The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for administering and implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conserve and recover federally listed species of plants and animals native to the United States and its territories. It also enforces fish and wildlife laws, protects and recovers threatened and endangered species, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores vital wildlife habitat and assists other governments with conservation efforts.

Before a plant or animal species can receive protection under the ESA, it must first be placed on the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. An "endangered" species is one that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. A "threatened" species is one that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

The Endangered Species Program (Program) works cooperatively with many partners, such as local, state and Federal governments, Tribes, business, and private citizens in order to conserve and restore our threatened and endangered species.

To learn more about the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office programs that work with groups and individuals to help conserve endangered species, visit our Conservation Partnerships site.

Additionally, the Program identifies species that are candidates for listing and others that are at-risk of being listed under the ESA. Through these cooperative partnership efforts, fish, wildlife, plants, and their ecosystems have a greater opportunity of reaching a secure and self-sustaining status in the wild so they no longer need the protections of the ESA.

The roles and responsibilities of the Endangered Species Program are numerous and include the following: Conservation Planning, Listing/Delisting, Critical Habitat, Recovery, Consultation, Grants

Related Links
• Improving ESA Implementation
• Endangered Species Bulletin

FINDING COPIES OF DOCUMENTS

Information pertaining to all final listing rules for species within the jurisdiction of the Carlsbad office, please go to our CFWO Species Status page.

For Carlsbad news releases and associated species documents, you may find them on our CFWO Species News, Photos and Info page.

If you are looking for copies of regulatory documents relating to threatened and endangered species listed in the U.S., the Service maintains a comprehensive set of documents on its Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS). The ECOS website contains copies of Federal Register documents, Recovery Plans, and links to biological information about threatened and endangered species.

In order to carry out the purposes of the ESA, the Service creates both rulemaking and non-rulemaking documents reflecting policies, regulations, and legislation. Rulemaking and non-rulemaking documents are posted on the Internet at www.regulations.gov.

Regulations.gov is a one-stop electronic document system that allows the public to easily search, view, and comment on numerous federal regulatory actions (e.g. Federal Register Notices, supporting analyses, etc.) from more than 35 Departments and Agencies. By having these rulemaking and non-rulemaking documents accessible on a single Internet site, the public can more easily participate in the regulatory process and have more efficient interactions with its government.

Another place to locate specific documents pertaining to endangered species is within our Endangered Species Act Document Library.