[Federal Register: March 17, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 51)]
[Notices]
[Page 12710-12711]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17mr03-86]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Availability of the Mead's Milkweed (Asclepias meadii)
Draft Recovery Plan 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 (Service) announces
availability for public review of the draft recovery plan for the
Mead's milkweed, a species that is federally listed as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act). The purpose of this plan is
to recover this species in order that it can be removed from the list
of Threatened and Endangered Species. This species occurs or may occur
on public and private land in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri, and Wisconsin. The Service solicits review and comment from
the public on this draft plan.
DATES: Comments on the draft recovery plan must be received on or
before May 16, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review the draft recovery plan may obtain
a copy by contacting the Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Chicago, Illinois, Ecological Services Field Office, 1250
South Grove Avenue, Suite 103, Barrington, Illinois 60010-5091 or by
accessing the Web site: http://midwest.fws.gov/Endangered.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Kristopher Lah, (847) 381-2253.
TTY users contact the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Restoring an endangered or threatened animal or plant to the point
where it is again a secure self-sustaining member of its 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 Federally listed threatened and endangered species
native to the United States. Recovery plans describe actions considered
necessary for conservation of the species, establish criteria for
reclassification and delisting, and provide estimates of the time and
costs for implementing the recovery measures needed.
The 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 public notice and 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. The Service and other
Federal agencies will also take these comments into consideration in
the course of implementing approved recovery plans.
The Mead's milkweed was listed as threatened on September 1, 1988.
The species is known to persist at 171 sites in 34 counties in eastern
Kansas, Missouri, south-central Iowa, and southern Illinois.
Populations no longer occur in Wisconsin and Indiana. Seventy-five
percent of the Mead's milkweed populations are in the Osage Plains
Physiographic Region in Kansas and Missouri. The remainder of the
populations occur in the Shawnee Hills of Illinois; the Southern Iowa
Drift Plain in Iowa; the Glaciated Plains, Ozark Border, Ozark
Springfield Plateau, and the Ozark-St. Francois Mountains of Missouri;
and the Glaciated Physiographic Region of Kansas. Mead's milkweed
populations have been eliminated by wide-scale agriculture in the
eastern part of the species' range. Many large populations occur in
private hay meadows where a century of annual mowing, which prevents
sexual reproduction, has severely reduced genetic diversity. Among the
surviving populations in eastern Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, most
apparently consist of a few genetically invariant clones that are
incapable of sexual reproduction. Population restoration efforts are
being made in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin by introducing Mead's
milkweed into suitable habitat.
Mead's milkweed occurs primarily in tallgrass prairie, and
occasionally in thin-soil glades or barrens. This plant is essentially
restricted to late-successional prairie habitat, which has never been
plowed and only lightly grazed, or hay meadows that are cropped
annually for hay. Plants reproduce sexually by seed and spread
vegetatively by rhizomes, especially under midsummer haymowing regimes.
As with other native milkweeds, Mead's is either self-incompatible or
subject to severe inbreeding depression. Mead's milkweed populations
that are managed by prescribed burning experience an increase in
flowering, reproduction, and seedling establishment and are more
genetically diverse than sites that are mowed.
In order to accomplish recovery, the following actions are
recommended in
[[Page 12711]]
the draft recovery plan: (1) Protect habitat; (2) manage habitat; (3)
increase size and number of populations; (4) conduct field surveys for
new population occurrences or potential habitat for introduction; (5)
conduct research on restoration, management and introduction
techniques; (6) maintain conservation populations; (7) promote public
understanding; and (8) review and track recovery progress.
Recovery will be achieved, and the species may be removed from the
list of Threatened and Endangered Species when the following criteria
are met: (1) 26 populations are distributed across plant communities
and physiographic regions within the historic range of the species, (2)
each of these 26 populations is highly viable, and (3) monitoring data
indicates that these populations have been stable or increasing for 15
years.
Public Comments Solicited
The Service solicits written comments on the recovery plan
described. All comments received by the date specified will be
considered prior to approval of the plan. Written comments and
materials regarding the plan should be sent to the Field Supervisor,
Ecological Services Field Office (see ADDRESSES section). Comments
received will be available for public inspection by appointment during
normal business hours.
Authority: The authority for this action is section 4(f) of the
Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1533(f).
Dated: February 19, 2003.
Charles M. Wooley,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Region 3.
[FR Doc. 03-6265 Filed 3-14-03; 8:45 am]
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