Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period on 90-day Finding on a Petition To List the Redband Trout in the Great Basin as Threatened or Endangered and Initiation of Status Review

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of

Extension of Public Comment Period on 90-day Finding on a Petition To

List the Redband Trout in the Great Basin as Threatened or Endangered

and Initiation of Status Review

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service, provide notice of extending

the public comment period on our 90-day finding on a petition to list

the redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp.) in the Great Basin as an

endangered or threatened species throughout its range. Our 90-day

finding was published in the Federal Register on November 16, 1998 (63

FR 63657) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.

1531 et seq.), as amended (Act), and the original public comment period

was opened from November 16, 1998, to January 15, 1999. This notice

extends the comment period to March 16, 1999.

DATES: The public comment period closes on March 16, 1999. Any

information or comments received by the closing date will be considered

in the status review.

ADDRESSES: Information, written comments and materials, or questions

concerning our 90-day finding and the petition should be submitted to

the Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2600 SE 98th Avenue,

Suite 100, Portland, Oregon 97266.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Antonio Bentivoglio, biologist, at the

above address or telephone 503-231-6179.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On November 16, 1998, we published a positive 90-day finding on a

petition to list ``Great Basin redband trout'' as threatened or

endangered pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (Act). The petition requested the listing of

the indigenous redband trout in the Great Basin as endangered or

threatened throughout its range in southeastern Oregon, northeastern

California, and northwestern Nevada, in particular the redband trout

populations in Catlow, Fort Rock (Silver Lake), Harney (Malheur Lake),

Goose Lake, Warner, and Chewaucan (Lake Abert/Summer Lake) Basins

(together these six closed basins make up the Great Basin as described

in the petition). Our 90-day finding announced that substantial

information was presented in the petition for us to begin a status

review of the petitioned taxon. The original public comment period on

the 90-day finding closes on January 15, 1999. We believe that up-to-

date information on distribution and abundance is lacking for this

taxon but is currently being gathered. Therefore, we are extending the

closing date and continue to request relevant information on the Great

Basin redband trout to produce as complete a status review as possible

and to ensure that the status review is based on the best available

scientific and commercial data.

We are soliciting information concerning:

(1) information on historic distribution and information on current

distribution in each basin;

(2) habitat conditions in each basin;

(3) basic biology including age-frequency distribution of the

population(s) in each basin;

(4) ongoing efforts to protect Great Basin redband trout and their

habitat;

(5) threats to the species and its habitat;

(6) any information regarding distinct vertebrate population

segment status of Great Basin redband trout as one unit or as six

individual units; and

(7) metapopulation dynamics and interactions between lake and

stream morph fishes.

In addition to information pertaining to the Great Basin redband

trout, we are requesting any information in categories 1-7, above, that

relates to Interior redband trout. ``Interior redband trout'' is a

common term referring to any rainbow/redband type trout found east of

the crest of the Cascade Mountains.

This information should be submitted by March 16, 1999, to the Fish

and Wildlife Service office in the ADDRESSES section.

Author: The primary author of this document is Antonio Bentivoglio,

biologist, Oregon State Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see

ADDRESSES section).

Authority

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

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

Dated: December 30, 1998.

Cynthia V. Barry,

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

[FR Doc. 99-253 Filed 1-5-99; 8:45 am]

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