Submitted Electronically via eRulemaking Portal

I am Tony Maldarella and I am the President of the Taylor Park Cattle Pool Association (TCPA) in Gunnison County, Colorado. Our association has been running cattle in the Gunnison Basin on federal lands within the Gunnison Sage Grouse(GSG) habitat since prior to the Taylor Grazing Act, and prior to the land be designated as federal land(1906). The TCPA has seen the ups and downs of our industry and now over the last 20 years have been active in our involvement in range standards and GSG habitat improvements. The TCPA has completed many projects with cooperation from our federal land managers to improve the range for the benefit of the GSG and other wildlife. We have improved cattle distribution by water pipelines (20+mi), altered rotations, delayed turn outs, and made many water source protection and improvement projects for the benefit of all wildlife. We are strong advocates of multiple use on the federal lands. Our work as land stewards rewards the land, wildlife and the community that we live in. We (TCPA) stand to be negatively affected by the proposed listing of the Gunnison sage grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act, and believe that a finding of endangered or threatened status is not warranted. I wish to emphasize that the purposed listing does not meet the standards for either endangered or threatened status. The purposed listing ignores the facts and actions that have taken place for almost 20 years. The current GSG population is not in peril of extinction (“with a population in excess of 3000 birds the risk of extinction in the next 50 years is less than half of one percent”)78FR 2531. Furthermore the robust population (4,000+) in the Gunnison Basin despite the birds being “scientifically harassed” (Chased in the night, captured, handled, collard, released, transplanted, intentionally flushed, nest’s disturbed etc….)(and with most of the “scientific harassment” taking place during the GSG’s breeding and brood rearing time) by the