Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and several conservation organizations have reached an agreement in principle that will enable the Service to complete work on evaluations of numerous species proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Under this agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, and the California Native Plant Society, the Service will issue final listing decisions for 14 species and propose eight more species for listing. The Service also will be able to take action on four citizen petitions to list species under the Act. The Service and the organizations have agreed to extend deadlines for eight other critical habitat designations, thereby making funds available for these actions.
"I am pleased that we have been able to cooperate and find common ground that will allow us to protect these species under the Endangered Species Act," Norton said. "I hope this can be a model for future agreements."
While the formal agreement is still pending, the Service will immediately reallocate funds to begin work on the species covered by it.
The species covered by the agreement face significant threats. For example, the Service will consider emergency listing the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, which has declined precipitously in the single cave in Missouri where it is found, and the Columbia basin distinct population segment of pygmy rabbits in Washington, which has declined to fewer than 50 individuals. The Service will also make final listing determinations for the showy stickseed, the rarest plant in the state of Washington with a single population of fewer than 300 individuals, and the Mississippi gopher frog, which is known from only one remaining site in Harrison County, Mississippi. A complete list of the species affected by the agreement appears below.
Under the agreement, the deadlines for final critical habitat designations for five species and proposed and final critical habitat designations for three others will be extended into the next fiscal year. The Service will use the funds that would have been spent on these actions in fiscal year 2001 and early fiscal year 2002 to list new species, propose new listings, work on other critical habitat designations, and respond to petitions.
"All parties to this agreement ultimately want the same thing -- to conserve and recover threatened and endangered species," said Marshall Jones, the Service
