Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Endangered Status for the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (\u3ci\u3eCicindela nevadica lincolniana\u3c/i\u3e)

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) as endangered under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The Salt Creek tiger beetle, a member of the family Cicindelidae, is endemic to the saline wetlands of eastern Nebraska and associated streams in the northern third of Lancaster County and southern margin of Saunders County in Nebraska, where it is found in barren salt flat and saline stream edge habitats. Of six known populations in 1991, three are now extirpated and the remaining three are small and highly threatened by further habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation. These three small populations of Salt Creek tiger beetles are vulnerable to local extirpations from random natural events and human-induced activities. This proposal, if made final, would extend Federal protection and recovery provisions of the Act to the Salt Creek tiger beetle