QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

U.S./CANADA FRAMEWORK FOR COOPERATION IN THE
PROTECTION AND RECOVERY OF WILD SPECIES AT RISK

1. Why a framework for cooperation? Canada and the United States share a long border and have a lengthy history of many cooperative conservation activities. The two countries also share a concern for wildlife, and both have strong commitments to the protection and recovery of species at risk of extinction and the ecosystems on which they depend. Many species cross the border via migration, or are resident in both countries. The United States and Canada both recognize that much more can be accomplished to benefit these species through collaboration, information-sharing, and cooperative, coordinated action.

2. Who is involved? The framework will initially be implemented by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, and the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada; in the future it is hoped that other agencies within each country will also join. In recognition of the continental nature and importance of many species at risk, Canada and the United States intend to invite the participation of Mexico in this framework at a future time.

3. What is the goal of the framework? The goal is to prevent populations of wild species shared by the United States and Canada from becoming extinct as a consequence of human activity, through the conservation of wildlife populations and the ecosystems on which they depend.

4. What species are covered? Shared populations of species at risk include transboundary threatened and endangered species listed by either country, candidates, and other species at risk that would benefit from coordinated, cooperative actions. These include wildlife within the jurisdictions of the Canadian Wildlife Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

5. Have any species already benefited from cooperative actions? Yes. Numerous species at varying degrees of risk or endangerment have benefited from coordinated and more efficient use of bi-national resources. Examples include the whooping crane and the piping plover.

6. Is this a regulatory agreement? No. It is non-regulatory and non-binding. Instead, it emphasizes voluntary, cooperative actions between the two countries that benefit species at risk, and it establishes a framework for such cooperation.

7. How will it be carried out? Under the framework the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service will: exchange information and technical expertise; harmonize the identification and evaluation of species at risk; identify species at risk that require bilateral action; promote joint or multi-national recovery plans for transboundary endangered and threatened species; encourage expanded and more effective partnerships with states, provinces, and territorial, aboriginal and tribal governments, and the private sector; and create greater public awareness of the need to conserve wildlife populations and their ecosystems. Both nations will use the cooperative arrangements established in the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management to provide a way to establish mutual priorities, coordinate recovery actions, and ensure efficient use of available resources for the protection and recovery of species at risk.

April 1997

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