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Federal agencies request initiation of formal consultation. <br />Piping Plover Critical Habitat Desi ngation <br />The northern Great Plains breeding population piping plover, a migratory shorebird, was listed <br />under the ESA in 1986 as a threatened species. The Service chose not to designate critical habitat <br />at that time. As a listed species, the piping plover is already protected wherever it occurs and <br />Federal agencies are required to consult on any action they take that might affect the species, <br />regardless of critical habitat designation. <br />The critical habitat for the Great Plains breeding population of the piping plover was proposed in <br />response to litigation brought by Defenders of Wildlife against the Service for failure to designate <br />critical habitat. The Service was ordered by the Federal court to propose critical habitat for the <br />northern Great Plains piping plover by May 31, 2001 and to issue a final rule by March 15, 2002. <br />The proposal includes 196,576 acres of habitat and 1,338 river miles in Minnesota, Montana, <br />North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Proposed areas of critical habitat for the plover <br />include prairie alkali wetlands and surrounding shoreline; river channels and associated sandbars <br />and islands; and reservoirs and inland lakes and their sparsely vegetated shorelines, peninsulas, <br />and islands. While large sections of the river corridors are proposed as plover critical habitat, the <br />designation is narrowly drawn to exclude most non -river related development. In addition, <br />throughout the designated area, human structures such as mainstem dams, buildings, marinas, boat <br />ramps, bank stabilization and breakwater structures, row - cropped or plowed agricultural areas, <br />sand pits, high bank bluffs along the Missouri River, and roads are not proposed for critical habitat <br />for the plover even if they fall within critical habitat designation boundaries. <br />As part of the rulemaking process, the Service held informational meetings in the affected states <br />during the summer of 2001 and accepted public comment, reopening the comment period to allow <br />extensive comment on the proposed rule. <br />G9 <br />