Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024
Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) have finalized three rules that will restore important protections for species and their habitats; strengthen the processes for listing species, designating of critical habitat, and consultation with other federal agencies; and ensure a science-based approach that will improve both agencies’ ability to fulfill their responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

These rules also help further President Biden’s Day One executive action to ensure an all-of-government approach to bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change.  

“As species face new and daunting challenges, including climate change, degraded and fragmented habitat, invasive species, and wildlife disease, the Endangered Species Act is more important than ever to conserve and recover imperiled species now and for generations to come,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams. “These revisions underscore our commitment to using all of the tools available to help halt declines and stabilize populations of the species most at-risk. We will continue to use the best-available science when implementing the ESA — including when making listing and delisting decisions, designating critical habitat, developing protective regulations for threatened species, and consulting on federal actions.” 

“Working with our partners, NOAA Fisheries is improving the process for managing species under the Endangered Species Act with a focus on mitigation of ongoing threats such as altered ecosystems due to climate change,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit. “By leveraging the best available science, we ensure the law remains robust as we work to conserve and recover endangered and threatened species and their habitats.” 

On June 22, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries announced three proposed rules revising portions of the ESA implementing regulations. A combined total of approximately 468,000 comments were received during the public comment periods on these three rules. 

Following that process, the agencies have finalized two separate rules to revise joint ESA regulations regarding interagency cooperation, listing determinations, and critical habitat designations. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized a third rule to reinstate the “blanket rule” option for protecting threatened species under section 4(d) of the ESA. 

These final rules:   

• Improve and clarify interagency consultation;   
• Clarify the standards for classification decisions;  
• Align the critical habitat designation process with the ESA;
• Emphasize that listing decisions and critical habitat designations are based on the best-available science; and  
• Reinstate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 4(d) “blanket rule” options that were in place before 2019 for protecting threatened species, which will allow for greater efficiencies when the Service finds the blanket rule protections are appropriate.

The ESA has been highly effective and credited with preventing the extinction of over 99% of the listed species it has protected over its 50-year history. Thus far, more than 100 species of plants and animals have been delisted due to recovery actions or downlisted from endangered to threatened based on improved conservation status. Hundreds more species are stable or improving thanks to the collaborative actions of federal agencies, Tribes, state and local governments, conservation organizations, industry and private citizens.  

The final rules and additional information are available on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Act Regulations website and will publish in the coming days in the Federal Register. The rules will be effective 30 days after publication. 

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