The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced plans to conduct a five-year status review of the endangered red wolf and thirteen other threatened and endangered species in Tennessee and North Carolina.
These five-year reviews are conducted to ensure that listing classifications under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are accurate. Any interested party is invited to provide information and comments pertaining to these species. Written comments and information related to this five-year review must be received by November 21, 2005.
This notice covers fourteen species including the endangered Appalachian elktoe (mussel), red wolf, Cumberland monkeyface, Cumberland elktoe, Cumberlandian combshell, green blossom, oyster mussel, tubercled blossom, turgid blossom, yellow blossom (all mussels), and Schweinitzs sunflower. This notice also includes the threatened painted snake coiled forest snail, dwarf-flowered heartleaf and the plant seabeach amaranth.
Specifically, this review seeks information on: (1) species biology, including population trends, distribution, abundance, demographics, and genetics; (2) habitat conditions, including amount, distribution, and suitability; (3) conservation measures that have been implemented; (4) threat status and trends; and (5) other new information, data, or corrections, including taxonomic or nomenclatural changes, identification of erroneous information contained in the ESA list, and improved analytical methods. Comments and materials received will be available for public inspection by appointment.
In addition to reviewing the classification of these species, a five-year review presents an opportunity to track the species? recovery progress. It may benefit species by providing valuable information to guide future conservation efforts. Information gathered during a review can assist in making funding decisions, conducting interagency consultations, making permitting decisions, and determining whether to update recovery plans, and other actions under the ESA.
Written comments and information submitted on the red wolf should be sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/05-18688.html
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
