News Stories

December 17, 2020

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized new regulations regarding critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act that provide greater legal certainty and create an orderly and transparent public process for the public to understand the requirements of ESA section 4(b)(2) and promote better conservation for endangered and threatened species through stronger collaboration with private landowners and other partners.

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December 15, 2020

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have finalized a regulatory definition of the term "habitat" that will be used for designating critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The definition is part of the efforts of the Trump Administration to balance effective, science-based conservation with common-sense policy designed to bring the ESA into the 21st century.

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December 15, 2020

After a thorough assessment of the monarch butterfly's status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that adding the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species is warranted but precluded by work on higher-priority listing actions. With this decision, the monarch becomes a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and its status will be reviewed each year until it is no longer a candidate.

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October 29, 2020

More than 45 years after gray wolves were first listed under the Endangered Species Act, the Trump Administration and its many conservation partners are announcing the successful recovery of the gray wolf and its delisting from the ESA. State and tribal wildlife management agency professionals will resume responsibility for sustainable management and protection of delisted gray wolves in states with gray wolf populations, while the Service monitors the species for five years to ensure the continued success of the species.

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October 21, 2020

To simplify, expedite and improve the permit application process, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is launching "ePermits," a new and modern electronic permitting system. Permits enable the public to engage in certain regulated wildlife-related activities. Service permit programs help ensure these activities are carried out in a manner that safeguards wildlife.

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September 25, 2020

With significant commitments from public and private landowners in place, the Service is proposing to downlist the red-cockaded woodpecker under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from endangered to threatened. Thanks to ESA-inspired partnerships across its range, woodpecker populations are stable and increasing and adequate protections are in place for its continued recovery.

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September 4, 2020

Furthering the Trump Administration's objectives to balance effective, science-based conservation with commonsense policymaking, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing regulations to clarify and update its processes for considering exclusions from critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed changes relate to the Service's recent proposed definition of habitat and a 2018 Supreme Court decision involving critical habitat.

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July 31, 2020

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have proposed a regulatory definition of the term "habitat" that would be used in the context of critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposed definition is part of the efforts of the Trump Administration to balance effective, science-based conservation with common-sense policy designed to bring the ESA into the 21st century.

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May 15, 2020

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced recipients of the 2019 Recovery Champion award, which honors Service employees and partners for outstanding efforts to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife, and plants. These individuals were honored as Recovery Champions for work to conserve species ranging from the Hawaiian goose (nēnē), to the Kemp's ridley sea turtle, to the black-footed ferret.

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