Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Enhancement of Survival and Incidental Take Permits

We, the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service (Service), revise the regulations concerning the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The purposes of these revisions are to: clarify the appropriate use of enhancement of survival permits and incidental take permits; clarify our authority to issue these permits for non-listed species without also including a listed species; simplify the requirements for enhancement of survival permits by combining safe harbor agreements and candidate conservation agreements with assurances into one agreement type; and incorporate portions of our five-point policies for safe harbor agreements, candidate conservation agreements with assurances, and habitat conservation plans into the regulations to reduce uncertainty. We also made technical and administrative revisions to the regulations. The regulatory changes are intended to reduce costs and time associated with negotiating and developing the required documents to support the applications. We anticipate that these improvements will encourage more individuals and companies to engage in these voluntary programs, thereby generating greater conservation results overall.