Comment on FR Doc # 2012-11230

I have a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Biology with 44 years of field work with several species of rattlesnakes including the eastern diamondback. I have participated in VES (Visual Encounter Surveys) with several projects with the South Carolina DNR and have spent a decade searching habitat in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The extreme loss of longleaf pine habitat combined with human persecution have virtually extirpated this species throughout its range. Only in the most inaccessible places such as barrier islands and protected military sites does this species survive in any meaningful numbers. Based on my extensive field work and the comments of field researchers I support listing the eastern diamondback as a threatened/endangered species.