Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reopening of the Comment Period on the Proposed Delisting of the Douglas County Population of the Columbian White-Tailed Deer

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018-AF43

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reopening of the

Comment Period on the Proposed Delisting of the Douglas County

Population of the Columbian White-Tailed Deer

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), pursuant to

the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), provide notice of

the reopening of the comment period for the proposed delisting of the

Douglas County, Oregon population of the Columbian white-tailed deer

(Odocoileus virginianus leucurus). The comment period has been reopened

in order to provide the three independent peer reviewers an opportunity

to review previous public comments, and any additional public comments,

on the proposed rule.

DATES: Comments from all interested parties must be received by January

13, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments, materials, data, and reports concerning

this proposal should be sent to the Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Southwest Oregon Field Office, 2900 NW Stewart Parkway,

Roseburg, Oregon 97470. Comments and materials received will be

available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business

hours, at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Peterson, at the address listed

above (telephone 541/957-3474; facsimile 541/957-3475).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Columbian white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus)

resembles other white-tailed deer subspecies, ranging in size from 39

to 45 kilograms (kg) (85 to 100 pounds (lbs) for females and 52 to 68

kg (115 to 150 lbs) for males. Generally a red-brown color in summer,

and gray in winter, the species has white rings around the eyes and a

white ring just behind the nose. Its tail is long and triangular in

shape, and is brown on the dorsal (upper) surface, fringed in white,

and the ventral (under) portion is white (Oregon Department of Fish and

Wildlife (ODFW) 1995). The species was formerly distributed throughout

the bottomlands and prairie woodlands of the lower Columbia,

Willamette, and Umpqua River basins in Oregon and southern Washington

(Bailey 1936). It is the westernmost representative of the 38

subspecies of white-tailed deer. Early accounts suggested this deer was

locally common, particularly in riparian areas along the major rivers

(Gavin 1978). The decline in deer numbers was rapid with the arrival

and settlement of pioneers in the fertile river valleys. Conversion of

brushy riparian land to agriculture, urbanization, uncontrolled sport

and commercial hunting, and perhaps other factors apparently caused the

extirpation of this deer over most of its range by the early 1900s

(Gavin 1984). Only a small herd of 200 to 400 animals in the lower

Columbia River area of Clatsop and Columbia Counties, Oregon, and

Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties, Washington, and a disjunct population

of unknown size in Douglas County,

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Oregon, survived. These two remnant populations are geographically

separated by about 320 kilometers (km) (200 miles (mi)) of unsuitable

or discontinuous habitat.

Population declines led to classification of this subspecies as

endangered in 1967 under the Endangered Species Protection Act of 1966

(32 FR 4001). The subspecies was automatically included in the lists of

threatened and endangered species when the Endangered Species Act was

authorized in 1973 (16 U.S. C. 1531 et seq.). Prior to 1977, only the

Columbia River population was listed as endangered since the Douglas

County population was considered a black-tailed deer (Odocoileus

hemionus columbiana) or a hybrid between the black-tailed deer and the

Columbian white-tailed deer by the State of Oregon. In 1978, the State

of Oregon recognized the white-tailed deer population in Douglas County

as the Columbian white-tailed deer and prohibited hunting of white-

tailed deer in that county (ODFW 1995). The Columbian White-tailed Deer

Recovery Plan (Recovery Plan) was approved by us in 1976, and a revised

version was approved in 1983 (Service 1983). Because of the distance

between the Douglas County and Columbia River populations, and

differences in habitats and threats, the Recovery Plan addresses the

recovery of these two populations separately.

Crews (1939) estimated the population in the 1930s in Douglas

County at 200 to 300 individuals within a range of about 78 square

kilometers (sq km) (30 square miles (sq mi)). In 1970, ODFW estimated

that 450 to 500 deer were present. By 1983, the number had increased to

about 2,500 (Smith 1985). The population has continued to grow, and are

presently estimated to be between 5,900 to 7,900 deer (ODFW 1999).

Along with this increase in numbers, the range also has expanded.

The deer have expanded to the north and west in the last 10 years, and

now occupy an area of approximately 800 sq km (308 sq mi) (ODFW 1995).

Most habitat for the Douglas County population is on private lands.

Approximately 3,880 hectares (ha) (9,586 acres (ac)) of suitable

habitat are presently considered secure on Federal, County and private

lands. For the purpose of delisting, habitat is considered secure if it

is protected by legally binding measures or law from adverse human

activities for the foreseeable future.

The current total population size is estimated as approximately six

times the population size required for downlisting, which greatly

reduces the risk to the population. It is also anticipated that as

habitat management and restoration activities are implemented by the

Bureau of Land Management, which contains the majority of secure lands,

the carrying capacity and numbers of deer on these lands will increase

accordingly. The Douglas County population has met the objectives in

the Recovery Plan, and greatly exceeded the habitat objectives.

We published a proposed rule to delist the Columbian white-tailed

deer on May 11, 1999 (64 FR 25263). The original comment period closed

on June 25, 1999. We reopened the comment period on November 3, 1999

(64 FR 59729) to conduct a peer review of the proposal, and solicited

the opinions of three appropriate and independent specialists regarding

the data, assumptions, and supportive information presented for the

Douglas County population of Columbian white-tailed deer, per our

Interagency Cooperative policy for Peer Review in Endangered Species

Act Activities (59 FR 34270). We are reopening the comment period again

in order to provide the three independent peer reviewers an opportunity

to review previous public comments, and any additional public comments,

on the proposed rule.

References Cited

Bailey, V. 1936. The mammals and life zones of Oregon. North

American Fauna. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 55:

89-91.

Crews, A.K. 1939. A study of the Oregon white-tailed deer,

Odocoileus virginianus leucurus (Douglas). M.S. thesis. Oregon State

College. Corvallis. 46 pp.

Gavin, T.A. 1984. Pacific Northwest. in: White-tailed deer, ecology

and management. L. K. Halls, editor. A Wildlife Management Institute

publication. Pages 491-492.

Gavin, T.A. 1978. Status of the Columbian white-tailed deer: some

quantitative uses of biogeographic data. Pages 185-202 in:

Threatened Deer. IUCN. Morges, Switzerland. 434 pp.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 1999. Deer census and

population trend data. Unpublished ODFW report, Southwest Regional

Office. 4 pages.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 1995. Columbian white-tailed

deer biological status assessment. Report to Oregon Fish and

Wildlife Commission. 83 pp.

Smith, W.P. 1985. Current geographic distribution and abundance on

the Columbian white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus leucurus

(Douglas). Northwest Science 59:243-251.

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1983. Revised Columbian white-

tailed deer recovery plan. Portland, Oregon. 75 pp.

Author

The primary author of this notice is Barbara Behan of the Regional

Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 911 NE 11th Avenue, Portland,

Oregon 97232-4181 (telephone 503/231-6131).

Authority

The authority of this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973,

as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 99-33735 Filed 12-28-99; 8:45 am]

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