viable salmon populations and the recovery of 
evolutionarily significant units. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Tech. 
Memo., NMFS NWFSC 42, 156 p.
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). 2011. Columbia River 
Estuary ESA Recovery Plan Module for Salmon and Steelhead. Northwest 
Region. January 2011. Available at: http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/lower_columbia_river/lower_columbia_river_recovery_plan_for_salmon_steelhead.html.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.


[[Page 32367]]


    Dated: June 2, 2015.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-13854 Filed 6-5-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P