SEC. 3.
(1) The term “alternative courses of action” means all alternatives and thus is
not limited to original project objectives and agency jurisdiction.
(2) The term “commercial activity” means all activities of industry and trade,
including, but not limited to, the buying or selling of commodities and activities
conducted for the purpose of facilitating such buying and selling: Provided,
however, That it does not include exhibition of commodities by museums or similar
cultural or historical organizations.
(3) The terms “conserve”, “conserving”, and “conservation” mean to use and the
use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered
species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant
to this Act are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are
not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as
research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation,
live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population
pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include
regulated taking.
(4) The term “Convention” means the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed on March 3, 1973, and the appendices
thereto.
(5)(A) The term “critical habitat” for a threatened or endangered species means—
(i) the specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species,
at the time it is listed in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act,
on which are found those physical or biological features (I) essential to the
conservation of the species and (II) which may require special management
considerations or protection; and(ii) specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species at
the time it is listed in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act,
upon a determination by the Secretary that such areas are essential for the
conservation of the species.
(B) Critical habitat may be established for those species now listed as threatened
or endangered species for which no critical habitat has heretofore been established
as set forth in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.
(C) Except in those circumstances determined by the Secretary, critical habitat
shall not include the entire geographical area which can be occupied by the threatened
or endangered species.
(6) The term “endangered species” means any species which is in danger of extinction
throughout all or a significant portion of its range other than a species of
the Class Insecta determined by the Secretary to constitute a pest whose protection
under the provisions of this Act would present an overwhelming and overriding risk
to man.
(7) The term “Federal agency” means any department, agency, or instrumentality
of the United States.
(8) The term “fish or wildlife” means any member of the animal kingdom, including
without limitation any mammal, fish, bird (including any migratory, nonmigratory,
or endangered bird for which protection is also afforded by treaty or other international
agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate,
and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead
body or parts thereof.
(9) The term “foreign commerce” includes, among other things, any transaction—
(A) between persons within one foreign country;
(B) between persons in two or more foreign countries;
(C) between a person within the United States and a person in a foreign country;
or
(D) between persons within the United States, where the fish and wildlife in
question are moving in any country or countries outside the United States.
(10) The term “import” means to land on, bring into, or introduce into, or attempt
to land on, bring into, or introduce into, any place subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States, whether or not such landing, bringing, or introduction constitutes an
importation within the meaning of the customs laws of the United States.
(11) [Repealed]
(12) The term “permit or license applicant” means, when used with respect to an
action of a Federal agency for which exemption is sought under section 7, any person
whose application to such agency for a permit or license has been denied primarily
because of the application of section 7(a) to such agency action.
(13) The term “person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association,
or any other private entity; or any officer, employee, agent, department, or
instrumentality of the Federal Government, of any State, municipality, or political
subdivision of a State, or of any foreign government; any State, municipality, or
political subdivision of a State; or any other entity subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States.
(14) The term “plant” means any member of the plant kingdom, including seeds,
roots and other parts thereof.
(15) The term “Secretary” means, except as otherwise herein provided, the Secretary
of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce as program responsibilities are
vested pursuant to the provisions of Reorganization Plan Numbered 4 of 1970; except
that with respect to the enforcement of the provisions of this Act and the Convention
which pertain to the importation or exportation of terrestrial plants, the
term also means the Secretary of Agriculture.
(16) The term “species” includes any subspecies of fish or wildlife or plants, and
any distinct population segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which
interbreeds when mature.
(17) The term “State” means any of the several States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
(18) the term “State agency” means any State agency, department, board, commission,
or other governmental entity which is responsible for the management and
conservation of fish, plant, or wildlife resources within a State.
(19) The term “take” means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
(20) The term “threatened species” means any species which is likely to become an
endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion
of its range.
(21) The term “United States,” when used in a geographical context, includes all
States. |