The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) jointly administers the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with the Commerce Department ‘s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Our primary responsibilities are terrestrial and freshwater organisms, sea turtles in their terrestrial environment, and a subset of marine mammals (polar bears, sea otters, walrus, and manatees). Responsibilities of NMFS are marine organisms, anadromous fish (such as salmon), sea turtles in the marine environment, and all other marine mammals (whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sealions).
The ultimate purpose of the ESA is to conserve threatened species and endangered species and their habitats so that protection under the ESA is no longer necessary. Once we list a species, we use all sections of the ESA and collaborate with recovery partners, to recover listed species. Recovering listed species can be challenging and time consuming. In some cases, we are undertaking conservation challenges that have caused species declines for decades. Given the majority of listed species and their habitats occur on multiple land ownership types, recovery of those species requires us to establish long-term, collaborative conservation efforts with many recovery partners. Our recovery partners include, but are not limited to: Federal, State, International, and local government agencies, Tribal Nations, non-governmental conservation organizations, academic institutions, zoological institutions, private industries, recreationists, and private landowners. We find recovery partnerships to be most successful when local communities unite and commit to collectively solving these conservation challenges and creating sustainable results.
Interest in conserving species in danger of extinction got national attention in 1966 when Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act. Globally, the issue generated action in 1969, when Congress passed the Endangered Species Conservation Act, which recognized that fish and wildlife and plants know no jurisdictional boundaries and that conservation is a global issue. In an international approach, the Act called for a meeting of countries to plan a strategy to prevent extinctions—an event that took place in 1973, when 80 nations gathered in Washington, D.C., demonstrating the scope of the concern. Months later, on December 28, 1973, President Nixon signed into law the Endangered Species Act.
Regulations, Policies, and Guidance
We have developed a number of national policies and issued internal guidance to promote efficiency and consistency in our implementation of the ESA. Below you will find links to summaries of our major policies related to species recovery.
| Regulation, Policy, or Guidance | Date | Document |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory Definition of Recovery | - | 50 CFR 402.02 |
| Endangered and Threatened Species Listing and Recovery Priority Guidelines | September 21, 1983; November 15, 1983 - Correction | 48 FR 43098; 48 FR 51985 |
| Experimental Population Regulations | - | 50 CFR 17.80–17.83 |
| Periodic Review | - | 50 CFR 424.21 |
| Interagency Policy on Recovery Plan Participation and Implementation under the ESA | July 1, 1994 | 59 FR 34272 |
| Policy Regarding Controlled Propagation of Species Listed Under the Endangered Species Act | September 20, 2000 | 65 FR 56916 |
| Guidance on Recovery Crediting for the Conservation of Threatened and Endangered Species | July 31, 2008 | 73 FR 44761 |