Critical Habitat for Endangered Species

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered species and the habitats in which they are found. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NMFS/NOAA) lead federal implementation of the ESA, though they are supported by other federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Section 7 of the ESA directs all Federal agencies to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to ensure actions do not jeopardized the further existence of threatened and endangered species or adversely modify designated critical habitats. As part of the Section 7 coordination, federal agencies work with USFWS and NMFS to identify species found within the jurisdiction of the United that could be affected by actions carried out by the agency.    Of note, the US EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is responsible for ensuring that Agency actions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) are in compliance with ESA. OPP determines if ESA-listed species or their designated critical habitat may be affected by pesticide products. Pesticide products that “may affect” an ESA-listed species or its designated critical habitat may be subject to additional regulation.     Species ranges represent anywhere an individual of the listed species could be found based on the best available information at the time of delineation. As defined in ESA, critical habitat delineates habitat characteristics in specific geographical areas and may be occupied or unoccupied by a threatened or endangered species at the time of listing. These areas must contain physical or biological features essential to conservation of a species and may require special management considerations or protection. Critical habitat may also include areas that are not currently occupied by the species but that may be needed for their recovery. Range areas represent more generalized habitat where species are or could be found based on the best available information. For some species, best available information is based on site specific surveys. For others, it will be historical location information based on political boundaries. These areas are, therefore, less geographically explicit than critical habitat. Consideration of both the species range and critical habitat ensures the conservation of the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend.    To support EPA’s implementation of ESA, critical habitat and range data for species listed under ESA Section 7 were obtained by the US EPA from the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database in November 2020. These data were supplemented with areas provided by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) where NOAA has species authority. For NMFS species not found in either location, a request was made directly to the NMFS scientists. The last download of the species locations occurred in November 2020.

Tags: 020:083, agriculture, biology, conservation, downloadable data, ecology, ecosystem, environment, exposure, hazards, land, modeling, pesticides, regulatory, risk, toxics, united states, water
Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency