Revision of The National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Revision of The National List of Plant Species That Occur in

Wetlands

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeks public input and

comment on a revised National List of Plant Species That Occur in

Wetlands (Reed 1988) (hereafter, ``National list''). The revised

National list conforms to Kartesz (1994). A wetland indicator was

assigned to each species that expresses the fidelity to wetlands by

region and sub-region. The National list was originally developed as an

appendix to Cowardin et al.(1979). The National list has also been used

to determine the presence of hydrophytic vegetation in the Clean Water

Act Section 404 wetland regulatory program and in implementing the

swampbuster provisions of the Food Security Act.

DATES: Comments on the revised National list must be received by April

15, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the revised National list including its regional

subdivisions are available on February 15, 1997, from the Fish and

Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory, Suite 101, Monroe

Building, 9720 Executive Center Drive, St. Petersburg, FL 33702-2440.

Electronic copies of the

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above lists are available for downloading from the World Wide Web at

http://www.nwi.fws.gov/ecology.htm. Written comments may be submitted

to the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory, Suite

101, Monroe Building , 9720 Executive Center Drive, St. Petersburg, FL

33702-2440, faxed to (813) 570-5409, or electronically transmitted to:

[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Porter B. Reed, Jr., Fish and

Wildlife Service, at (813) 570-5425, Dr. Russell Theriot, U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers, at (601) 634-2733, Mr. William Sipple,

Environmental Protection Agency, at (202) 260-6066, or Dr.Norman

Melvin, Natural Resources Conservation Service, at (301) 497-5933.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 1996 National list is a revision of Reed

(1988). The revised National list is provided to encourage additional

public review and comments on the draft regional wetland indicator

assignments. The National list was produced under the guidance of

National and Regional Interagency Review Panels composed of

representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Natural Resources

Conservation Service. The National Panel provides guidance and

direction for the development and maintenance of the National list. The

wetland ecologist of the National Wetlands Inventory, Fish and Wildlife

Service, coordinates the activities of the National Panel.

The National Panel meets as necessary to review Regional

Interagency Review Panel progress and to set future direction and

goals. The Regional Panels solicit and obtain information from their

agency personnel, regional reviewers, and from published literature.

This information is used by the Regional Panels to assign regional

wetland indicators. The Regional Panels are coordinated by a Fish and

Wildlife Service representative, usually the Regional Wetland Inventory

Coordinator. The Regional Panels also meet as necessary to consider and

assess all new submissions recommending changes to the National list

that relate to their respective regions.

In 1996, the cooperating agencies responsible for the development

and continued enhancement of the National list signed an ``Agreement

for Coordination in the Refinement of the National list of Vascular

Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands.'' The National list is a

combination of the Regional lists into a single list and will be

released as a Fish and Wildlife Service publication available to the

other agencies and the public. The production of new National lists

will occur every 5 years. If changes to the Regional lists become

necessary outside the 5-year cycle, those changes will be made in

compliance with these procedures.

The National list will remain dynamic and the submission of well

documented review comments based on field experience is encouraged. All

scientific plant names included in a submission must be contained in

the 1994 Synonymized Checklist or the Natural Resource Conservation

Agency's PLANTS database http//trident.ftc.nrcs.usda.gov/npdc/.

Complete documentation, including a description and explanation of the

variety of field sites and/or data supporting the recommended wetland

indicator, is necessary for the Regional Interagency Review Panels to

adequately understand and consider a submission. To assist in

documentation and to facilitate the review, a submission should contain

a strong rationale supporting the proposed recommendation including the

extent of the area that the field experience and data provided are

based. Information presented in the submission from botanical and

ecological texts and periodicals should be supplied with the citation

of the source. The rationale should clearly discuss, as part of the

field information, the percentage of occurrence of the taxon in both

wetland and non-wetland areas. A complete submission ideally should

present, for each field site referenced in the submission, community

information including the scientific names, quantitative measurements

of vegetation (e.g. density, frequency, cover, or importance data),

soils data including classification and morphology (especially the

presence of field indicators (USDA 1996), hydrologic data (especially

any intensive water table and redox potential monitoring), and

landscape position. A review form is provided with the 1996 National

list on the Ecology Section World Wide Web site to facilitate review

submission. Completed review forms can be delivered by the World Wide

Web to [email protected].

Literature Cited

Cowardin, L.M., V. Carter, F.C. Golet, and E.T. LaRoe. 1979.

Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. FWS/OBS-79/31. 103pp.

Kartesz, John T. 1994. A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular

Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Volume I--Checklist

& Volume II--Thesaurus. Timber Press, Portland, OR. Vol. I: 622 pp.

Vol. II: 816 pp.

Reed, Jr., Porter B. 1988. National List of Plant Species That

Occur in Wetlands: National Summary. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Biol. Rep. 88 (24). 244 pp.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation

Service. 1996. Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States.

G.W. Hurt, Whited, P.M., and Pringle, R.F. (eds.). USDA, NRCS, Fort.

Worth, TX.

Dated: January 6, 1997

John G. Rodgers,

Acting Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 97-1255 Filed 1-16-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-55-P