Contacts
Chris Tollefson (FWS) 202-219-8104
Gordon Helm (NMFS) 301-713-2370
The Interior Department's U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Commerce Department's National
Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) announced a policy
today that should help guide states, local, Tribal and foreign
governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals in their
efforts to restore populations of declining species before they
require the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
The Policy for Evaluation of Conservation
Efforts (PECE) will ensure consistent and adequate evaluation of
current and future conservation efforts when considering species
for addition to the federal list of threatened and endangered
species. The policy identifies certain criteria that the two
agencies will use in determining whether a future or recently
implemented conservation effort, such as habitat restoration or
protection, has contributed to the long-term survival of a
species making listing that species unnecessary, or has
contributed to improving the status of a species to the extent
that it should be listed as threatened rather than endangered.
"We hope this policy will encourage
active conservation efforts before a species and its habitat are
critically imperiled. Such efforts will increase the likelihood
that simple, cost- effective conservation actions are undertaken
to reverse population declines and prevent the need to list some
species," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
"By working closely with local
governments, individuals and other concerned groups, we can
encourage faster, more comprehensive protection for species at
risk," Commerce Secretary Don Evans said. "These
conservation efforts will improve our ability to protect marine
species before there is a need to list them under the Endangered
Species Act."
In order for a conservation effort to
affect the listing decision, the PECE policy requires the
agencies to find that the effort is certain to be implemented and
sufficiently effective. Such criteria include identification of
explicit conservation objectives and dates for achieving them,
steps necessary to implement the efforts, and standards for
measuring progress.
"I am committed to working closely
with states and others to develop conservation efforts that could
eliminate the threats to a species before it requires the
protections of the Endangered Species Act," said Dr. Bill
Hogarth, assistant administrator for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration fisheries service. "This policy
will let everyone know up-front how NOAA Fisheries and the FWS
will evaluate conservation efforts."
Early conservation efforts have been a
valuable tool in eliminating threats to species, preventing the
need to add them to the list of threatened and endangered
species. Such efforts prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
to withdraw proposals to list the pecos pupfish in New Mexico and
Texas, the Virgin River spinedace in Utah and the southern
population of the copperbelly water snake in Kentucky, Illinois
and Indiana.
"States have been working in
partnership with the Service and other organizations and
individuals to conserve candidate species for years. This policy
recognizes that they can and do make a real contribution to the
long-term survival and recovery of declining species," said
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams.
The Services are committed to working
closely with states and others to develop conservation efforts
that could eliminate the threats to a species before it requires
the protections of the Endangered Species Act. More information
about the PECE policy can be found on the Fish and Wildlife
Service website at: http://endangered.fws.gov, or on the NOAA
Fisheries website at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the
principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting
and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service
manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System,
which encompasses more than 540 national wildlife refuges,
thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.
It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource
offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency
enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered
Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores
nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife
habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with
their conservation efforts. It also oversees the federal aid
program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in
excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and
wildlife agencies.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is
the principal steward of the nation's living marine resources,
protecting marine and anadromous species under the Endangered
Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. An agency of
the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, NOAA Fisheries also regulates the nation's
commercial and recreational fisheries and conserving and managing
marine species under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act throughout federal waters which extend 200
miles from the coastline.
NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic
security and national safety through the prediction and research
of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental
stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
For more information online please visit:
U.S Fish and Wildlife Service - http://www.fws.gov
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