As part of an agency-wide effort to advance the recovery of our nation’s most imperiled species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made publicly available draft revisions for 28 Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plans that provide a recovery roadmap for 53 federally protected species. This batch of recovery plan revisions is part of the Department of the Interior’s Agency Priority Performance Goals, which call for all recovery plans to include quantitative criteria on what constitutes recovery, by September 2019.
Recovery plans are non-regulatory guidance documents that identify, organize and prioritize recovery actions, set measurable recovery objectives, and include time and cost estimates. In total, the Service will revise up to 182 recovery plans covering some 305 species listed under the ESA.
The Service’s success in preventing extinctions and recovering species is due to ESA-inspired partnerships with diverse stakeholders, such as state, federal, and tribal wildlife agencies, industry, conservation groups and citizens. Each species for which recovery criteria are being revised in this effort has undergone or is currently undergoing a status review that considers the best scientific and commercial data that have become available since the species’ listing or most recent status review. This information includes: (1) the biology of the species, (2) habitat conditions, (3) conservation measures that have benefitted the species, (4) threat status and trends in relation to the five listing factors, and (5) other information, data, or corrections.
As such, these revisions reflect scientific and informational updates, which have been gained from years of collaborative work with our partners. Revisions benefit endangered and threatened species, our partners, and the public by sharing the best available information about what is needed to achieve recovery.
Under guidance established in 2010, partial revisions, such as amendments, allow the Service to efficiently and effectively update recovery plans with the latest science and information when a recovery plan may not warrant the time or resources required to undertake a full revision of the plan. (This batch includes both amendments and full recovery plan revisions, as noted in below table.)
The document appears today in the Federal Register Reading Room here: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. There will be a 30-day comment period on the proposed revisions, ending on September 5, 2019.
We are requesting submission of any information that enhances the necessary understanding of the: (1) species’ biology and threats; and the (2) recovery needs and related implementation issues or concerns, to ensure that we have assembled, considered, and incorporated the best available scientific and commercial information into the draft recovery plan revisions for these 53 species.
The plan revisions cover the following species:
Table 1. List of Animals in Batch
Name | Current Range | Recovery Plan Name | Internet Availability of Proposed Recovery Plan Revision |
Orangenacre mucket | AL, MS | Mobile River Basin Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Orange-nacre%20Mucket%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Alabama moccasinshell | AL, GA, MS, TN | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Alabama%20Moccasinshell%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Dark pigtoe | AL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Pleurobema%20rubellum%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Triangular kidneyshell | AL, GA, TN | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Triangular%20Kidneyshell%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Red Hills salamander | AL | Recovery Plan for the Red Hills Phaeognathus hubrichti Highton | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Red%20Hills%20Salamander%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Heavy pigtoe | AL, MS | Five Tombigbee River Mussels Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Heavy%20Pigtoe%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Alabama sturgeon | AL | Recovery Plan for the Alabama Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Alabama%20Sturgeon%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Palezone shiner | AL, KY | Recovery Plan for Palezone Shiner (Notropis albizonatus) | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Palezone%20Shiner%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Pygmy madtom | TN | Recovery Plan for Pygmy Madtom (Noturus stanauli) | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Pygmy%20Madtom%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Cahaba shiner | AL | Cahaba Shiner Notropis cahabae Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Cahaba%20Shiner%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Speckled pocketbook | AR | Speckled Pocketbook Mussel (Lampsilis streckeri) Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Speckled%20Pocketbook%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Fat threeridge | FL, GA | Recovery Plan for Endangered Fat Threeridge, Shinyrayed Pocketbook, Gulf Moccasinshell, Ochlokonee Moccasinshell, Oval Pigtoe and Threatened Chipola Slabshell, and Purple Bankclimber | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Fat%20Threeridge%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Chipola slabshell | AL, FL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Chipola%20Slabshell%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Cape Sable seaside sparrow | FL | South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan | |
Florida grasshopper sparrow | FL | ||
Crenulate lead-plant | FL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Pine%20Rocklands%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Deltoid spurge | FL | ||
Small’s milkpea | FL | ||
Tiny polygala | FL | ||
Beautiful pawpaw | FL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Beautiful%20Pawpaw_Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Lakela’s mint | FL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Lakelas%20Mint%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Rice rat | FL | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Silver%20Rice%20Rat%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf | |
Lower-keys marsh rabbit | FL | ||
Capa rosa | Puerto Rico | Callicarpa ampla, Ilex sintenisii, Styrax portoricensis, Ternstroemia luquillensis, and Ternstroemia subsessilis Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Five%20Plants%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Ilex sintenisii (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Palo de jazmin | Puerto Rico | ||
Palo colorado | Puerto Rico | ||
Ternstroemia subsessilis (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Wheeler’s peperomia | Puerto Rico | Peperomia wheeleri Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Peperomia%20wheeleri%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Uvillo | Puerto Rico | Recovery Plan for Pleodendron macranthum and Eugenia haematocarpa | |
Chupacallos | Puerto Rico | ||
Guajón | Puerto Rico | Recovery Plan for the Guajón or Puerto Rican Demon (Eleutherodactylus cooki) | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Puerto%20Rican%20Demon%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Elaphoglossum serpens (No common name) | Puerto Rico | Puerto Rican Endangered Ferns Recovery Plan | |
Polystichum calderonense (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Tectaria estremerana (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Thelypteris inabonensis (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Thelypteris vercunda (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Thelypteris yaucoensis (No common name) | Puerto Rico | ||
Gesneria pauciflora (No common name) | Puerto Rico | Gesneria pauciflora Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Gesneria%20pauciflora%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment.pdf |
Virgin River chub | AZ, NV, UT | Recovery Plan for the Virgin River Fishes | |
Barneby ridge-cress | UT | Barneby Ridge-cress Lepidium barnebyanum Recovery Plan | |
Clay phacelia | UT | Phacelia argillacea Atwood Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Clay%20phacelia_recovery_criteria_20181210_FINAL_3.pdf |
Maguire primrose | UT | Maguire Primrose (Primula maguirei) Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Maguire_primrose_recovery_criteria_20181210_FINAL.pdf |
Autumn buttercup | UT | Autumn Buttercup Ranunculus acriformis A. Gray var. aestivalis L. Benson | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Autumnbuttercup_recovery_criteria_20181210_FINAL.pdf |
Shrubby reed-mustard | UT | Utah Reed-Mustards: Clay Reed-Mustard (Schoenocrambe argillacea), Barneby Reed-Mustard (Schoenocrambe barnebyi), Shrubby Reed-Mustard (Schoenocrambe suffrutescens) Recovery Plan | |
Lange’s metalmark butterfly | CA | Recovery Plan for Three Endangered Species Endemic to Antioch Dunes, California | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Draft_RP_Amendment%20Antioch%20Dunes.pdf |
Contra Costa wallflower | CA | ||
Antioch Dunes evening-primrose | CA | ||
McDonald’s rock-cress | CA, OR | McDonald’s Rock-Cress Recovery Plan (Arabis mcdonaldiana Eastwood) | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/DRAFT%20Recovery%20Plan%20Amendment%20MCRC.pdf |
Howell’s spineflower | CA | Seven Coastal Plants and the Myrtle’s Silverspot Butterfly Recovery Plan | |
White River spinedace | NV | White River Spinedace (Lepidomeda albivallis) Recovery Plan | |
Western lily | CA, OR | Recovery Plan for the Endangered Western lily (Lilium occidentale) | |
Amargosa vole | CA | Amargosa vole (Microtus californicus scirpensis) Recovery Plan | https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Draft%20RP%20Amendment%20for%20AMVO.pdf |
