Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Final Implementation Schedule for the South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced the availability of the final implementation schedule for the South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan.

The plan, issued in 1999, summarized the best available scientific and commercial information about the 68 endangered species located in south Florida and the Service's plan for their recovery. The implementation schedule addresses only the 42 species for which the South Florida Ecological Services Office in Vero Beach has lead recovery responsibility. The implementation schedule, divided into nine biological communities, indicates the priority, time frame for completion, project participants, and, where possible, the estimated cost for each of the recovery tasks identified in the plan.Copies of the implementation schedule and the MSRP are available from the South Florida Ecological Services Office Web site http://www.fws.gov/verobeach or by contacting the office at 772/562-3909 and requesting a printed or CD-ROM version. "We will continue to review our recovery plan and update it, if appropriate, keeping in mind our goal is to recover these 42 species of endangered or threatened animals and plants," said Cindy Schulz, Vero Beach supervisory fish and wildlife biologist.

The implementation schedule was produced by members of the Multi-species/Ecosystem Recovery Implementation Team or MERIT and biologists from the Vero Beach office. MERIT is composed of representatives from federal, state, and local government agencies, tribal officials, scientists, industrial leaders, and the private sector.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management 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 fish and wildlife agencies.