Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Jemez Mountains Salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus) as Endangered or Threatened With Critical Habitat

Zusammenfassung

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus) as an endangered or threatened species and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the Jemez Mountains salamander as endangered or threatened throughout its range is warranted. Currently, however, listing the Jemez Mountains salamander is precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Upon publication of this 12-month petition finding, we will add the Jemez Mountains salamander to our candidate species list. We will develop a proposed rule to list the Jemez Mountains salamander as our priorities allow. We will make any determination on critical habitat during development of the proposed rule. In the interim period, we will address the status of the candidate taxon through our annual Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR).