Thursday, December 11, 2008

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Annual List of Candidates for Endangered Species Act

Contact: Tamara Ward 703/358-2512
Tamara_Ward@fws.gov


The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals that are candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Two species have been removed from candidate status, one species has been added, and 11 have a change in priority from the last review in December 2007. There are now 251 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection.

As part of this review, the Service is soliciting additional information on these candidate species, as well as information on species that may be eligible for addition to future candidate updates. This information will be valuable in preparing listing documents and future revisions or supplements to the notice of review.

"We strongly encourage collaborative conservation efforts for all candidate species from Federal agencies, Tribes, and private organizations," said Service Director H. Dale Hall. "The Service will continue to offer technical and financial assistance to support these efforts."

Candidate species do not receive protection under the ESA, although the Service works to conserve them. Identification of candidate species provides resource managers with advance notice of species in need of conservation, allowing them to address threats before the species is listed. (read more)



The complete notice and list of proposed and candidate species appears in today's Federal Register and can be found online at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-28986.pdf.

Updated:

Bush revises endangered species protections to eliminate some independent, scientific reviews

|Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Just six weeks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the Bush administration issued revised endangered species regulations Thursday to reduce the input of federal scientists and to block the law from being used to fight global warming.(read more)

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