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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">SUMMARY:</span><br>
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<div style=""><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) propose to add a definition of “habitat” to regulations that
impl</span><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">ement section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">FWS
& NMFS are proposing a regulatory definition of “habitat,” as that term is used in the context of critical habitat designations under the Act. The Act defines “critical habitat” in Section 3(5)(A), establishing separate criteria depending on whether the relevant
area is within or outside of the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing, but does not define the broader term “habitat.”</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">PROPOSED DEFINITION OF HABI</span><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">TAT:</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">FWS & NMFS propose to add the following definition of the term “habitat” to § 424.02:
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<div>"The physical places that individuals of a species depend upon to carry out one or more life processes. Habitat includes areas with existing attributes that have the capacity to support individuals of the species."</div>
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In addition, FWS & NMFS have provided, and solicit comment on, an alternative definition of “habitat” as follows:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">"The physical places that individuals of a spec</span><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">ies use to
carry out one or more life processes. Habitat includes areas where individuals of the species do not presently exist but have the capacity to support such individuals, only where the necessary attributes to support the species presently exist."
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<div style="margin:0px"><span style="margin:0px; font-size:12pt; font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Comments may be submitted electronically and by hard copy, as explained at the link below.</span></div>
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<div style="margin:0px"><span style="margin:0px; font-size:12pt; font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Comment Period Closes: 9/4/2020</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Read more and how to submit comments in the Federal Register Notice: </span></div>
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<div style=""><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1063679175/search?keyword=habitat+definition" style=""></a></div>
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/05/2020-17002/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-regulations-for-listing-endangered-and-threatened</span></div>
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