Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Three Threatened Mussels and Eight Endangered Mussels in the Mobile River Basin

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), designate 26 river and stream segments (units) in the Mobile River Basin, encompassing a total of approximately 1,760 kilometers (km) (1,093 miles (mi)) of river and stream channels, as critical habitat for three threatened (fine-lined pocketbook, orange-nacre mucket, and Alabama moccasinshell) and eight endangered freshwater mussels (Coosa moccasinshell, ovate clubshell, southern clubshell, dark pigtoe, southern pigtoe, triangular kidneyshell, southern acornshell, and upland combshell), under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Critical habitat includes portions of the Tombigbee River drainage in Mississippi and Alabama; portions of the Black Warrior River drainage in Alabama; portions of the Alabama River drainage in Alabama; portions of the Cahaba River drainage in Alabama; portions of the Tallapoosa River drainage in Alabama and Georgia; and portions of the Coosa River drainage in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. We solicited data and comments from the public on all aspects of this designation, including data on economic and other impacts of the designation. This publication also provides notice of the availability of the final economic analysis for this designation.