Comment on FR Doc # 2011-33610

In the late 1970s a red fox surprised me by running across the trail at top speed right in front of me - about 9 feet away. It was on the John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon, Yosemite National Park, about halfway between Tuolumne Meadows Road and the point where the trail starts straight up to Donahue Pass. I have backpacked the northern 100 miles of the John Muir Trail over the course of a number of years, logging over 700 miles in the Sierras altogether. I spent 4 summers in Sequoia National Park, 2 years as a concession employee, and 2 years as a National Park Service employee, so I now a red fox when I see one, and this is the only one I have ever seen. Thought you might like to know this since you are considering it is so rare and it may be federally protected in the future. The article I read did not include the area where I saw the fox as a known area.