Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Gopher Tortoise as Threatened in the Eastern Portion of Its Range

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in the eastern portion of its range (east of the Mobile and Tombigbee Rivers) as threatened and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. In this finding, we also evaluate whether the status of the gopher tortoise in the western portion of its range (west of the Mobile and Tombigbee Rivers) is accurate. After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that the current listing of the gopher tortoise as a threatened species in the western portion of its range is accurate and that listing the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range is warranted. Currently, however, listing the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range is precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. We will add the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range to our candidate species list, and we will develop a proposed rule to list the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range as our priorities allow. We will make any determination on critical habitat during development of the proposed listing rule. In any interim period we will address the status of the candidate taxon through our annual Candidate Notice of Review and will work through partnerships to conserve the species by improving the habitat and removing the threats with the objective to make listing unnecessary. The Service's candidate conservation efforts place great emphasis on coordination with the states and other partners, voluntary conservation efforts, and may include tools such as Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances. Even though we are currently unable to take action to list the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range, this does not affect the status of the gopher tortoise in the western portion of its range, where it remains listed as threatened.