Project Reviews in New York | Endangered Species | Ecological Services–New York Field Office | Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Project Reviews in New York State

Are you looking for a species list?

Seeking Service environmental review of your project?

Conducting scoping for a project?

Then you’ve come to the right place!......

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) New York and Long Island Field Offices provide technical assistance to private individuals and organizations, as well as Federal, state, and local agencies pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (87 Stat. 884, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The following information is designed to assist you with the process of determining whether a federally-listed, proposed, or candidate species, and/or designated “critical habitat” may occur within a proposed project area and when it is appropriate to contact our offices.

This on-line project review process is intended for use by landowners, applicants, consultants, agency personnel, and any other individual or entity requiring Service review of their project within the State of New York. The on-line process should be completed before contacting our office.

Because the website and information are frequently updated to provide new trust resource information and methods to review projects, refer to the website for each project review to ensure that current information is utilized.

At any time, should you have questions regarding this process, you can contact our offices for assistance. For projects in the New York City area and Long Island, contact our Long Island Field Office at 631-286-0485. For projects throughout the rest of New York State, contact our New York Field Office at 607-753-9334. We welcome any suggestions you may have to make this website more useful. Please send these comments via email to andy_lowell@fws.gov.

Begin the process with Step 1.

Other useful information:

For wind energy projects (offshore and inland) additional review will be necessary to evaluate the project’s potential impacts. Until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service develops wind guidelines, follow these project review guidelines and submit the project information to this office for review regardless of the outcome in the species conclusions table. Please reference the New York Field Office Wind website. Also see the USFWS Land-based Wind Guidelines page.

NEW: If your project involves the co-location of telecommunication equipment, please also see our Communication Tower Project Reviews in New York document. For recommendations on new telecommunication tower siting, construction, operation, and decommissioning, please also refer to the Service's Interim Guidelines (pdf). Additional information can be found on our National migratory bird webpages.

For all other project types, the following guidelines will allow you to conduct a review of a project’s potential impacts on federally listed threatened and endangered species, federal candidate species, federally designated critical habitat, and bald eagles. At the end of this review process you will be able to: (1) certify that you have completed required coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) under the ESA, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668c, 54 Stat. 250), as amended (BGEPA); or (2) expedite additional review by the Service. This process also provides information for your project review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (P.L. 91-190, 42 U.S.C. 4321-4347, 83 Stat. 852), as amended.

During the review process, you will be instructed to complete a "species conclusion table" and add information and documents which will be included in your “project review package.” Once you complete the review process, you will be required to submit the project review package to the respective New York or Long Island Field Office. Maintain a complete copy of the project review package since it will become an integral part of your official record of compliance.

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.

NOTE: Items that are in blue text are links to additional information or to additional steps in the process. We recommend that you read the entire step prior to making a selection or following the links.

*Candidate species are plants and animals for which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has sufficient
information on their biological status and threats to propose them as endangered or threatened under
the Endangered Species Act, but for which development of a proposed listing rule is precluded by other higher priority listing activities.

For more information:
Candidate Species Website

Project Review Information By Taxonomic Group

Plants

American hart's-tongue fern (Asplenium scolpendrium var. americanum) - Threatened:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/plants/amerihtf.html

Eastern prairie orchid (fringed) (Platanthera leucophaea) - Threatened:
Species Profile

Houghton's goldenrod (Solidago houghtonii) - Threatened:
Recovery Plan
5-year review initiated
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/plants/houghton.html

Leedy's roseroot (Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi (=Sedum integrifolium ssp. l.)) - Threatened:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/plants/leedysro.html

Northeastern bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus) - Endangered:
Species Profile
Recovery Plan (9.1 MB PDF)

Northern wild monkshood (Aconitum noveboracense) - Threatened:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/plants/monkshoo.html
Recovery Plan (7.5 MB PDF)

Sandplain gerardia (Agalinis acuta) - Endangered:
Species Profile

Seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) - Threatened:
5-year Review
New Jersey Field Office Seabeach amaranth website
Species Profile

Small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides) - Threatened:
Species Profile
Fact Sheet

Swamp Pink (Helonias bullata) - Threatened:
Species Profile

Insects

NEW Karner blue butterfly website (Lycaeides melissa samuelis)

Invertebrates

Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail (Novisuccinea chittenangoensis) - Threatened:
Story: "Protecting New York's Thumbnail-sized Snail"
5-year Review (pdf)

Mollusks

Clubshell (Pleurobema clava) - Endangered:
5-year Review 2007 (1.0 MB pdf)
Mussel Survey Guidance (2.17 MB pdf)
Fact Sheet
Recovery Plan (5.52 MB pdf)

Dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) - Endangered:
Mussel Survey Guidance (2.17 MB pdf)
Factsheet (pdf)
5-Year Review 2007 (7.6 MB pdf)
NYSDEC Information

Rayed bean (Villosa fabalis) - Listed as endangered:
News Release: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lists Two Freshwater Mussels as Endangered Species (Feb. 13, 2012)
Federal Register Final Rule: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Rayed Bean and Snuffbox as Endangered (Feb. 14, 2012)
2012 Fact Sheet
USFWS Website
Mussel Survey Guidance (2.17 MB pdf)
Status Assessment

Birds

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Delisted:
Eagle Guidelines Site
USFWS: Three Management Actions for Bald Eagles
Final Definition of Disturb under Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (pdf)
Proposed Rule for Take Authorization under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (pdf)
General Information
Recovery Plan
NYSDEC Bald eagle fact sheet
Notice of Availability for Definition of Disturbed (pdf)
Notice of Availability for Management Guidelines (same link as above)
Disturb notice (same link as above)