Document

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the North Park Phacelia From the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the comment period on our March 19, 2024, proposed rule to delist the North Park phacelia (Phacelia formosula), a...

PDF version FederalRegister.gov

Department of the Interior

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17
[FWS-R6-ES-2023-0114; FXES1113090FEDR-267-FF09E22000]
RIN 1018-BH01

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.

SUMMARY:

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the comment period on our March 19, 2024, proposed rule to delist the North Park phacelia ( Phacelia formosula), a plant found in the state of Colorado, from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are reopening the proposed rule's comment period for 30 days to give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule in consideration of the updated Species Status Assessment (SSA) report, which we revised based on new information from comments previously submitted, and based on peer review. Comments previously submitted will be fully considered in our final determination and do not need to be resubmitted.

DATES:

The comment period on the proposed delisting rule published on March 19, 2024, at 89 FR 19546, is reopened. We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before June 1, 2026. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES , below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing date. We must receive requests for public hearings, in writing, at the address shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by June 1, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

Comment submission: You may submit comments by one of the following methods:

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R6-ES-2023-0114, which is the docket number for the March 19, 2024, proposed rule and this document. Then click on the Search button. On the resulting page, in the Search panel on the left side of the screen, under the ( printed page 23232) Document Type heading, click on the Proposed Rule box to locate the correct document. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment.”

(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R6-ES-2023-0114, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

We request that you send comments only by the methods described above. We will post all comments on https://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see Public Comments, below, for more information).

Document availability: The March 19, 2024, proposed rule and its supporting documents, including the revised SSA report, are available at https://www.regulations.gov, Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2023-0114.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nathan Darnall, Western Colorado Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado Ecological Services Field Office; 970-238-3610; Nathan_Darnall@fws.gov. 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. Please see Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2023-0114 on https://www.regulations.gov for a document that summarizes the March 19, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 19546).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 19, 2024, we published a proposed rule (89 FR 19546) to remove the North Park phacelia from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants under the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), based on its recovery. The proposed rule opened a 60-day comment period, ending May 20, 2024. On September 12, 2025, following the receipt of substantive new information about the species, we finalized updates to the North Park phacelia SSA Report Version 2.0, which included incorporating population trend data in our resiliency analysis, more thoroughly characterizing genetic diversity across North Park phacelia populations, and updating our future condition assessment. We are reopening the comment period to allow the public the opportunity to provide additional comments on the March 19, 2024, proposed rule based on the new information and analysis in the updated SSA report and previous comments received on the March 19, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 19546). For a description of previous Federal actions concerning the North Park phacelia and information on the types of comments that would be helpful to us in making a final determination on our proposal, please refer to the March 19, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 19546).

Public Comments

We will accept written comments and information during the reopened comment period on our March 19, 2024, proposed rule to delist the North Park phacelia (89 FR 19546). We will consider information and recommendations from all interested parties. We intend that any final action resulting from the proposed rule will be based on the best scientific and commercial data available and will be as accurate and as effective as possible. Our final determination will take into consideration all comments and any additional information we receive during both comment periods on the proposed rule.

Because we will consider all comments and information we receive during both open comment periods, our final determination may differ from our March 19, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 19546). Based on the new information we receive (and, if relevant, any comments on that new information), we may conclude that the North Park phacelia is a threatened species or endangered species, or we may conclude that the species does not warrant listing as either an endangered species or a threatened species. In our final rule, we will clearly explain our rationale and the basis for our final decision, including why we made changes, if any, that differ from the March 19, 2024, proposed rule (89 FR 19546).

Authority

The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), is the authority for this action.

Brian R. Nesvik,

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 2026-08467 Filed 4-29-26; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4333-15-P

Legal Citation

Federal Register Citation

Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.

91 FR 23231

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“Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the North Park Phacelia From the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants,” thefederalregister.org (April 30, 2026), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2026-08467/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-removal-of-the-north-park-phacelia-from-the-list-of-endangered-and-threate.