Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; New 12-month Finding for a Petition to List the Florida Black Bear

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces a new 12- month finding for a petition to list the Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After a review of all available scientific and commercial information, the Service finds that listing of the Florida black bear is not warranted at this time. This finding supersedes the previous 12- month finding that found listing of the Florida black bear to be warranted but precluded by higher priority listing actions. Furthermore, because the definition of a candidate species, one for which the Service has on file sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threats to support issuance of a proposed rule, no longer applies to the Florida black bear, we remove this species from the candidate species list.