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The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was passed to protect plant and animal species that could be placed on the threatened or endangered list by the Secretary of the Interior. The listing process is based on population data and enforcement is handled by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The FWS is responsible for protecting a species against further demise and for creating plans for the recovery of each species and determining the species critical habitat. The critical habitat is the area that is required by the species for its survival and conservation. A designated critical habitat does not necessarily need to be presently occupied by the species, but is deemed necessary for its conservation. The process of authorizing a critical habitat includes the FWS placing the information in the Federal Register and then soliciting public opinion, which is then considered.
The critical habitat designation includes consideration of the spatial area needed by a species to allow for territorial range and population growth, adequate nesting, shelter or coverage, sufficient food and water resources and breeding sites. Before the actual designation of the habitat, an economic analysis is done, but if the area would be needed to prevent extinction of a species, the habitat can still be listed regardless of the economic impact.
The terms used for the listing of species is threatened and endangered. Endangered means that a species is at a high risk for becoming extinct, whereas threatened means if conservation methods are not taken, the species will be in danger of extinction in the near future. Before the species can actually be classified as receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act, it must get listed on the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. The FWS also tracks a list of candidate species for protection. The candidate species are those that the FWS has determined are endangered or threatened, but are not officially listed in the Act due to higher risk species taking precedence. The candidate species are not protected under the Act, but the FWS encourages their conservation and protection since they will most likely obtain protected status in the future. The benefit of declaring a species as a candidate species for future placement on the endangered and threatened list is that by applying early conservation methods, the cost and efforts of recovery should not be as intensive.
In the United States, the classifications of species considered for listing are: vertebrate animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish; invertebrate animals, including clams, snails, insects, arachnids and crustaceans; plants, including flowering plants, conifers and cycads, ferns and lichens. As of May 2000, 735 species of plants and 496 species of animals are listed as threatened or endangered in the United States, 11 species of plants and 74 species of animals are proposed for listing. There have been 120 species given critical habitat designations, with 8 species proposed. Candidate species include 152 species of plants and 103 species of animals. There are 940 species that have recovery plans in place, with another 266 in process.
There are numerous cooperative international agreements for the monitoring of importing and exporting of endangered or threatened species. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is one agreement that represents the FWS in import/export issues.
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