1. Introduction to the Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Program, March 2004

2. Before the Endangered Species Act
Lacey Act
Regulated interstate transfer of wildlife
1966 Endangered Species Preservation Act
Authorized listing of 77 species, mostly vertebrates
Authorized land acquisition
Endangered Species Conservation Act
Expanded list (worldwide species and invertebrates)
Required measures to enlist international agreement
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
Agreement among 80 nations to ensure that trade does not threaten species survival

3. 1973 Endangered Species Act
Allows protection for all species
Protects habitats as well as species
Gives joint authority to Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA–Fisheries
Aleutian Canada goose USFWS photo
Desert tortoise habitat USFWS photo
American alligator USFWS photo

4. The Endangered Species Act
Section 2: Findings and Purposes
Section 3: Definitions
Section 4: Listing, Critical Habitat Designation, Recovery, Monitoring
Section 5: Land Acquisition
Section 6: Financial Assistance to States and Territories
Section 7: The Role of Federal Agencies
Section 8: International Cooperation
Section 8A: Convention Implementation
Section 9: Unlawful Activities
Section 10: Exceptions, including Permits
Section 11: Penalties and Enforcement

5. Findings and Purposes Section 2
Some species of fish, wildlife and plants are now extinct “as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.”
Other species are in danger of extinction.
Species have aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value.
Purposes
“… to conserve endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems on which they depend.”

6. Key Definitions Section 3
West Indian manatee USFWS photo
Endangered Any species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range
Oregon silverspot butterfly Photo by Jim Botoroff
Threatened Any species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future
Critical Habitat Specific geographic areas with physical and biological features essential to the conservation of a listed species
Critical habitat USFWS photo

7. Listing
Section 4
Identifying species for possible designation as “endangered” or “threatened”
Citizen may “petition” the Fish and Wildlife Service, or
Fish and Wildlife Service may identify species through internal studies and discussion with States, academia, and other experts in the scientific community
Petitioned for listing: the southern California mountain yellow-legged frog.
Photo by Vance Vredenburg, Associated Press

8. Candidate Species Section 4
Species that warrant listing but are precluded by higher workload priorities are placed on a candidate species list.
Fish and Wildlife Service has developed programs to conserve and recover candidate species awaiting ESA protection.
The northern sea otter is a candidate for listing.
Corel Corp. photo

9. Listing
Section 4
Five factors considered in determining whether a species is endangered or threatened:
Present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the species range or habitat
Over-use for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes
Disease or predation
Inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms
Other natural or man-made factors affecting the continued existence of the species

10. Listing Section 4 Listing Process
Use best available scientific and commercial information
Use peer-review to ensure sound science and sound decision-making
Publish Federal Register notice of a proposal to list species as endangered or threatened
Respond to public comment, and complete a final rule within one year

11. Listed Species by State
March 2004
Endangered and threatened species are found throughout the United States. More than 1200 species of fish, wildlife, and plants are currently listed.

12. Critical Habitat Section 4
Use best scientific data to identify areas essential to the conservation of a species and may require special management consideration or protection
Economic impact analysis required, and areas may be excluded from protection based on analysis
Publish Federal Register notice and seek public comment on proposal to designate critical habitat
Designation does not create a park or preserve

13. Recovery Section 4 Goals
Reduce or eliminate threats to listed animals and plants
Restore self-sustaining wild populations
Remove species from the list
Recovery “is the process by which the decline of an endangered or threatened species is arrested or reversed, and threats to its survival are neutralized, so that its long-term survival in nature can be ensured. The goal of this process is the maintenance of secure, self-sustaining wild populations of species with the minimum necessary investment of resources. A recovery plan delineates, justifies, and schedules the research and management actions necessary to support recovery of a species, including those that, if successfully undertaken, are likely to permit reclassification or delisting of the species.”
Policy and Guidelines for Planning and Coordinating Recovery of Endangered and Threatened Species, May Currently under revision as the Recovery Handbook.
Whooping crane, a recovering species
USFWS photo

14. Recovery Section 4 Recovery Plans Develop with stakeholders
Identify recovery strategy
Identify tasks and partners
Establish delisting/downlisting criteria
Provide timetable and cost estimate
May address multiple species

15. Recovery Section 4
Recovering listed species requires Fish and Wildlife Service and other Federal agency actions.
States and private landowners are critical recovery partners. The Fish and Wildlife Service assists through grants and other incentives.
The Los Angeles Zoo’s captive breeding program raises California condors for release into the Ventana Wilderness Area.
Photo by Daniel Bianchetta, Ventana Wilderness Society

16. Delisting Section 4
Delisting criteria identified in the species’ recovery plan
Federal Register notice published and public comment sought on proposal to delist
Recovered species monitored for five years
American peregrine falcon, delisted in 1999.
Corel Corp. photo

17. Cooperation with the States Section 6
Recognizes States’ key role in conserving wildlife and plants
Provides funding to States with which the Fish and Wildlife Service has cooperative agreements
Six states have received funding to monitor and manage reintroduced black-footed ferrets.
Photo by Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife Department

18. Consultations Section 7
Requires Federal agencies to:
conduct programs to conserve endangered and threatened species
ensure that actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of listed species or adversely modify critical habitat
If agency action may affect a listed species or critical habitat, the agency must initiate consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Private individuals are affected by section 7 when their action needs a Federal permit or funding.

19. Consultations Section 7
Informal Consultations
Optional process to assist agencies in evaluating potential effects on species and habitat
Fish and Wildlife Service recommends modifications necessary to avoid adverse effects
If necessary modifications are made, no further consultation required
The Corps of Engineers consults with the Fish and Wildlife Service about beach projects that “may affect” listed sea turtles.
USFWS photo

20. Consultations Section 7
Formal Consultations
If adverse effects are unavoidable, the Federal agency initiates formal consultation:
Relies on more detailed descriptions and other relevant studies, proposal reports, etc.
Up to 90 days of consultation, followed by 45 days to produce a “biological opinion”

21. Consultations Section 7
Formal consultation concludes with Fish and Wildlife Service issuing a “biological opinion” evaluating the action and providing options, where necessary.
Two possible outcomes:
Federal action not likely to jeopardize species or adversely modify critical habitat
Federal action likely to jeopardize species or adversely modify critical habitat

22. Consultations Section 7
If action is not likely to jeopardize, biological opinion includes:
Incidental take statement estimating amount of take that may occur incidental to the action
Reasonable and prudent measures to minimize take
The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a “no jeopardy” opinion to the Army regarding endangered birds at Fort Hood, Texas.
USFWS photo

23. Consultations Section 7
If action likely to jeopardize, opinion includes reasonable and prudent alternatives that avoid jeopardy or adverse modifications and are:
consistent with intended purpose of action
within authority of Federal agency
technologically and economically feasible
Compliance with reasonable and prudent alternatives allow project to continue
In rare instances, such alternatives are not available

24. Consultations Section 7
More than 70,000 Federal actions are reviewed annually.
Of 1200 formal consultations per year, on average six percent result in a jeopardy or adverse modification finding.

25. Prohibited Acts Section 9
Listed plants are protected from commercial trade, collection, or malicious destruction on Federal lands, and similar actions that violate State law.
Listed wildlife is protected from “take” and commercial trade.
Signs posted on nest trees of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers help prevent taking.

26. Prohibited Acts Section 9
Take means: harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or to attempt to engage in these activities. Harm includes habitat destruction that kills or injures listed species.
The take prohibition for wildlife applies to any person including a Federal agency.
Section 4(d) allows flexibility of section 9 prohibitions for threatened species.

27. Permits
Section 10
The Fish and Wildlife Service issues section 10(a)(1)(A) permits for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of a species.
A zoo may receive a permit to study or breed an endangered species such as the giant panda.
San Diego Zoo photo

28. Private Landowner Agreements Section 10
Section 10(a)(1)(A) permitting authority is used to encourage species conservation on non-Federal lands.
Type of Agreement
Landowner agrees to…
Fish and Wildlife Service assures…
Safe Harbor Agreement
take actions to benefit listed species on their land
no additional restrictions will be imposed as species populations improve
Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances
take actions to benefit candidate or other non- listed species on their land
no additional restrictions will be imposed if species is later listed
Safe Harbor Agreements: when the term of a Safe Harbor Agreement ends, the participating landowner may use the property in any legal manner that does not reduce it below the original, or baseline conditions. The Service grants the landowner an incidental take permit that allows him/her to take individual listed plants or animals or modify habitat to return population levels and habitat conditions to those agreed upon as baseline.

29. Permits
Section 10
The Fish and Wildlife Service issues incidental take permits to private landowners under section 10(a)(1)(B) provided an approved Habitat Conservation Plan is developed.
Habitat Conservation Plans are a tool for conserving listed, proposed, and candidate species while providing for development that will not “appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species in the wild.”

30. Exceptions Section 10 Experimental Populations, Section 10(j)
Experimental populations are treated as threatened
Designating an experimental population as “nonessential” provides management flexibility
Special 4(d) rules exempt some activities from section 9 prohibitions
The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service reintroduced gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park as a nonessential, experimental population.
USFWS photo

31. Penalties and Enforcement Section 11
Provides for civil or criminal penalties for ESA violations:
Civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation
Criminal penalties up to $50,000 and/or a year in prison per violation
Provides for citizens’ lawsuits to compel the Secretary of the Interior to enforce the ESA

32. Tools and Incentives Candidate Conservation
Through Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances the Fish and Wildlife Service works with public and private parties to:
identify threats to candidate species
develop measures to conserve species
identify willing landowners and develop agreements
implement conservation measures and monitor effectiveness
Soulen Livestock Company has entered into an agreement to conserve the southern Idaho ground squirrel on its property.
USFWS photo

33. Tools and Incentives State Conservation Agreements
State-led initiative to conserve declining species before they need protection under the ESA
Supported by the Fish and Wildlife Service and other Federal agencies
The publication of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

34. Tools and Incentives Candidate Species
“The candidate list is an important tool, helping to identify imperiled species and focusing attention on the need to conserve them before they receive Endangered Species Act protection.
By working to recover these species now, in partnership with States, local communities and individuals, we can implement flexible, cost-effective conservation measures that put them on the road to recovery.”
USFWS Director Steve Williams
USFWS photo

35. Tools and Incentives Safe Harbor Agreements
Voluntary agreements for recovering listed species
Open to states, businesses, individuals—any non-Federal landowner
Encourages landowners to improve conditions for listed species on their land by removing fear of subsequent restrictions on land use
Can create long-term benefits for species extending beyond period of agreement

36. Tools and Incentives Conservation Bank Agreements
A Conservation Bank is a voluntary agreement with a landowner that provides an economically effective process to offset adverse impacts to listed species.
Habitat for listed species is treated as a benefit rather than a liability.
Simplifies regulatory compliance process.
Reduces ‘piecemeal’ approach to conservation efforts.
Wilson Valley Mitigation Bank, Riverside County, California, managed by the Center for Natural Lands Management

37. Tools and Incentives Cooperation with the States
Grants
Traditional Conservation Grants to States
Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition
Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance
Recovery Land Acquisition
The endangered Hawaiian monk seal will benefit from added habitat through a section 6 recovery land acquisition grant.
Smithsonian Institution photo

38. Tools and Incentives Additional Service Grants
Private Stewardship Grants
Landowner Incentive Program
State Wildlife Grants
Tribal Grants
More than half of all listed species have 80 percent of their habitat on non-Federal land.
USFWS photo

39. Guiding Principles
Initiate conservation measures early to preclude the need to list species.
Peer-review is essential in ensuring the use of sound science in decision-making, listing species, designating critical habitat, and developing recovery plans.
Partnerships — with States, other Federal agencies, local communities, non-governmental organizations, and individuals — are the key to success in conserving and protecting species for the benefit of all.
More on these guiding principles can be found at:

40. Guiding Principles The Four Cs
Consultation, Cooperation, and Communication — all in the service of Conservation
Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
DOI photo

41. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Offices
The endangered species program is on the web at endangered.fws.gov

42. This presentation was created by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Project Team
Claire Cassel, Ann Haas, and David Yeargin, Division of Partnerships and Outreach, Endangered Species Program
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following individuals and offices of the Fish and Wildlife Service for their review and invaluable input:
Patrick Leonard, Marty Miller, Marj Nelson, Chris Nolin, Rick Sayers, and Elizabeth Stevens, Region 9 Endangered Species Program; Region 9 Endangered Species Program staff; Karen LoStracco and Robyn Thorson, External Affairs; Clint Riley, Office of the Director; Randi Thompson, Nevada Ecological Services Field Office.
Endangered Species Program, March 2004