The Endangered Species Act includes a lot of unfamiliar lingo. Here's a glossary of ESA terms to help clear up any confusion.
4(d) Rule
A 4(d) rule allows the Service the flexibility to customize prohibitions and regulate activities to provide for the conservation of threatened species, potentially without involving all of the restrictions that apply to endangered species.
5-Factor Analysis
Under the ESA, a species must be listed if it is threatened or endangered because of any of the following 5 factors: Present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; over-utilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; disease or predation; inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; and other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.
5-year review
The Endangered Species Act requires periodic reviews of species that are listed as threatened or endangered to ensure that the listing is still accurate. These reviews are known as 5-year reviews. The 5-year review can be as straightforward as gathering current information on a species and determining whether recovery plan criteria have been met. Some species do not have recovery plans or have recovery criteria that do not meet all current ESA requirements. In these cases, the 5-year review will analyze information available on the species relative to the definitions of “endangered” and “threatened” and in the context of the five ESA section 4(a)(1) listing factors.
Best Available Science
The commitment of the FWS to always use the best science available when making listing and delisting decisions, designating critical habitat, developing protective regulations for threatened species, and consulting on federal actions.
BiOps
A BiOp contains analyses of the likely effects of the action on listed species and critical habitat and a statement of a Service’s opinion as to whether the action is likely to jeopardize listed species or adversely modify critical habitat.
Blanket 4(d) Rule
In 1978, FWS used this authority to extend the prohibition of take to all threatened species. This is known as the “blanket 4(d) rule,” and it essentially meant threatened and endangered species presumptively enjoyed the same protection.
Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA)
A formal, voluntary agreement between the Service and one or more parties to address the conservation needs of candidate species or species that may become candidates in the near future. Participants voluntarily commit to implement specific actions designed to remove or reduce threats to the covered species.
Candidate Species
A candidate species is any species whose status is currently being reviewed to determine whether it warrants listing under the ESA.
Critical Habitat
When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), we identify specific areas that are essential to its conservation. Critical habitat is a tool that supports the continued conservation of imperiled species by guiding cooperation within the federal government. Designations affect only federal agency actions or federally funded or permitted activities.
Delisting
A delisted species is one that was formerly listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, but has since been removed from the lists of endangered and threatened species.
Distinct Population Segment (DPS)
A vertebrate population or group of populations that is discrete from other populations of the species and significant in relation to the entire species
Endangered
An endangered species is defined under the ESA as any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Species designated as threatened or endangered are called “listed species.”
Endangered Species List
An endangered species list is a legal protection for plant and animal species that are in danger of extinction in a significant portion of their range or worldwide. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) allows for the listing of species, subspecies, or distinct population segments of vertebrates.
Foreseeable Future
Congress intended the term "foreseeable future" to describe the extent to which the Secretary can reasonably rely on predictions about the future in making determinations about the future conservation status of the species. Those predictions can be in the form of extrapolation of population or threat trends, analysis of how threats will affect the status of the species, or assessment of future events that will have a significant new impact on the species.
Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)
A Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is a planning document designed to accommodate economic development to the extent possible by authorizing the limited and unintentional take of listed species when it occurs incidental to otherwise lawful activities.
No Surprises Policy
The purpose of the No Surprises Rule is to provide assurances to non-Federal landowners participating in habitat conservation planning under the ESA that no additional land restrictions or financial compensation will be required for species adequately covered by a properly implemented HCP
Petition
Any member of the public may petition to list a species as threatened or endangered, reclassify a species, or delist a species. Petitions may also be made to revise designated critical habitat for listed species. These petitions need the support of biological data.
Proposed species
A proposed species is one that is found to warrant listing as either threatened or endangered, or delisting, after completion of a status review and consideration of other protective conservation measures. A strict legal process is followed known as a rulemaking (or regulatory) procedure to propose to list or delist a species under the ESA. Public comment is always sought on a proposal to list or delist species under the ESA.
Recovery Plan
A recovery plan serves as a road map for species recovery—the plan outlines the path and tasks required to restore and secure self-sustaining wild populations. It is a non-regulatory document that describes, justifies, and schedules the research and management actions necessary to support recovery of a species.
Safe Harbor Agreement
A Safe Harbor Agreement (SHA) is a voluntary agreement involving private or other non-federal property owners whose actions contribute to the recovery of species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The agreement is between cooperating non-federal property owners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for most listed marine and anadromous fish species.
Section 7
A section under the Endangered Species Act that directs all Federal agencies to work to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to further the purposes of the Act. Section 7 of the Act, called "Interagency Cooperation," is the mechanism by which Federal agencies ensure the actions they take, including those they fund or authorize, do not jeopardize the existence of any listed species.
Section 9
A section under the Endangered Species Act that prohibits the "take" of endangered species, and certain acts related to them. "Take" is broadly defined as harming, harassing, hunting, pursuing, capturing, trapping, killing, collecting, or attempting any of these activities.
Status Review
A status review is the scientifically rigorous process we use to determine whether a species warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. This scientific review involves collecting and analyzing the best available scientific and commercial information on the species, including its biology, ecology, abundance and population trends, and threats to the species, in order to evaluate the species’ current status and extinction risk.
Take
Take as defined under the ESA means "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct."
Threatened
A threatened species is defined under the ESA as any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Species designated as threatened or endangered are called “listed species.”
Warranted But Precluded
The Service has determined that a species should be listed [as endangered] based on the available science, but that listing other species takes priority because they are more in need of protection.
