Louisiana Pine Snake Candidate Conservation Agreement Heralds Hope to Protect Rare Reptile

Eight state and federal partners gathered at a workshop held at the New Orleans Audubon Zoo today to formally announce a landmark agreement and efforts to define future actions to help protect the Louisiana pine snake -- a rare reptile in Texas and Louisiana. The partners signed the Candidate Conservation Agreement in December 2003 to identify and establish management for the Louisiana pine snake on federal lands in Texas and Louisiana.

The non-venomous Louisiana pine snake, a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act, historically ranged throughout the longleaf pine ecosystem of western Louisiana and east-central Texas.

The snake is also listed as threatened by the State of Texas and as a species of conservation concern by the State of Louisiana. It is currently known to survive in only a few locations in each state and may well be one of the rarest snakes in the United States. This agreement is one of 115 Candidate Conservation Agreements in the United States, and covers all known occurrences on federal lands.The signatories to the agreement include: Texas National Forests, the U.S. Forest Service