Availability of Draft Recovery Plan for Kokia Cookei for Review and Comment

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Availability of Draft Recovery Plan for Kokia Cookei for Review

and Comment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of document availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability

for public review of a draft recovery plan for Kokia cookei. This

species is known only from the island of Molokai and is federally

listed as endangered. There are no naturally occurring populations of

Kokia cookei. It currently exists only in cultivation at two locations

and in managed outplantings at three sites. The total number of

individual plants remaining is 28.

DATES: Comments on the draft recovery plan must be received on or

before October 14, 1997, to receive consideration by the Service.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft recovery plan are available for

inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the

following location: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands

Ecoregion, Room 3108, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, P.O. Box 50088,

Honolulu, Hawaii 96850 (phone: 808/541-3441). A copy will also be

available for inspection at the Molokai Public Library, 15 Ala Malama

Street, Kaunakakai, Hawaii 96748 (phone: 808/553-5483). Requests for

copies of the draft recovery plan and written comments and materials

regarding the plan should be addressed to Field Supervisor-Ecological

Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific

[[Page 43545]]

Islands Ecoregion at the Honolulu address given above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Rosa, Assistant Field

Supervisor-Endangered Species, at the Honolulu address given above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Restoring endangered or threatened animals and plants to the point

where they are again secure, self-sustaining members of their ecosystem

is a primary goal of the Service's endangered species program. To help

guide the recovery effort, the Service is working to prepare recovery

plans for most of the listed species native to the United States, its

Territories and Commonwealths. Recovery plans describe actions

considered necessary for conservation of the species, establish

criteria for the recovery levels for downlisting or delisting them, and

estimate time and cost for implementing the recovery measures needed.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et

seq.) (Act), requires the development of recovery plans for listed

species unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a

particular species. Section 4(f) of the Act, as amended in 1988,

requires that a public notice and an opportunity for public review and

comment be provided during recovery plan development. The Service will

consider all information presented during a public comment period prior

to approval of each new or revised recovery plan. Substantive technical

comments will result in changes to the plan. Substantive comments

regarding recovery plan implementation may not necessarily result in

changes to the recovery plan, but will be forwarded to appropriate

Federal or other entities so that they can take these comments into

account during the course of implementing recovery actions.

Individualized responses to comments will not be provided.

The species being considered in this recovery plan is Kokia cookei.

Known only from the island of Molokai, Kokia cookei has been described

as the rarest plant in the world. When first discovered in the 1860s,

three trees of this species were known. By the twentieth century, only

a single wild tree remained. The species became extirpated from the

wild in 1918. Currently, only 28 cloned individuals of Kokia cookei

exist. These individuals were produced by grafting to root stocks of

the two related Kokia species, Kokia kauaiensis and Kokia drynarioides.

Seven individuals are in artificial cultivation facilities on the

islands of Maui and Oahu. The remaining 21 individuals are in small

(10,000 square feet or less) outplanting sites on privately owned

Molokai Ranch lands, at Puu Nana, about 365 meters (1200 feet)

elevation.

The destruction of dryland habitats throughout the Hawaiian

Islands, which began 1,500 years ago with the coming of the Polynesians

to Hawaii and increased greatly with the arrival of the Europeans a

little over 200 years ago, has led to the elimination of Kokia cookei

in the wild. Kokia cookei was directly impacted by browsing, bark

stripping, and soil trampling by domestic and feral cattle, goats, and

sheep. Currently, this species is most threatened by the extremely low

number of individuals remaining, the lack of naturally rooted plants,

and the lack of viable seed production by the remaining individuals.

The objective of this plan is to provide a framework for the

recovery of Kokia cookei so that its protection by the Act is no longer

necessary. Recovery efforts will focus on increasing the numbers of

cloned individuals while pursuing research into other methods, such as

embryo culture methodology, for the production of individuals capable

of setting viable seed. Suitable sites for outplanting of individuals

on Molokai, Maui, and Lanai will be located and steps taken to manage

these lands for the perpetuity of Kokia cookei and other native

components of the dryland forest.

Public Comments Solicited

The Service solicits written comments on the recovery plan

described. All comments received by the date specified above will be

considered prior to approval of this plan.

Authority

The authority for this action is section 4(f) of the Endangered

Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).

Dated: August 8, 1997.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1.

[FR Doc. 97-21545 Filed 8-13-97; 8:45 am]

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