United States Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2321 West Royal Palm Road, Suite 103 Phoenix, Arizona 85021-4951 Telephone: (602) 242-0210 FAX: (602) 242-2513 In Reply Refer To: AESO/SE 02-21-03-F-0210 September 3, 2004 E-Mail Transmission Memorandum To: State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Phoenix, Arizona (Attn: Ted Cordery and Hilary Boyd) From: Field Supervisor Subject: Biological and Conference Opinion for the BLM Arizona Statewide Land Use Plan Amendment for Fire, Fuels, and Air Quality Management Thank you for your request for formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) pursuant to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544), as amended (Act). Your request was dated April 9, 2004, received by us on April 13, 2004, and modified by email dated May 25, 2004. At issue are impacts that may result from the proposed BLM Arizona Statewide Land Use Plan Amendment for Fire, Fuels, and Air Quality Management to 31 listed species and designated critical habitat for nine species, one proposed species, and proposed critical habitat for two species. In response to your request, we are also providing recommendations for three candidate species (Appendix A). The species and their critical habitat considered in this opinion are listed in Table 1. In your memorandum, you requested our concurrence that the proposed action is not likely to adversely affect the California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus); masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgewayi); northern aplomado falcon (Falco femoralis septentrionalis); bonytail chub (Gila elegans); beautiful shiner (Cyprinella formosa); Yaqui catfish (Ictalurus pricei); black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes); jaguar (Panthera onca); ocelot (Felis pardalis); Sonoran pronghorn (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis); the nonessential, experimental population of the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi); and designated critical habitat for the bonytail chub, Yaqui chub, beautiful shiner, and Yaqui catfish. You also requested our recommendations on your determination that the proposed action is not likely to adversely affect the candidate species relict leopard frog (Rana onca) and black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus). Except for lesser long-nosed bat, we provided our concurrences with these determinations by memorandum dated May 28, 2004. This biological and conference opinion is based on information provided in the March 2004 biological evaluation, the March 2004 environmental assessment, the BLM’s Final State Director, Bureau of Land Management 2 Environmental Impact Statement, Vegetation Treatment on BLM Lands in Thirteen Western States (May 1991), telephone conversations, email correspondence, conference calls, and other sources of information. Literature cited in this biological and conference opinion is not a complete bibliography of all literature available on the species of concern, fire treatments and fire effects, or on other subjects considered in this opinion. A complete administrative record of this consultation is on file at this office. Consultation History This section summarizes significant steps in the consultation process. Additional correspondence, email transmissions, telephone conversation records, and conference calls that occurred between November 2002 and August 2004 are documented in the administrative record for this consultation. • November 20, 2002: You sent us a memorandum advising us that you were initiating a land use plan amendment and requesting early coordination. • May 16, 2003: You requested verification of the list of species that would not be affected by the project, the area of analysis, and level of detail for species analysis. We replied with this verification on May 29, 2003. • May 28, 2003: We signed the consultation agreement regarding the consultation process for this project. • July to September 2003: We reviewed and provided comments on preliminary draft and draft biological evaluations. • December 8, 2003: We received your December 4, 2003, cover memorandum, biological evaluation, and request to initiate formal consultation. • January 14, 2004: We requested additional information and clarification of the biological evaluation, via email. • April 13, 2004: We received a revised biological evaluation and request to initiate formal consultation. • May 25, 2004: By email, you changed your determination of effect for lesser long-nosed bat to may affect, likely to adversely affect. • May 28, 2004: We responded with a memorandum initiating formal consultation and concurring with determinations that the action would not likely adversely affect 11 listed species and 4 designated critical habitats. We also provided recommendations for two candidate species. State Director, Bureau of Land Management 3 • June 1, 2004: The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled in New Mexico Cattlegrowers Association, et al., versus U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, et al., that critical habitat for spikedace and loach minnow be vacated in its entirety. We have not yet received final interpretation from our legal council regarding the effective date of this order. Therefore, we have included an analysis of the proposed actions’ effects on critical habitat for these species in this biological opinion. • August 19, 2004: We sent you a draft biological opinion. • August 30, 2004: We received your August 27, 2004 comments on the draft biological opinion. • September 3, 2004: We sent you the final biological opinion. State Director, Bureau of Land Management 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 10 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION ........................................................................ 10 STATUS OF THE SPECIES........................................................................................................ 18 Chiricahua leopard frog ............................................................................................................ 18 Cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl................................................................................................. 21 California condor ...................................................................................................................... 24 Southwestern willow flycatcher................................................................................................ 26 Yuma clapper rail...................................................................................................................... 27 Bald eagle ................................................................................................................................. 30 Mexican spotted owl................................................................................................................. 31 Desert pupfish........................................................................................................................... 36 Gila topminnow ........................................................................................................................ 38 Razorback sucker...................................................................................................................... 40 Virgin River chub ..................................................................................................................... 42 Woundfin .................................................................................................................................. 43 Yaqui chub................................................................................................................................ 46 Yaqui topminnow ..................................................................................................................... 48 Little Colorado spinedace ......................................................................................................... 49 Loach minnow .......................................................................................................................... 52 Spikedace.................................................................................................................................. 53 Arizona cliffrose ....................................................................................................................... 56 Brady pincushion cactus ........................................................................................................... 57 Holmgren milk-vetch................................................................................................................ 59 Jones cycladenia ....................................................................................................................... 60 Nichol Turk’s head cactus ........................................................................................................ 61 Peebles Navajo cactus............................................................................................................... 63 Pima pineapple cactus............................................................................................................... 65 Kearney’s blue star ................................................................................................................... 67 Siler pincushion cactus ............................................................................................................