Fact Sheets on Twelve Endangered Species

There are over 1,300 species listed as either endangered or threatened in the United States under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Department of the Interior, and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, in the Department of Commerce, share responsibility for administering the ESA. Their responsibilities include:

listing and delisting species,
designating critical habitat,
developing recovery plans, and;
evaluating the status of the species every 5 years in five-year reviews.

The National Marine Fisheries Service manages the marine species, and the Fish and Wildlife Service manages the remainder of the listed species, the terrestrial and freshwater species. Through the Listing Program, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service determines whether to add a species to the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. Once listed, a species is afforded the full range of protections available under the ESA, including prohibitions on killing, harming, or otherwise "taking" a species.

EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs has 12 species-specific Fact Sheets that offer a summary of these listed species, including their status, description, range, habitat, biology and behavior. One of these Fact Sheets, for the Karner blue butterfly, is found in conjunction with Endangered Species Protection Bulletins for specific counties in Michigan and Wisconsin.

These species-based fact sheets offer a summary of information about certain listed species, including their description, ecology, and conservation concerns. We developed 11 of these to support implementation of requirements under the order and stipulated injunction issued in the lawsuit against EPA by the Center for Biological Diversity in the San Francisco Bay Area.