[Riverweb] FW: Final rule designating critical habitat for the Hine 's emerald dragonfly

[Kim Erndt]

Dear Interested Party:

Under the terms of a court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
published a final rule designating critical habitat for the Hine's
emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana), in Illinois, Michigan, and
Wisconsin.

Enclosed is a news release, a summary of the final rule and a fact sheet
on critical habitat, for your information.  A complete copy of the
Federal Register rule and other information on the dragonfly and
critical habitat is available on the Internet at
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered.

The Hine's emerald dragonfly is listed as endangered under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.  Section 7 of the Act
requires Federal agencies to consult with the Service to ensure that
their actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of a listed
species or to destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat.
Federal actions include activities that are funded, authorized, or
carried out by a Federal agency.
A critical habitat designation has no effect on situations where a
Federal agency is not involved-for example, a landowner undertaking a
project on private land that involves no Federal funding or permit.

Summary of Designation

The Service is designating critical habitat within 22 units encompassing
approximately 13,221 acres in eight counties in Illinois, Michigan, and
Wisconsin.  Within the critical habitat units, only the areas that
contain the primary constituent elements of Hine's emerald dragonfly
habitat are designated as critical habitat. These units occur in the
following states and counties:

Illinois:  Seven units encompassing 2,995 acres in Cook, DuPage, and
Will
      counties.

Michigan: Four units encompassing 1,385 acres in Alpena, Mackinac, and
      Presque Isle counties.

Wisconsin:  Eleven units consisting of 8,841 acres in Door and Ozaukee
      counties.

Primary constituent elements are the physical or biological features
essential to the conservation of the species that may require special
management considerations or protection.  The primary constituent
elements essential for Hine's emerald dragonfly egg laying and larval
development occur in wetlands that have organic soils overlying dolomite
and limestone bedrock.  Those wetlands have shallow calcareous water
from intermittent seeps and springs, emergent herbaceous and woody
vegetation, crayfish burrows (that provide refuges for larva during dry
periods), and a sufficient prey base of aquatic insects and other
invertebrates.  The primary constituent elements essential for Hine's
emerald dragonfly adults occur in natural areas in or near the larval
wetlands that have a sufficient prey base of small insect species.
Those natural areas include marsh, sedge meadow, dolomite prairie, the
fringe (up to 328 feet) of shrubby and forested areas bordering larval
wetlands and open corridors
(non-forested) that adults use for movement and dispersal.

The Service excluded 28 units from the final critical habitat
designation.
Fourteen units in Missouri and two units in Michigan were excluded
because public land managers are currently implementing conservation
actions for the Hine's emerald dragonfly under existing land management
plans.  Because they are implementing those conservation efforts,
benefits of designating critical habitat for the Hine's emerald
dragonfly on these public lands are small in comparison to the benefits
of excluding those areas from the final designation.  Exclusions will
continue to enhance the partnership efforts with the Forest Service and
the Missouri Department of Conservation that are focused on conservation
of the species on those lands.

The 12 remaining units in Missouri are on private lands; the Service
excluded private lands in Missouri because the Missouri Department of
Conservation has implemented successful conservation efforts on some of
those lands and has plans for implementing further conservation actions
on remaining lands.  The existing partnerships between the Missouri
Department of Conservation and property owners could dissolve current
and future conservation efforts that could be negatively impacted if
critical habitat were designated.  Maintaining those working
partnerships is important to recovering the Hine's emerald dragonfly.

We conducted an analysis on the potential economic impacts that may
result from the designation of critical habitat for the dragonfly.  If
the adverse economic impacts of a critical habitat designation outweigh
the beneficial impacts to the species, we will not designate that
particular area as critical habitat, unless failure to designate it will
lead to the extinction of the species.  We did not exclude any areas
from the critical habitat designation based on economic costs.

If you have questions or desire additional information, please contact
the Chicago Illinois Ecological Services Field Office at 1250 S. Grove,
Suite 103, Barrington, Illinois 60010, telephone (847) 381-2253;
facsimile (847)
381-2285 or Kris Lah at 847-381-2253, ext. 15.