Endangered species: Celebrations and challenges in the Northeast Region
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Home
Contacts
Diana Weaver 413/253-8329
Endangered species follow a long and winding path to recovery. Some critters hold tenuously to continued existence – like threatened piping plovers along the Atlantic coast from Canada to North Carolina with fewer than two fledged chicks per nesting pair most years, not even enough to sustain a population that numbers fewer than 2,000 pairs, let alone build that population up.
Other species have made the journey and graduated from Endangered Species Act protection – most recently in the Northeast Region the formerly endangered West Virginia northern flying squirrel (West Virginia and Virginia) in 2008. Biologists attribute the squirrel’s recovery primarily to regeneration of the squirrel’s forest habitat and habitat conservation efforts, especially in the U.S. Forest Service’s Monongahela National Forest and George Washington National Forest.
In 2002, Robbins’ cinquefoil (New Hampshire), a yellow-flowered alpine plant, also graduated, due in large part to significant habitat protection by the U.S. Forest Service’s White Mountain National Forest and the Appalachian Mountain Club as well as New England Wild Flower Society’s plant propagation.
With the lead for 28 endangered and 14 threatened species, some 30 endangered species biologists and their colleagues in the Northeast Region are more than busy. In addition to working with other agencies, states, organizations and landowners to help recover species, biologists review the status of all threatened and endangered species on a five-year rotation. They monitor potentially imperiled species, review the status of species that may warrant ESA protection, and propose those species for endangered or threatened protection when the need to do so coincides with available resources. And when proposed projects are likely to affect listed species or their habitat, our biologists weigh the projects’ impact on protected species and work with developers to help minimize potential harm to the species.
We do not often propose species for ESA protection, but right now we have a pending decision on a proposal for ESA protection – expanding the endangered distinct population segment of Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon to include large rivers in Maine. A decision likely will be made within the coming weeks.
With limited resources, the Service cannot provide ESA protection for all the species that may warrant it. We call these species “candidates” for protection. In the Northeast Region, we have four candidate species. As funds become available, we likely will propose these species for ESA protection:
* New England cottontail (the highest priority in the region, with a ranking of 2 out of 12) – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island
* Red knot, shorebird (priority 3) – Maine south to Florida
* Hirsts’ panic grass (priority 5) – Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina
* Bog asphodel, plant (priority – New Jersey
The Northeast Region endangered species program is shining a spotlight on these nine species:
* Jesup’s milk-vetch, plant, endangered – New Hampshire, Vermont
* Piping plover, shorebird, threatened – Canada south to North Carolina
* Bog turtle, threatened – Massachusetts south to Georgia
* Chittenango ovate amber snail, threatened – New York
* Purple bean, mussel, endangered – Virginia, Tennessee
* Red knot, shorebird, a candidate
* Diamond darter, fish, a species at risk
* Kenk’s amphipod, crustacean, a species at risk
* New England cottontail, a candidate
You will find more information about threatened and endangered species on our Web site http://www.fws.gov/endangered.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Home
Contacts
Diana Weaver 413/253-8329
Endangered species follow a long and winding path to recovery. Some critters hold tenuously to continued existence – like threatened piping plovers along the Atlantic coast from Canada to North Carolina with fewer than two fledged chicks per nesting pair most years, not even enough to sustain a population that numbers fewer than 2,000 pairs, let alone build that population up.
Other species have made the journey and graduated from Endangered Species Act protection – most recently in the Northeast Region the formerly endangered West Virginia northern flying squirrel (West Virginia and Virginia) in 2008. Biologists attribute the squirrel’s recovery primarily to regeneration of the squirrel’s forest habitat and habitat conservation efforts, especially in the U.S. Forest Service’s Monongahela National Forest and George Washington National Forest.
In 2002, Robbins’ cinquefoil (New Hampshire), a yellow-flowered alpine plant, also graduated, due in large part to significant habitat protection by the U.S. Forest Service’s White Mountain National Forest and the Appalachian Mountain Club as well as New England Wild Flower Society’s plant propagation.
With the lead for 28 endangered and 14 threatened species, some 30 endangered species biologists and their colleagues in the Northeast Region are more than busy. In addition to working with other agencies, states, organizations and landowners to help recover species, biologists review the status of all threatened and endangered species on a five-year rotation. They monitor potentially imperiled species, review the status of species that may warrant ESA protection, and propose those species for endangered or threatened protection when the need to do so coincides with available resources. And when proposed projects are likely to affect listed species or their habitat, our biologists weigh the projects’ impact on protected species and work with developers to help minimize potential harm to the species.
We do not often propose species for ESA protection, but right now we have a pending decision on a proposal for ESA protection – expanding the endangered distinct population segment of Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon to include large rivers in Maine. A decision likely will be made within the coming weeks.
With limited resources, the Service cannot provide ESA protection for all the species that may warrant it. We call these species “candidates” for protection. In the Northeast Region, we have four candidate species. As funds become available, we likely will propose these species for ESA protection:
* New England cottontail (the highest priority in the region, with a ranking of 2 out of 12) – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island
* Red knot, shorebird (priority 3) – Maine south to Florida
* Hirsts’ panic grass (priority 5) – Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina
* Bog asphodel, plant (priority – New Jersey
The Northeast Region endangered species program is shining a spotlight on these nine species:
* Jesup’s milk-vetch, plant, endangered – New Hampshire, Vermont
* Piping plover, shorebird, threatened – Canada south to North Carolina
* Bog turtle, threatened – Massachusetts south to Georgia
* Chittenango ovate amber snail, threatened – New York
* Purple bean, mussel, endangered – Virginia, Tennessee
* Red knot, shorebird, a candidate
* Diamond darter, fish, a species at risk
* Kenk’s amphipod, crustacean, a species at risk
* New England cottontail, a candidate
You will find more information about threatened and endangered species on our Web site http://www.fws.gov/endangered.