"This new guidance will help us continue to set priorities so that we are addressing the needs of those species that are most imperiled first," notes Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
In an effort to continue to address the needs of species facing the greatest threats, the new priority guidance establishes the following priorities for listing endangered species:
- Priority One: Emergency listings for species facing a significant risk to their well-being
- Priority Two: Final decisions on pending proposed listings
- Priority Three: Determining whether candidate species should be listed
- Priority Four: Findings on petitions to add species to the list and petitions to delist or reclassify species
Critical habitat actions such as determining whether it is prudent to designate critical habitat, proposing to designate critical habitat, and making final designations of critical habitat will no longer fall under this guidance. The Service expects to complete a number of critical habitat actions during FY 2000 which will be funded separately from other listing actions.
In April 1995, Congress imposed a one year moratorium on listing species. When the moratorium was lifted, the Service faced a backlog of 243 proposed species awaiting final determinations. Once the moratorium was lifted in April 1996, the Service created a priority approach to dealing with the listing process that would address the needs of the most vulnerable species first. Final listing determinations have now been made for all of the 243 proposed species that made up the moratorium backlog. While the moratorium backlog of proposed species has been eliminated, the Service has proposed additional species for listing since the end of the moratorium. Today, only 56 species proposed for listing await a final determination. Since the moratorium was lifted and listing priority guidance was employed, 273 final determinations have been completed, including 245 final listings, and 28 withdrawals of proposed rules. The total number of endangered and threatened species in the United States is now 1197.
The Service published the new Listing Priority Guidance in the October 22, 1999 Federal Register.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies.
