SACRAMENTO, California--The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service today published an updated Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR) identifying plant and animal species native to the United States that are candidates or have been proposed for addition to the List of Endangered or Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The list names 252 species as candidates, as well as 35 species that have been proposed for listing.
The CNOR lists those species previously identified as candidates, species for which petitions have resulted in "warranted but precluded" findings and other species that warrant listing under the ESA. A species identified as a candidate for listing is one for which the Service has sufficient scientific information available to support a proposal to list an animal or plant as threatened or endangered but for which preparation and publication of a proposal is precluded by higher priority listing actions.
The Service periodically publishes the CNOR to solicit additional information about the status of candidate species, the threats they face and conservation actions that are being implemented that may benefit the species. However, the Service also accepts information from the public about candidate species at any time and uses this information in the preparation of listing rules for the highest priority candidates and in revisions to future CNORs. In addition, the CNOR informs the public which species the Service is considering proposing for protection, encourages conservation and promotes development that accommodates the needs of candidate species.
"For our endangered species program to be effective, we need to communicate with the public," said Marshall Jones, the Service
