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State environmental policy
U.S. environmental policy
Endangered species policy
State endangered species
Federal land policy
Environmental terms

Implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is meant to prevent the extinction ofendangered and threatened species throughout theUnited States. TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) implement the act.^[1]

As of May 2016, there were 2,389endangered and threatened species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 50 states and around the world.

Policies

Because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is responsible for mostEndangered Species Act (ESA) actions, this page will refer to actions by the FWS. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service is responsible for ESA actions related to marine species, although the agency may not be mentioned throughout this page.

The Endangered Species Act's is meant to eliminate threats to a species' survival, such as habitat loss, disease and predators, insufficient regulatory activities, and natural or manmade factors. The goal of the law is to reduce or eliminate these threats so that species no longer need the law's protections. TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service oversee the federal list of endangered and threatened species. An endangered species is any species "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." A threatened species is any species "likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future." All species of plants and animals, except pest insects, are eligible forendangered or threatened status.^[2][3]

Federal listing of species

TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the following five criteria to list a species as endangered or threatened. If one or more of these criteria are met, the government can take action to list the species:^[2]

Listed species

The table below summarizes the number of endangered and threatened species. As of May 2016, there were 698 federally listed animal species in theUnited States—497 endangered species and 201 threatened species. There were 898 federally listed plant species—732 endangered species and 166 threatened species—as of May 2016. Including foreign species, the total number of species on the federal list was 2,269 as of May 2016.^[5]

Click the [show] button below to see the breakdown of all endangered and threatened animal species in the United States by animal group as of May 2016.^[5]

Click the [show] button below to see the breakdown of all endangered and threatened plant species by plant group as of May 2016.^[5]

The table below shows the number of endangered and threatened animals and plants in each state as of May 2016. The data below is based on the Fish and Wildlife Service's estimates of where federally listed species are believed or known to occur based on the best available information.

As of May 2016, there were 2,389 endangered and threatened species listed in the 50 states. This total does not include species in U.S. territories and includes species that are listed in more than one state. The list contained 1,353 animal species and 1,036 plant species as of May 2016.^[6]

Candidate species

The dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) was placed on the candidate species list in 2012.

TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintain a list ofcandidate species, which are animal and plant species that are eligible for listing asendangered or threatened but are precluded due to higher priority listing actions. The agencies' also manage a list of candidates fordelisting (the process where federal protection is removed from a species).^[2]

Since 1996, a candidate species must have sufficient information on its status and habitat before the FWS can propose the species for candidate status. To keep in compliance with this rule, the FWS requires information on the biological status and threats to individual species from state and federal agencies, and the information must be accurate and thorough enough to justify the species' placement on the list of candidate species.^[2][7]

Taking prohibition

The act makes the taking of an endangered or threatened species illegal. According to the act, to take a species means to "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct." TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service further defines harm to mean "an act which actually kills or injures wildlife." Taking a species can also include "breeding, feeding or sheltering" a listed species. State governments may apply further prohibitions against the taking of anendangered or threatened species.^[2][8][9]

State protection

The Endangered Species Act authorizes federal funding to states as an incentive to enter into cooperative agreements with the federal government to conserve and manage endangered and threatened species. States must adopt their own endangered and threatened species management programs and have them approved by the federal government in order to receive funds. The states must also meet the following conditions before they can receive federal funding:^[10]

• States must conserve federally listed species.
• States must create "acceptable conservation programs" for all federally listed species. States must also provide detailed plans for these programs to theU.S. Department of Commerce.
• States must be authorized by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct investigations to determine a species'endangered or threatened status.
• States must be authorized by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before they operate programs to acquire land or aquatic habitats for conserving federally listed species.

Delisting a species

See also:Delisting a species

The gray whale was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1994 due to recovery.

Delisting is the process of removing a species' endangered or threatened status. Downlisting is a reclassification of a species' status from endangered to threatened. To delist a species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must determine that the species is no longer threatened. To do this, the service looks at a species' population size and growth, the stability of its habitat and the natural or human-made threats to its continued recovery. Species are also delisted when they become extinct. Once a species is delisted through recovery or extinction, that species is no longer considered a candidate species.^[11][12][13]

As of May 2016, 63 species were delisted. Of those species, 34 were delisted due to recovery, 19 species were listed in error (for scientific reasons or because new information about a species was discovered) and 10 species went extinct.^[11]

Permits

The act allows permits to be granted for some private activities that may affect a listed species or its habitat.^[14]

Below are the following Endangered Species Act permits:^[14]

• Incidental take permit: An incidental take permit is required if an activity may result in thetaking of anendangered or threatened species. Those who apply for the permit must submit a plan to the proper federal or state authority ensuring that the effects of taking the species will be minimized and/or mitigated.
• Enhancement of survival permit: An enhancement of survival permit allows private landowners to implement conservation activities for an endangered or threatened species. The permit allows that permitted landowners will not face additional land restrictions for their conservation actions.
• Recovery and interstate commerce permits: Recovery permits allow thetaking of an endangered or threatened species in order to foster its recovery. Recovery permits are issued for scientific research on listed species. Interstate commerce permits allow the transportation and sale of listed species across state lines for breeding or scientific research.

Recovery plans

The act requires the development of recovery plans for federally listed species. Recovery plans "describe the steps needed to restore a species to ecological health" and thereby delist the species. The plans are developed and implemented by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in association with other government agencies (federal, state and local) as well as nongovernmental organizations. As of May 2016, there were 1,158 active recovery plans in either draft form or final form for U.S.-listed species.^[15][16][17]

Federal and state coordination

Under theEndangered Species Act, theU.S. Department of the Interior must cooperate with state governments to conservelisted species:

• States can enter into a cooperative agreement with the federal government to manageendangered and threatened species.
• The federal government must consult with a state before the Department of the Interior can acquire water or land forendangered speciesconservation within that state.
• States cooperating with the federal government may receive financial assistance for species conservation under the federal Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund. The level of funding to each state is determined by the number ofendangered and threatened species within a state, the potential for recovering certainendangered or threatened species within a state, the risks facing these species (in terms of the species' survival), the benefits of monitoringcandidate species to keep them off the federal list, and other factors.
• States must match the federal funding they receive with a minimum of 25 percent in state-level funding.^[18]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the termsEndangered Species Act Implementation. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

• 

  Environmental policy in the U.S.

• 

  Energy policy in the U.S.

• 

  Endangered species policy in the U.S.

• Endangered Species Act
• Glossary of Endangered Species Act terms
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Endangered species

Footnotes

v • e Environmental Policy Background Environmental policy in the United States •Clean Air Act •Clean Water Act •Conservation •Endangered Species Act •U.S. Environmental Protection Agency •Enforcement at the EPA •Glossary of environmental terms •Energy and environmental news Energy and environmental news January 2015 •February 2015 •March 2015 •April 2015 •May 2015 •June 2015 •July 2015 •August 2015 •September 2015 •October 2015 •November 2015 •December 2015 Environmental terms Air pollutants •Air Quality Index •BLM grazing permit •Carbon dioxide •Carbon footprint •Clean Air Act •Clean Water Act •Climate change • ConservAmerica •Cross State Air Pollution Rule •Deep ecology •Ecology •Endangered species •Implementation of the Endangered Species Act •Environmental chemistry •Environmental engineering •Environmental health •Environmental restoration •Environmental science •Federal land •Fracking •Greenhouse effect •Greenhouse gas •Ground-level ozone standards •Ground water •Hazardous air pollutant •Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change •Keystone XL •Mercury and air toxics standards •Municipal solid waste •National Ambient Air Quality Standards •National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System •National Priorities List of Superfund sites • National Wildlife Federation •Natural resources •Nonpoint source of water pollution •Oil •Ozone •Pesticide •Petroleum •Point source of water pollution •Public water system •Radioactive waste •Renewable energy resources •Renewable Portfolio Standards •Solar energy •State park •Superfund •Traditional energy resources •U.S. Bureau of Land Management •U.S. Environmental Protection Agency • •U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service •U.S. Forest Service •U.S. Geological Survey •Wastewater treatment •Water quality criteria •Wetland •Wilderness Act •Wilderness Society •Wind energy Endangered species terms Candidate species •Critical habitat •Delisting •Distinct population segment •Endangered species •Listed species •Listing a species •Listing petition •Species recovery •Taking a species Environmental policy by state Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming Endangered species policy Costs of listing a species •Delisting a species •Endangered Species Act litigation •Endangered species policy in the United States •Endangered Species Act litigation •History of the Endangered Species Act •Private property and the Endangered Species Act •Science and the Endangered Species Act •Success rate of the Endangered Species Act •Transparency and the Endangered Species Act Endangered species policy by state Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming Environmental statistics Payments in lieu of taxes •Land ownership by state •Grazing permits on BLM lands •Federal land ownership by state •BLM oil and gas permits by state •Environmental spending in the 50 states •Greenhouse gas emissions by state •Superfund sites in the United States •National Park Visitor Spending Effects Report Endangered species statistics Endangered species by state •Endangered animals by state •Endangered plants by state •Delisted species •Top 20 federally funded species •Land acquisition funding for endangered species •Federal endangered species grants by state