The U.S. Interior Department’s Fish & Wildlife Service today announced its decision to reopen the comment period through Thursday, May 30 on its proposal to designate critical habitat for the threatened rufa red knot. In doing so, FWS proposes to expand the critical habitat designation from ~649,066 acres to ~683,405 acres in an area spanning Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.
According to FWS, the new proposed critical habitat designation includes new units in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts, revised units in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, and corrections to reported acreages for four other units and the total acreage in the 2021 proposed designation.
In proposing the revised designation, FWS noted that the agency became aware of new information received during the previous comment period that prompted a reevaluation of best available information.
