The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are proposing a series of actions to improve the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) while fostering greater engagement of stakeholders and improving transparency. The first of these actions is a newly proposed rule that would require any petition to list a species to include information from relevant state wildlife agencies before it can be considered by either the USFWS or NOAA.
The Administration has come under fire in recent years for how the ESA is being implemented, with several bills introduced to streamline the listing process and improve transparency while involving stakeholders in a more meaningful way. Recent decisions and changes to federal rules on critical habitat designations will have long-term impacts on county planning processes, despite inadequate scientific bases and insufficient public outreach in many of the decisions. The USFWS and NOAA have responded to the criticism with a plan to unveil a number of proposals over the next year to achieve four goals: Improving science and transparency, incentivizing voluntary conservation efforts, focusing resources to achieve more successes, and engaging the states. Comments on the initial rule are due on July 20, 2015.
The joint USFWS and NOAA press release and the proposed rule can be accessed here. The Federal Register notice can be accessed here.