Designated Critical Habitat; Central California Coast and Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Coho Salmon

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 226

[I.D. No. 101097A]

Designated Critical Habitat; Central California Coast and

Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Coho Salmon

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is reopening the public comment period on proposed

regulations to designate critical habitat for Central California Coast

and Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus

kisutch). These proposals were made on November 25, 1997, under

provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). NMFS has

received several requests for additional time to complete the review

and compilation of information. NMFS finds the requests to be

reasonable and hereby reopens the comment period until April 26, 1998.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before

April 26, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: Garth Griffin, NMFS, Protected

Resources Division, 525 NE Oregon St. - Suite 500, Portland, OR 97232-

2737; or Craig Wingert, NMFS, Southwest Region, Protected Species

Management Division, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA

90802-4213.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Garth Griffin at (503) 231-2005, Craig

Wingert at (562) 980-4021, or Joe Blum at (301) 713-1401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 31, 1996, NMFS published its determination to list the

Central California Coast Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) of coho

salmon as threatened under the ESA (61 FR 41514). Subsequently, on May

6, 1997, NMFS published its determination to list the Southern Oregon/

Northern California Coast coho salmon ESU as threatened under the ESA

(62 FR 24588). On November 25, 1997 (62 FR 62741), NMFS published a

proposed rule identifying critical habitat for each ESU and identified

a 90-day comment period (which ends January 26, 1998) to solicit

information relevant to the proposal. During the comment period, three

public hearings were held between December 8-11, 1997 in Gold Beach,

Oregon; Eureka, California; and Santa Rosa, California.

Requests for an extension of the public comment period have been

received from a California Congressional representative, as well as

several county and private organizations and private citizens in

northern California and southern Oregon. Reasons given for these

requests included additional time required under state law to assemble

county governments for a review of the proposal, and time needed to

assess the scope and impact of the proposed rule. NMFS finds the

requests to be reasonable and hereby reopens the comment period.

Critical habitat is defined as the specific areas within the

geographical area occupied by the species, on which are found those

physical and biological features essential to the conservation of the

species and which may require special management considerations or

protections (ESA section 3(5)(A)(I)). Critical habitat shall not

include the entire geographical area occupied by the species unless

failure to designate such areas would result in the extinction of the

species.

Proposed critical habitat for the Central California Coast ESU

encompasses accessible reaches of all rivers (including estuarine areas

and tributaries) between Punta Gorda and the San Lorenzo River

(inclusive) in California. Also included are two rivers entering San

Francisco Bay: Mill Valley Creek and Corte Madera Creek. Proposed

critical habitat for the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast ESU

encompasses accessible reaches of all rivers (including estuarine areas

and tributaries) between the Mattole River in California and the Elk

River in Oregon, inclusive.

The areas described in the proposed rule represent the current

freshwater and estuarine range of the listed species. Marine habitats

are also vital to the species and ocean conditions are believed to have

a major influence on coho salmon survival. However, there does not

appear to be a need for special management consideration or protection

of this habitat. Therefore, NMFS is not proposing to designate critical

habitat in marine areas at this time. For both ESUs, critical habitat

includes all waterways, substrate, and adjacent riparian zones below

longstanding, naturally impassable barriers (i.e., natural waterfalls

in existence for at least several hundred years). NMFS has identified

twelve dams in the range of these ESUs (see proposed rule) that

currently block access to habitats historically occupied by coho

salmon. However, NMFS has not designated these inaccessible areas as

critical habitat because areas downstream are believed to be sufficient

for the conservation of the ESUs. The economic and other impacts

resulting from this critical habitat designation are expected to be

minimal.

NMFS is soliciting information, comments and/or recommendations on

any aspect of this proposal from all concerned parties (see ADDRESSES);

comments must be received by April 26, 1998. In particular, NMFS is

requesting any data, maps, or reports describing areas that currently

or historically supported coho salmon populations and that may require

special management considerations. NMFS will consider all information

received before reaching a final decision.

Date: January 22, 1998.

Patricia A. Montanio,

Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98-2074 Filed 1-27-98; 8:45 am]

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