On July 26, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its final process for improving the way it identifies and prioritizes pending Endangered Species Act status reviews, a process the agency uses to determine whether a species warrants federal protection. The agency is legally bound to undertake year-long reviews during which it uses the “best available science” to determine whether a species meets the definition of threatened or endangered.
More than 500 species are in line for consideration for listing as threatened or endangered. With this new methodology, the Fish and Wildlife Service will place each pending status review in one of five priority categories based on the available biological data, threats to the species, conservation efforts to address those threats, and the existence of any new or developing science that can help inform the status review.
FSW touts the scientific nature and data driven approach of the process. However, the quality of the data and science upon which the agency relies to make those determinations is most critical and a point AGC maintains. AGC continues to monitor this issue. Most recently, AGC has been closely tracking developments regarding transportation projects and two species of endangered bats.
For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.