Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of Determination To Retain Endangered Status for the Bruneau Hot Springsnail in Southwestern Idaho Under the Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a court-ordered reconsideration of the 1993 final listing decision, affirms its earlier determination that listing the Bruneau Hot Springsnail (Pyrgulopsis bruneauensis) as endangered is appropriate. Federal protection pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended, for the Bruneau Hot Springsnail is thus continued. This species occurs only in a complex of flowing thermal springs arising from a single source aquifer along the Bruneau River in Owyhee County, Idaho. Bruneau Hot Springsnails are not known to occur elsewhere and have not been located outside of the thermal plumes of hot springs entering the Bruneau River. The primary threat to this species is the reduction of thermal spring habitats from agricultural-related ground water withdrawal/ pumping.