Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The Endangered Species Act of 1973[16 U.S.C.1531 et seq.] (Act) is one of the most comprehensive pieces of environmental legislation ever enacted by Congress. Fiscal year (FY) 1993 was the 20-year anniversary of the Act, and coincided with profound Congressional and public interest in the Act's reauthorization as well as wideranging debate over its purposes, effects, and accomplishments. The Act calls for the conservation of threatened and endangered species, and more importantly, the ecosystems upon which they depend. The Act established the Federal government as the national leader in the conservation of species at risk of extinction. To accomplish the objectives of the Act, Congress envisioned a network of international, national, Federal, State, and private organizations working together toward common goals.
In passing this landmark legislation, Congress specifically intended to provide a means to conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend and to provide a program for the conservation of these species. The Act defines "conserve" as the use of "all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this Act are no longer necessary...." The Act further declared that the policy of Congress is that all Federal departments and agencies shall seek to conserve endangered and threatened species, and use their own authorities to further the purposes of the Act. This policy, in conjunction with the statutory definition of "conserve," makes clear that Congress intended all Federal agencies to promote the recovery of listed species. The Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) responsibilities under the Act include: consultation, listing, recovery planning and implementation, permitting, and prelisting
This Report to Congress represents an accounting of the recovery progress for all federally listed endangered and threatened species under the jurisdiction of the Service occurring in the United States and Trust Territories as of September 30, 1994. While some of the species covered in this report are found in both the United States and foreign countries, the Service has no authority to implement recovery programs for species outside United States jurisdiction and the status of foreign populations is not discussed in this report. Specifically, this report contains information on the status of recovery plan development and overall population status for all listed species in the United States and a summary of the success of the recovery program to date.