Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for the Arkansas River Basin Population of the Arkansas River Shiner

Riepilogo

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to designate critical habitat for the Arkansas River Basin population of the Arkansas River Shiner (Notropis girardi) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Limited new information on the biological needs of the Arkansas River Shiner has become available since critical habitat for the Arkansas River Shiner was published on April 4, 2001 (66 FR 18002). However, this rule is being proposed pursuant to a court order issued in September 2003, vacating critical habitat established for the Arkansas River Basin population of the Arkansas River Shiner and remanding the previous designation of critical habitat for preparation of a new analysis of the economic and other effects of the designation (New Mexico Cattle Growers Association et al. v. Norton, et al. Civ. No. 02-0461). We propose to designate as critical habitat a total of approximately 2,002 kilometers (1,244 miles) of linear distance of rivers, including 91.4 meters (300 feet) of adjacent riparian areas measured laterally from each bank. This distance includes areas that we are proposing to exclude which is described further in the proposed rule b