Critical habitat includes the specific geographic areas that contain features essential to the conservation of an endangered or threatened species and that may require special management and protection. When U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) proposes and then designates critical habitat for a species in the Federal Register it describes the location and boundaries of the critical habitat and its essential physical and biological features (PBF). PBFs may include:
- space for individual and population growth and for normal behavior;
- cover or shelter;
- food, water, air, light, minerals, or other nutritional or physiological requirements;
- sites for breeding and rearing offspring; and
- habitats that are protected from disturbances or are representative of the historical geographical and ecological distributions of a species.
Facility
