Program
View Assessment Details
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Fish and Wildlife Service - Endangered Species
The purpose of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species program is to conserve threatened or endangered species, and their habitats. The program accomplishes this by listing species needing protection, consulting on Federal projects, awarding grants, and working with partners on recovery actions.
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Rating
What This Rating Means |
NOT PERFORMING Results Not Demonstrated
A rating of Results Not Demonstrated (RND) indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.
- While the program has a clear purpose, the program lacks long-term outcome and annual output-oriented performance measures to assess results. In the past, the program has reported annual performance measures that are more long-term in nature, such as species recovered. The program has not measured key aspects of the program, such as effectiveness of Habitat Conservation Plans.
- The program's effectiveness is limited by strict deadlines, regulatory measures that provide little biological benefit, and over-reliance on regulations rather than cooperative efforts. Critical habitat, for example, is required to be designated when a species is listed. In many instances, however, information necessary for the designation is not readily available at the time of listing.
- It is difficult to determine whether the program, including regulated activities, is effective, achieving results, and maximizing net benefits. Currently, there are no regularly scheduled, non-biased, independent program evaluations.
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Improvement Plan
About Improvement Plans |
We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:
- Developing long-term outcome and annual output performance measures. Achievement of the outcome goals will depend on the efforts of many and require the program to continue working with partners.
- Improving regulations and policies by revising the definition of adverse modification, issuing critical habitat guidance, and explicitly characterizing the benefits of critical habitat designations.
- Developing a process and timetable for regularly scheduled, non-biased, independent evaluations of the program or key components of the program that, collectively, cover the entire program.
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