Comment on FR Doc # 2010-10512

In 2005, the Polar Bear Specialist Group classed polar bears as vulnerable on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species. In 2008, the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act. At the 2009 meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group, the world's leading polar bear scientists stated that of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, eight were declining, three were stable, and one was increasing; scientists lacked sufficient data to comment on the remaining seven. (In 2005, five subpopulations of polar bears were declining, five were stable, and two were increasing.) In October, 2009, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the polar bear in the Federal Register. In June, 2010, the State of Alaska sued to oppose the critical habitat designation for polar bears. Despite the fact that nearly 95% of the designated area is sea ice, the state claims that the designated area is too large and that economic effects of the proposed designation would be too great. Critical habitat is an area that contains habitat features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species. Polar bears are totally dependent upon Arctic sea ice habitat for survival. They cannot survive without it. Polar bears use sea ice: as a platform to hunt and to eat seals (a population that would also benefit from this proposed designation); as an area to find mates and breed; as a platform to move to onshore maternity denning areas; and to make long-distance movements. Throughout most of their range, polar bears remain on the sea ice all year, spending just short periods on land. The melting sea ice is a major cause for concern for the polar bears' survival. Polar bears do not occur in large numbers, and their capacity for replacing individuals in the population is limited; thus their populations growth is very slow. And, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), polar bears have already been impacted by humans through other factors such as hunting, oil spills, shipping, and growing human presence in the Arctic. Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland said, "Proposing critical habitat for this iconic species is one step in the right direction to help this species stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change."