Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for Ghost Orchid

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the ghost orchid ( Dendrophylax lindenii), a flowering plant species found in the United States in southwestern Florida and in Cuba as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the ghost orchid. After a review of the best scientific and commercial data available, we find that listing the species is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the ghost orchid as an endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Plants and extend the Act's protections to the species. We find that designating critical habitat for this species is not prudent.

We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before August 4, 2025. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES , below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing date. We must receive requests for a public hearing, in writing, at the address shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT by July 21, 2025.

Comment submission You may submit comments by one of the following methods:

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R4-ES-2025-0022, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. Then, click on the Search button. On the resulting page, in the panel on the left side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, check the Proposed Rule box to locate this document. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment.”

(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R4-ES-2025-0022, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

We request that you send comments only by the methods described above. We will post all comments on https://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see Information Requested, below, for more information).

Availability of supporting materials: Supporting materials, such as the species status assessment report, are available on https://www.regulations.gov at Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2025-0022.