Skip to main content

Endangered Species Act: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Has Incomplete Information about Effects on Listed Species from Section 7 Consultations

GAO-09-550 Published: May 21, 2009. Publicly Released: May 21, 2009.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

The western United States, including vast stretches of federal land, is home to more than a third of the 1,317 species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Under section 7 of the act, federal agencies must ensure that any actions they authorize, fund, or carry out, whether on federal or private lands, do not jeopardize listed species. To fulfill this responsibility, the agencies often must formally consult with the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which issues a biological opinion assessing whether an action is likely to "take," or harm, a listed species. The Service may require the agencies to monitor and report on the action's effects on listed species, including take. For listed species subject to formal consultations in 11 western states, GAO was asked to examine the extent to which the Service tracks (1) required monitoring reports and (2) cumulative take. GAO reviewed the act, regulations, and policy and interviewed Service staff in all western states, reviewed 128 consultation files in five offices, and analyzed 23 listed species in detail.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior To increase the Service's institutional knowledge and understanding of the effects on species of actions subject to formal consultations under the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a simple and cost-effective method for systematically tracking all required monitoring reports, such as adding an additional field to the existing TAILS database.
Closed – Implemented
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) developed a web-based system, available to the public, called the Information, Planning, and Conservation (IPaC) decision support system. IPaC serves as a conservation planning tool for streamlining the environmental review process. The system allows users the ability to explore, at a landscape level, whether threatened or endangered species may exist in a certain area or may be affected by a proposed project. When projects are approved by FWS through the Section 7 consultation process, information on the project, including any associated monitoring reports, will be entered into the IPaC system, allowing FWS to systematically track monitoring reports.
Department of the Interior To increase the Service's institutional knowledge and understanding of the effects on species of actions subject to formal consultations under the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue to develop existing databases, in as strategic and expeditious a manner as possible, to enable systematic tracking of cumulative take for all species affected by formal consultations.
Closed – Implemented
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Information, Planning, and Conservation (IPaC) decision support system is being developed in such a way that the agency will be able to monitor all projects in a particular area, including information on all anticipated take-this will allow FWS to systematically track cumulative take for threatened or endangered species both over the area and rolled up over a species' range.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

BioaccumulationBiological researchDatabasesEndangered speciesFederal agenciesFederal regulationsImpacted areasLabor shortagesLand managementMonitoringNoncomplianceReporting requirementsSpeciesStaff utilizationSystem vulnerabilitiesWildlifeWildlife conservationWildlife management