Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAA)
A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) is an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in which private and other non-Federal landowners voluntarily agree to undertake management activities and conservation efforts on their properties to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat to benefit species that are proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), that are candidates for listing, or that may become candidates. The CCAA provides incentives for non-federal landowners to engage in voluntary conservation activities that provide a net conservation benefit to non-listed species. It provides flexibility to landowners to manage the resources on their land while providing them with the assurance that if they implement various conservation activities, they will not be subject to additional restrictions if the covered species becomes listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In return for the landowner’s voluntary conservation action(s), the Service issues an Enhancement of Survival Permit (Permit) under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA. The Permit, which goes into effect if the covered species is later listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA, provides assurances that, if the species is subsequently listed and no other changes have occurred, the Service will not require the permittee to conduct any additional conservation measures without consent. Additionally, the Permit authorizes a specific level of incidental take of the covered species, should listing occur. The Wyoming Ecological Services (ES) Field Office currently has two CCAAs:
Greater Sage-Grouse Umbrella CCAA for Wyoming Ranch Management (Statewide CCAA)
In anticipation of a final listing decision by the Service in 2015, the Service developed a greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) CCAA for ranch management activities that could offer private landowners assurances their livestock operations could continue in the event that the greater sage-grouse was listed under the ESA. The Wyoming Governor's Office and the Service coordinated with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), and the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts (WACD) to develop an Umbrella CCAA that covers the entire state of Wyoming, and under which, individual landowners can enroll their non-federal lands.
Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association (TBGPEA) CCAA
In 2017, TBGPEA developed a CCAA to not only address grazing management practices similar to the Statewide CCAA, but also to address threats associated with multiple land uses, including split estate mineral rights and energy development. The CCAA addresses landscape conservation in the context of two primary ecotypes and their associate at-risk species. These species consist of the following within the sagebrush sagebrush
The western United States’ sagebrush country encompasses over 175 million acres of public and private lands. The sagebrush landscape provides many benefits to our rural economies and communities, and it serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife, including the iconic greater sage-grouse and over 350 other species.
Learn more about sagebrush steppe ecotype: greater sage-grouse, sagebrush sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) , Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri), and the sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus); and within the shortgrass prairie ecotype: black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), mountain plover (Charadrius montanus), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), and ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis). The CCAA coverage area includes five northeastern Wyoming counties (Campbell, Converse, Crook, Niobrara, Weston) and a 10-mile wide area to the west and south of the counties, and it also includes two peripheral properties.
See the Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office Conservation Agreements library collection to view the CCAA documents.
Candidate Conservation Agreements (CCA)
Candidate Conservation Agreements (CCA) are voluntary conservation agreements between the Service and one or more federal or non-federal landowners or other partners. Like a CCAA, participants engage in voluntary conservation activities that provide a conservation benefit to non-listed species. Unlike a CCAA, a CCA does not provide assurances that additional restrictions will not be imposed if the covered species become listed under the ESA in the future, and an Enhancement of Survival Permit is not issued. A CCA can, however, provide consistent management across federal and non-federal lands when used along with a CCAA. CCAs also can provide participants a high degree of certainty that the section 7 consultation process would be streamlined if the covered species is listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA in the future, and thus, would reduce the likelihood of additional land use restrictions that otherwise might apply. The Wyoming ES Field Office currently has three CCAs:
Greater Sage-Grouse CCA for Range Management on BLM Lands in Wyoming
The purpose of the Greater Sage-Grouse CCA for Range Management on BLM Lands in Wyoming is to support the Statewide CCAA by implementing consistent conservation measures on federal lands administered by the BLM. The CCA offers an opportunity for participating BLM range permittees, whose range activities occur on a combination of federal and non-federal lands, to voluntarily identify and implement coordinated and collaborative conservation measures on a landscape level.
Greater Sage-Grouse CCA for Range Management on Lands Managed in Wyoming by the USFS
The purpose of the Greater Sage-Grouse CCA for Range Management on Lands Managed in Wyoming by the USFS is to support the Statewide CCAA by implementing consistent conservation measures on federal lands administered by the USFS. The CCA offers an opportunity for participating USFS range permittees, whose range activities occur on a combination of federal and non-federal lands, to voluntarily identify and implement coordinated and collaborative conservation measures on a landscape level.
Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association (TBGPEA) CCA
The purpose of the TBGPEA CCA is to support the TBGPEA CCAA conservation strategy by implementing consistent conservation measures on federal lands administered by the BLM and USFS in the CCAA coverage area. Voluntary land use activities conducted on these federal lands are pursuant to a BLM or USFS permit, lease, or other authorization. The CCA offers an opportunity for participating members whose covered activities occur on a combination of federal and non-federal lands to voluntarily identify and implement coordinated and collaborative conservation measures within the commingled surface and sub-surface landscapes of the coverage area. The same eight species covered in the TBGPEA CCAA area also covered in the CCA.
See the Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office Conservation Agreements library collection to view the CCA documents.
Conservation Agreement(CA)
The Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association (TBGPEA) Conservation Agreement (CA) was developed along with the TBGPEA CCAA and CCA to create a combined conservation strategy across the covered area. The CA is implemented on federal lands administered by the BLM and USFS where a BLM or USFS permit, lease, or other authorization is reasonably foreseeable to exist in the future. Similar to the CCA, the participating members commit to implementing conservation measures that will reduce or eliminate threats to the eight covered species described in the TBGPEA CCAA section.