5-Year Reviews

Under the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service is required to conduct a review of each listed species at least once every five years to ensure that the listing of species is still accurate.

A 5-year Review is purely an assessment of a listed species to determine whether its status should change or remain the same. A 5-year Review does not “start a clock,” or trigger any changes in management of listed species or their habitat.

A 5-year Review collects and considers the best available scientific and commercial data regarding the species that has become available since the original listing determination.

A 5-year Review assesses whether:

• new information suggests that the species' population is increasing, declining or stable;
• existing threats are increasing, stable, reduced or eliminated;
• there are any new threats; and
• new information or analysis calls into question any of the conclusions in the original listing determination as to the species' status.

After the 5-year review is completed, the Service will recommend whether a change in the species’ listing status is warranted. If the Service recommends that a change is warranted, the agency may propose to reclassify or delist a species. If the agency does propose a change, it would go through a formal rule-making process, including public review and comment, as defined in the ESA.
The Delisting Process

The Service has been initiating 5-year reviews for all listed species. The Service will continue to initiate reviews for about 20% of listed species each year nationwide.

Snake River Fish and Wildlife Office 5-year Reviews:

Bruneau Hot Springsnail (Pyrgulopsis bruneauensis)

completed June 24, 2007

SUMMARY: Review of new information obtained since listing demonstrates continued threats and substantial reduction in the number and total habitat area of geothermal springs and seeps upon which the Bruneau hot springsnail depends.  The major threat to this species is the continued decline of the geothermal aquifer resulting in a decrease in suitable geothermal spring habitat for the species .  We recommend that no change in the listing status be made to the Bruneau hot springsnail and that it remain endangered under the Act.  See the Bruneau Hot Springsnail 5-year Review for additional information.

Banbury Springs lanx (Lanx n sp.) (undescribed)
completed September 15, 2006

SUMMARY: Currently, the Banbury Springs lanx, a freshwater snail, only exists at four isolated coldwater mainstem or adjacent tributary springs in the Snake River: Thousand Springs, Box Canyon Springs, Briggs Springs, and Banbury Springs. The threats indicated at the time of listing in 1992 remain today, rendering the Banbury Springs lanx in danger of extinction in a significant portion of its range. Habitat modification, spring flow reduction, declining groundwater quality, the invasive New Zealand mudsnail, and inadequate regulatory mechanisms are the primary factors adversely affecting the lanx. After considering the best scientific and commercial information available, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recommends that the Banbury Springs lanx remain listed as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). See the Banbury Springs lanx 5-year review for additional information.

Idaho springsnail (Pyrgulopsis idahoensis)
completed May 25, 2006

SUMMARY: We conducted a 5-year review for the Idaho springsnail concurrently with our review of a petition to delist this species and a separate petition to list three other related springsnails. As such, the 12-month finding for these two petitions also serves as our primary analysis for the 5-year review. The final recommendation is that the petition to delist the Idaho springsnail (Pyrgulopsis idahoensis) is warranted based on a recent taxonomic reclassification of the species to P. robusta, and that the petition to list the Jackson Lake, Harney Lake, and Columbia springsnails (now considered to be the Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington populations of P. robusta) is not warranted. Therefore, we are moving forward with a proposal to delist the Idaho springsnail (P. idahoensis). See the Idaho springsnail 5-year review and the associated 12-month finding and proposal to delist the Idaho springsnail for additional information.

12-Month Petition Findings

Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act)

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), requires that, for any petition to revise the Lists of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants (Lists) that contains substantial scientific or commercial information that the petitioned action may be warranted, we make a finding within 12 months on whether the petitioned action is: (a) not warranted, (b) warranted, or (c) warranted, but precluded by other pending proposals. 12-month findings are to be published promptly in the Federal Register.

Snake River Fish and Wildlife Office 12-Month Findings:

Southern Idaho ground squirrel, Sand Dune Lizard, and Tahoe Yellow Cress (Spermophilus brunneus endemicus) (Sceloporus arenicolus) Rorippa subumbellata)
12/27/2004  Federal Register Notice 77167-77173
Action: 12-Month Findings on Resubmitted Petitions to List Three Species Under the Endangered Species Act.

The Petition Process