Mike Oetker Deputy Regional Director US Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region
Collaborating for Conservation Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (MS)
THE CHALLENGE The number of species petitions in 2010 The number of species petitions in 2012 Total number requiring petition findings Workload and costs increasing into the future
The Challenge 60% of national listing workload is in R4 species require 90-day or 12-month 375 petition findings
Cedar Island NWR (NC)
White River NWR (AR)
FWS Lands
All Hands All Lands All Wildlife
Collaboration
Collaboration • Providing data on petitioned species (status, distribution, biology, threats) • Participating in species status assessments • Identifying and implementing conservation actions for at-risk species
National 7-Year Workplan (2017-2023) • Announced September 1, 2016 • Sets long-term schedule for listing actions • Includes remaining candidates and 320 species for • Prioritizes species for decisions • Coordinated with states • Implementation will begin in FY2017 https://www.fws.gov/endangered/improving_esa/listing_workplan_actions.html
Private Lands Management “ Private landowners are wonderful stewards of the Southeast’s grand diversity of fish, wildlife and plants. Our goal is to work closely with them – and our public partners – to proactively conserve as many at-risk species as possible through voluntary and innovative measures. Together we can pass down our outdoor traditions to future generations of Americans, and help keep farms, forests and other lands working for both people and wildlife .” - Cindy Dohner , Southeast Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
VOLUNTARY CONSERVATION • Working Lands for Wildlife (NRCS) • Partners for Fish and Wildlife (FWS) • State Wildlife Agencies • Department of Defense
U.S. Army Fort Benning (GA)
New and Modern Tools
Forestry Pilot Projects • Develop forest management adaptations to increase the contributions of working forest lands as gopher tortoise habitat • Assess Water Quality Best Management Practices for aquatic species • Monitor and report these efforts under forest certification (SFI) SFI – Sustainable Forestry Initiative
https://www.fws.gov/southeast/candidateconservation/finder2/#/
Critical Habitat Exclusions • Secretary must designate critical habitat • Secretary may exclude an area from critical habitat • Service will always consider exclusion of areas covered by an approved Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances / Safe Harbor Agreement / Habitat Conservation Plan
Pre-Listing Conservation DoD Gopher Tortoise Credit Strategy Creates system to allow military installations to invest in conservation of gopher tortoise habitat and populations outside of installations Credits created through these investments can be used to offset impacts that occur on installations in future if Gopher tortoise is listed
Successes – 97 Species 26 Species Not-Warranted 12-month findings 45 Species Withdrawn from Petition 26 Species not-substantial 90-day findings
Successes – 13 Species 5 Species listed as Threatened instead of Endangered 4 Species Down-listed from Endgered to Threatened 4 Species Delisted due to Recovery Louisiana black bear
4 (d) Rule Examples Black Pinesnake Elfin Woods Warbler Northern Long-eared bat
Questions?
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