ASSESSING MULTI-SPECIES RECOVERY PLANS UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

Abstract

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is relying increasingly on a multi-species, rather than the more traditional single-species, approach to recovery planning under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Supporters of the multi-species approach note potential efficiency gains in terms of biodiversity protection and agency resources. By the end of 1998, >55% of all ESA-listed species with recovery plans were covered within multi-species plans. A recent analysis found that species within multi-species plans are significantly more likely to exhibit a declining status trend. Given this finding, we compared single- to multi-species plans and found that multi-species plans reflect a poorer understanding of species-specific biology, are less likely to include adaptive management provisions, and are revised less frequently. USFWS guidelines recommend that species be combined into multi-species plans primarily on the basis of threat similarity. We developed a threat similarity index to evaluate the USFWS's ...