One of the key goals of the Endangered Species Act is to recover species in their native ecosystems to the point where protections of the Endangered Species Act are no longer needed. The Arcata Fish and Wildlife Offices conducts recovery activities and funds studies to gather species information and promote conservation actions essential to meeting that goal.

The ultimate goal of the Endangered Species Act is the conservation and subsequent recovery of endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. Recovery is the process by which the decline of an endangered or threatened species is arrested or reversed, and threats removed or reduced so that the species' long-term survival in the wild can be ensured. The goal of the ESA is the recovery of listed species to levels where protection under the Act is no longer necessary.

A variety of methods and procedures are used to recover listed species, such as protective measures to prevent extinction or further decline, consultation to avoid adverse impacts of Federal activities, habitat acquisition and restoration, and other on-the-ground activities for managing and monitoring endangered and threatened species. The collaborative efforts of the Fish and Wildlife Service and its many partners (Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribal governments, conservation organizations, the business community, landowners, and other concerned citizens) are critical to the recovery of listed species.

Following successful recovery, species may be removed from the list of endangered and threatened species. Two species found in northwestern California, for which recovery efforts have been highly successful and the species removed from the list, are the Aleutian Canada goose, the peregrine falcon, and most recently the bald eagle, found locally in northwestern California and widespread across America.

For additional information regarding endangered species recovery, please visit the Fish and Wildlife Service national web page at: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/recovery/index.html.