On November 26, 2007, the Arlington Field Office attended the kick-off meeting of the Recovery Credits science committee for the second phase of the Fort Hood Pilot Project. Recovery Crediting is an optional process for federal agencies to create a "bank" of credits for section 7(a)(1) actions under the Endangered Species Act, and trade those credits for impacts to listed species under section 7(a)(2). A Recovery Crediting System is established to provide a net conservation benefit toward the target species. The first phase of the Pilot Project at Fort Hood was completed in August 2007, allowing the Department of the Army to accrue credits through term contracts on private lands to benefit the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. The science committee is now working on the debiting process, which would allow the exchange of accrued credits for temporary impacts to the warbler occurring at Fort Hood. This phase is expected to result in a programmatic biological opinion in the summer of 2008. The Fort Hood Pilot Project is the model for the recently published Draft Guidance on Recovery Crediting for the Conservation of Threatened and Endangered Species (72 FR 62258).