Agencies to improve ESA implementation

Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA’s Fisheries Service propose to clarify species eligible for Endangered Species Act protection

Petroleum News

l GOVERNMENT

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA’s Fisheries Service have proposed a policy to improve implementation of the Endangered Species Act. The agencies said that a new federal policy proposed Dec. 8 will help clarify which species or populations of species are eligible for ESA protection and will provide for earlier and more effective opportunities to conserve declining species.

There is a 60-day public comment period.

The agencies said the proposed policy will define the key phrase “significant portion of its range” in the Endangered Species Act and provide consistency for how it should be applied. The phrase is not defined in the ESA, but appears in statutory definitions of “endangered species” and “threatened species” in the ESA.

The policy would clarify that the agencies could list a species if it is endangered or threatened in a “significant portion of its range,” even if that species is not endangered or threatened throughout all its range.

Under the proposed policy, a portion of the range of a species would be defined as significant “if its contribution to the viability of the species is so important that, without that portion, the species would be in danger of extinction,” the agencies said, adding that they expect this circumstance to arise infrequently, but said “this policy interpretation will allow ESA protections to help species in trouble before large-scale decline occurs throughout the species’ entire range.”

Change in interpretation

The agencies said the proposed policy “differs substantially” from the earlier interpretation.

“Today’s proposal requires that if a species is found to be threatened or endangered in a significant portion of its range, the entire species must be listed and protections of the ESA applied throughout its range. However, if the significant portion of the range is the exact same area inhabited by a ‘distinct population segment’ of the species, only the distinct population segment would be listed. A distinct population segment is a vertebrate animal population or group of populations that is discrete from other populations of the species and significant to the overall species,” the agencies said.

Under the earlier interpretation, only individuals of a species within the significant portion of its range were protected.

The agencies said the proposed policy “also establishes a more specific and stringent standard to evaluate whether a portion of a species’ range would be considered ‘significant’ than the standard applied” previously.

“This higher bar will ensure that the species being evaluated for ESA protection on the basis of threats to only a significant portion of its range are truly in need of conservation,” the agencies said.