Project Review Process for Projects WITH Any Federal Agency Involvement :

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) directs all Federal agencies to work to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to further the purposes of the ESA. Section 7 of the ESA, called "Interagency Cooperation," is the mechanism by which Federal agencies ensure the actions they take, including those they fund or authorize, do not jeopardize the existence of any listed species.

Candidate species are species for which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has on file sufficient information on the biological vulnerability and threat(s) to support issuance of a proposal to list, but issuance of a proposed rule is currently precluded by higher priority listing actions. Candidate species do not receive substantive or procedural protection under the ESA; however, the Service does encourage Federal agencies and other appropriate parties to consider these species in the project planning process.

More Information on the Section 7 Consultation Process is Available on our National Webpage

The following steps to determine whether you may have a listed species within your project action area apply to project sponsors or their representatives, as well as any appropriate Federal agency.

Step 1 - Determine whether any listed, proposed, or candidate species (T/E species) are likely to occur within the proposed project action area based on location of the proposed project:

A. NEW: Choose your county for a list of Threatened, Endangered, and Candidate Species and List of Extirpated Species.

B. Contact the New York Natural Heritage Program (NYNHP) and any appropriate New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Regional Offices for additional information on Federally- and State-listed species. Please note that the NYNHP provides information on known occurrences; this information does not replace field surveys as most project sites have not been previously surveyed specifically for listed species.

If the proposed project occurs in a county with no known listed or candidate species present, no further coordination with the Service is needed. However, until the proposed project is complete, we recommend that you check our species lists every 90 days to ensure that listed species presence/absence information for the proposed project is current.

If the proposed project occurs in a county with known occurrences of T/E species, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 - Determine whether any T/E species are likely to occur within the proposed project area based on the habitat present within the proposed project action area.

Review the information we have provided, information from the NYNHP and NYSDEC, and any other sources of information available to you to determine types of habitat the species use.

Determine whether your proposed project action area has any potential for listed species habitat (e.g., are trees present - Indiana bats, are wetlands present - Bog turtles). After this initial coarse review, determine whether any more detailed surveys may be appropriate (e.g., Phase 1 survey for Bog turtles).

You will find that survey protocols are available for some species but not for others. Follow the steps provided for each species. If you have any questions regarding species that do not have specific protocols, please contact our office for technical assistance.

If the NYNHP does not identify any listed species for the proposed project AND there is no potential habitat for any listed species within the action area, no further coordination with the Service is required (*NOTE - this does not mean that no potential habitat is impacted by the footprint of the project; this means no potential habitat is present. Once you have documented potential listed species habitat, further coordination with the Service is recommended, further coordination with the involved Federal agency(ies) is required). However, you can also submit your findings to the Service for a “second look” at your analysis and we recommend this for species with defined habitat survey protocols (e.g., Bog turtles, Karner blue butterflies). Please note that if we agree that listed species are unanticipated within the project action area, we will simply document this for our files.

If there is potential habitat for any listed species, send the results of the habitat surveys to the Service and the appropriate NYSDEC Regional Office for further coordination, as well as:

• A detailed description of the proposed project, including approximate proposed project construction schedule and project activities (e.g., land clearing, utilities, stormwater management).
• A description of the natural characteristics of the property and surrounding area (e.g., forested areas, freshwater wetlands, open waters, and soils). Additionally, please include a description of surrounding land use (residential, agricultural, or commercial).
• A description of the area to be impacted by the proposed project, including trees to be removed.
• The location of the above referenced property and extent of any project related activities or discharges clearly indicated on a copy of a USGS 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle (Quad) with the name of the Quad(s) and latitude/longitude clearly labeled.
• A description of conservation measures to avoid or minimize impacts to listed species.

Step 3 - Based on the results of the habitat survey and a description of the proposed project (including information as to whether any potential habitat may be directly or indirectly¹ affected), the involved Federal agency may determine:

Here is a direct link to the Section 7 Consultation Handbook

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1. Indirect effects are effects that are caused by or will result from the proposed action and are later in time, but still reasonable certain to occur [50 CFR §402.02]. For further discussion of effects analyses, please review pages 4-25 – 4-31 in our Section 7 Consultation Handbook.