Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding for a Petition To List the Queen Charlotte Goshawk as Endangered and To Designate Critical Habitat

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding

for a Petition To List the Queen Charlotte Goshawk as Endangered and To

Designate Critical Habitat

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of 12-month petition finding.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a 12-month

finding for a petition to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk (Accipiter

gentilis laingi) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.

After review of all available scientific and commercial information,

the Service finds that listing this subspecies as endangered or

threatened is not warranted.

DATES: The finding announced in this document was made on August 28,

1997.

ADDRESSES: Data, information, comments, or questions concerning this

petition should be sent to the Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Ecological Services Field Office, 3000 Vintage Blvd., Suite

201, Juneau, Alaska 99801-7100. 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: John Lindell, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, at the above address, or by calling 907/586-7240.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that, for any petition to

revise the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants that

contains substantial scientific and commercial information, the Service

make a finding on whether the petitioned action is (a) not warranted,

(b) warranted, or (c) warranted but precluded from immediate proposal

by other pending proposals of higher priority.

On May 9, 1994, the Fish and Wildlife Service received a petition

dated May 2, 1994, from the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity,

Greater Gila Biodiversity Project, Biodiversity Legal Foundation,

Greater Ecosystem Alliance, Save the West, Save America's

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Forests, Native Forest Network, Native Forest Council, Eric Holle, and

Don Muller, to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk as endangered under the

Endangered Species Act. The petition was based largely upon the present

and impending effects of timber harvest in the Tongass National Forest

on the Queen Charlotte goshawk. On August 26, 1994, the Service

published a positive 90-day finding (59 FR 44124) that substantial

information was presented in the petition indicating that the requested

action may be warranted.

In accordance with the Service's listing petition procedures, the

positive 90-day finding initiated a more thorough 12-month evaluation,

and based on this evaluation the Service determined on May 19, 1995,

that listing was not warranted (60 FR 33784).

On November 17, 1995, the Southwest Center for Biological

Diversity, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Save the West, Save America's

Forests, Native Forest Network, Native Forest Council, Eric Holle, and

Don Muller filed a complaint in United States District Court, District

of Columbia, against the Department of the Interior and the Service for

their refusal to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk and designate

critical habitat. On September 25, 1996, the United States District

Court remanded the 12-month finding to the Secretary of the Interior,

instructing him to reconsider the determination ``on the basis of the

current forest plan, and status of the goshawk and its habitat, as they

stand today'' (95 CV 02138 DDC).

Accordingly, the Service began to reconsider the status of the

subspecies on the basis of the 1979 Tongass Land Management Plan, which

was at that time the ``current forest plan.'' A public comment period

opened on December 5, 1996 (61 FR 64497) and was extended through April

4, 1997 (61 FR 69065; 62 FR 6930; and 62 FR 14662) to gather all

available information for review. Prior to a final determination,

however, the USDA Forest Service issued the 1997 Tongass Land

Management Plan Revision, which superseded the 1979 version of the

plan. In keeping with the United States District Court's order that a

finding be based upon the ``current forest plan,'' the District Court

granted an extension until August 31, 1997, so that the petitioners,

public, and Service could reconsider the status of the Queen Charlotte

goshawk under the revised Tongass Land Management Plan. Therefore, the

Service reopened the public comment period from June 12 to July 28,

1997 (62 FR 32070). We based this finding, therefore, upon all

available information on the subspecies throughout its range, as well

as long-term habitat projections for the Tongass National Forest

included in the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan Revision.

The northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) occurs in boreal and

temperate forests of North America, Europe, and Asia. This notice

pertains exclusively to the Queen Charlotte goshawk (A. g. laingi), a

subspecies that occurs in the coastal temperate rainforests of

southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. Although some

uncertainty surrounds the exact range of the subspecies and the zones

of intergradation between it and A. g. atricapillus (which is the

subspecies that occurs in adjacent areas), the distribution of the

Queen Charlotte goshawk is currently described as the islands and

mainland of southeast Alaska south of Icy Strait and Lynn Canal, and

the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Queen Charlotte goshawks are difficult to census, and no reliable

population estimates or population trend data are available. However,

recent research has shown that the Queen Charlotte goshawk has a strong

association with productive old-growth forest, where it usually nests,

spends the majority of its time, and which provides habitat for most of

the hawk's important prey species. Therefore, harvest of productive

old-growth forest is likely to adversely affect the Queen Charlotte

goshawk, and an interagency team of experts recently concluded that the

goshawk's abundance has likely declined in recent years as a result of

habitat loss. In 1994, the Alaska Region of the Forest Service

designated the Queen Charlotte goshawk as a sensitive species, and the

Alaska Department of Fish and Game designated the subspecies as a

``species of special concern.'' The Committee on the Status of

Endangered Wildlife in Canada designated the Queen Charlotte goshawk as

``vulnerable'' in Canada in 1995, and the Province of British Columbia

added the subspecies to their ``red list'' of candidates for endangered

or threatened status.

The Service has identified four factors associated with timber

harvest have been identified as potential threats to the subspecies'

persistence. They are loss of nesting habitat, a reduction in foraging

success, increased predation, and a reduction in dispersal and gene

flow. However, there is little information on these threats, so

assessment of their effects on goshawks at the population level remain

largely speculative. As a result, in evaluating the Queen Charlotte

goshawk's status, the Service has relied primarily upon consideration

of the proportion of productive old-growth forest that has been, and is

projected to be, affected by logging.

In southeast Alaska, when habitat projections for the Tongass

National Forest (derived from the 1997 Revision to the Tongass Land

Management Plan) were added to estimates for private and State lands,

approximately 57 percent of the original productive old-growth forest

is contained within large reserves where timber harvest is prohibited.

In the matrix, which is the area outside of reserves where harvest can

take place, another 18 percent of the original productive old-growth

forest will be maintained by measures intended to protect beach and

estuary fringes, riparian corridors, and other resources. Thus, a total

of 75 percent of the original preferred habitat will remain intact.

Although fragmentation may compromise habitat quality in some areas,

the Service believes that large reserves will provide sufficient

habitat for goshawks to ensure that the subspecies will persist

throughout southeast Alaska in well-distributed local populations.

In British Columbia, approximately 64 percent of the original

productive old-growth forest will be protected on the Queen Charlotte

Islands, with 20 percent in reserves and 44 percent maintained within

the matrix. On Vancouver Island, considerably less of the original old-

growth will be protected: 13 percent of the old-growth is contained

within reserves and 23 percent will be protected in the matrix, for a

total of 36 percent of the total. There is insufficient information to

predict the effect of removing 64 percent of the old growth forest on

goshawk abundance on Vancouver Island. However, given that 75 percent

and 64 percent of the original productive old growth forest will remain

intact in southeast Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands,

respectively, the Service believes with a high degree of certainty that

Queen Charlotte goshawks will persist and do not warrant listing under

section 4 of the Endangered Species Act.

Authors: The primary authors of this document are Ted Swem,

Wildlife Biologist, Fairbanks Ecological Services Office, 907/456-0441,

and Teresa Woods, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, 907/786-3505 of the

Alaska Regional Office.

Authority

The authority for this section is the Endangered Species Act (16

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

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Dated: August 28, 1997.

Jamie Rappaport Clark.

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 97-23502 Filed 9-3-97; 8:45 am]

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