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7 Endangered Species Tech. Bull. 1 (1982)

handle is hein.animal/endanspb0007 and id is 1 raw text is: January 1982 Vol. VII No. 1 m m m m m = - mm - m mm N Tl Department of interior. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program, Washington, D.C. 20240 Early Hearings Begin Reauthorization Process Oversight hearings to examine the implementation of the Endangered Spe- cies Act of 1973 were held by the U.S. Senate on December 8 and 10, 1981. Testimony received at those sessions, and at hearings to be conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives in early 1982, will assist the 97th Congress with the pending reauthorization of the Act. Before May 15, 1982, both the House and the Senate will have completed their analyses of the Act and, most like- ly, will have developed draft legislation to amend it, as needed. Final legislation should be signed by October 1, 1982, the expiration date of the current Act. Robert A. Jantzen, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), was the first person to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Environment and Public Works. Jantzen reported on FWS's progress in implementing the Act and, in particular, the Endangered Spe- cies Act Amendments of 1978 and 1979. He promised that specific recom- mendations regarding possible new amendments to the Act would be made to Congress by the Department of the Interior following completion of the in- ternal review of the legislation then underway. Ronald E. Lambertson, As- sociate Director-Federal Assistance and Endangered Species Program Mana- ger, joined Jantzen in presenting the testimony. Implementation Since Amendments FWS testimony focused on three ar- eas of change mandated by the 1978 and 1979 amendments-(1) listing, (2) recovery, and (3) consultation. Jantzen reported that FWS and the National Ma- rine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had pub- lished joint final regulations which formalize the requirements of the amendments as they relate to Section 4 of the Act (listing). In order to respond to the requirements for economic analy- sis of Critical Habitat designations, Jantzen reported that an economic staff has been added to the Office of Endan- gered Species and that instructional guidelines and training have been carried out so that staff biologists can prepare most analyses. Another major change made by Con- gress in the Act was to require the De- partment to develop a recovery plan for all listed species, unless it is deter- mined that such a plan will not promote the conservation of the species. Jant- zen reported that FWS now has 44 ap- proved plans, 23 agency drafts, and 24 technical drafts and that the major portion of the work in this area has oc- cured since November 1979. He said that FWS hopes to have at least 40 plans submitted for approval in fiscal year 1982. The third major change made by Con- gress in the Act concerned the consul- tation process under Section 7. The in- tent of Congress in amending the Act in 1978 and 1979 was to provide for more direct involvement of FWS at the initial stages of Federal planning, so that po- tential problems could be surfaced at the earliest possible time in order to avoid delays. Jantzen reported that as a result of the changes the consultation process is going very smoothly in the vast majority of cases. He stated that A thorough statutory and regulatory review of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, conducted by the Department of the Interior during the final quarter of 1981, was recently completed. Recom- mendations resulting from the review will be submitted to the Office of Man- agement and Budget around the middle of January 1982. The review was initiated on June 1981 when the Service began collecting information in preparation for Spring 1982 Congressional reauthorization oversight hearings on the Act. In August 1981, when Vice President Bush includ- ed the Act in a list of regulations to be reviewed under Section 3(i) of Execu- tive Order 12291, the Department com- bined the regulatory review process required by the Order with the reauthor- ization preparation already under way. The working group which accom- plished the review executed a work plan which was approved by the Office of Management and Budget in mid-Sep- while new regulations incorporating the Section 7 changes made in 1978 and 1979 have not yet been published in the Federal Register, either letters or mem- oranda have been sent to all Federal agencies informing them of changes re- quired by the Act. Critical Habitat Issue The second portion of Jantzen's testi- mony was a summary of the review process in which the Department was concurrently involved. (See accompa- nying story on Interior's review.) One of the issues which surfaced during the re- view and about which Jantzen spoke was whether it is desirable to continue to designate Critical Habitat-a provi- sion of the Act intended to assist Feder- al agencies in identifying the location of protected species. The concept of Critical Habitat has often been per- ceived by the public, Jantzen said, as tantamount to the designation of an invi- Continued on page 3 tember. The plan included a list of ap- proximately 80 issues identified by the group itself, along with additional issues identified as the review continued. An initial request for public comments was included in a Federal Register no- tice, published September 18, 1981. Letters transmitting this notice and cop- ies of E.O. 12291 were sent to Federal agencies, State fish and game agencies and private organizations. Regional of- fices of the Service were also asked to comment. Eighty comments were re- ceived in response to the Federal Register notice. By far, most States (24 responses) supported retention of the Act and continuing or increased enforcement of its provisions. Dissatisfaction with the provision or administration of the Con- vention on International Trade in En- dangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is implemented by the Act, was the subject most discussed Continued on page 8 Department Completes Review Of Endangered Species Act

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