Endangered Species Program: Information on How Funds Are Allocated and What Activities Are Emphasized

摘要

The Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to help conserve plant and animal species facing extinction as well as their habitats. The act, as amended, requires the Department of the Interior to identify at-risk species that may be candidates for listing and work to conserve them (candidate conservation); when warranted, list species as threatened or endangered and identify their critical habitat-habitat essential to the species' conservation-that requires special management (listing); work with groups whose proposed projects could harm the listed species to mitigate such harm (consultation); and develop and implement plans to improve the status of listed species until they no longer need protection (recovery). Interior delegated its responsibility for the Endangered Species Act to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which established an endangered species program within its ecological services program to implement the requirements of the act. The Service, a decentralized agency, is organized into seven regions, each with a regional office managing a number of field offices. Some field staff divide their time between this program and other programs, such as environmental contaminants, carried out by the ecological services field offices. For many years, environmental groups, landowners, federal agencies, and developers have voiced concerns about how the Service has implemented the endangered species program. Specific areas of concern include the pace of recovery; the Service's performance in meeting certain of the act's requirements-for example, reviewing petitions for listing species within 90 days of their receipt; and the Service's interpretation of certain aspects of the act related to critical habitat designation. These concerns have increasingly led to litigation and court orders that, according to Service officials, have influenced how the Service does its work. The Congress also has had concerns about the program and has not reauthorized or amended the act since 1988, even though more than 50 reauthorizing or amending bills have been introduced since 1995. Given these concerns and your oversight responsibility, you asked us to review several aspects of the Service's implementation of the endangered species program. Accordingly, this report provides information on (1) how the Service budgets and allocates its endangered species program funds and (2) how field office staff spent their time in the endangered species program in fiscal year 2001.