9669

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9669
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Policy and Guidelines for Planning and Coordinating Recovery of Endangered and Threatened Species.
• USFW Year: 1990.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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Director may, as a courtesy, distribute the technical/agency draft
or agency draft to cooperating agencies and other affected parties
shortly before the general public is invited to review and comment
on the draft. This advance distribution is appropriate if the
. Regional Director wishes to allow cooperating agencies and other
affected parties some lead time to deal more effectively with
inquiries from the general public.

4) The Regional Director of the lead Region will decide whether or
not to hold public meetings on the draft recovery plan. If a public
meeting is to be held in a Region other than the lead Region, that
Regional Director is responsible for organizing and holding the
meeting but should do so in close cooperation with the lead Region.
(See Appendix III for further guidance on public meetings.)

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Public comments must be sent to the lead Region for consideration
prior to approval of the plan. The lead Region decides whether to address
the comments and the Service's response in, or separately from, the
recovery plan. The Region has substantial discretion in this area. If
only a few comments are received, it may be simple to append them to the
approved recovery plan. However, numerous comments could be very unwieldy,
and the Region may choose to merely summarize the comments. The Service's
administrative record must show that all comments received during the public
comment period have been considered and, if not addressed individually,
addressed in summary form. Since the 1988 Amendments also require other
affected Federal agencies to consider public comments, the lead Region
must provide copies of all comments to appropriate agencies for
consideration, prior to their address in the approved recovery plan.

Comments can be accepted at any time during recovery plan preparation.
Those received outside the designated public comment period need not be
addressed in a formal fashion, but the Service and cooperating agencies
are free to use any significant information so provided.

A recovery plan is considered "Approved" only after being signed by the
lead Regional Director or Director. After approval, the plan is reproduced
by the Regional Office and distributed. The distribution list is found in
Appendix III. ' A copy of the signed approval page must be sent to the
Director (ATTN: FWE/DES) within 15 days after the approval.

OS/25/90