U.S. Fish and Wildlife Announces New Conservation Program
Charles Duncan
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking for opinions from the public regarding a new program that will help federal agencies conserve certain species on lands not owned by t 
he federal government. The program is called the recovery crediting system and it allows the government to conserve species on non-federal land as well as federal land as long as the benefit at least equals what would have been done on federal land alone.
Basically, the crediting system is used to help threatened species by developing and storing conservation credits that can be used at a later time in an attempt to off set any negative actions that it might have caused. By using the credits in the future, the overall outcome is the same as if the negative impacts had never happened.
The President announced the new system in October when talking about steps that the Administration was taking to preserve habitats for certain species.
"Conservation success resides in nurturing a Nation of citizen stewards," said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. "The recovery crediting system creates incentives for federal agencies to join with local communities to conserve federally protected species-and give them a helping hand on the road to recovery."
Federal agencies are required under Section7 of the Endangered Species Act to conserve threatened and endangered species and in doing so make sure that they don't jeopardize species listed as threatened or endangered. They must also ensure that they do not harm the species habitats.
The credits are gained by implementing helpful conservation actions on non federal lands. There will be a review by the Wildlife Service to make sure that the total benefit of any program or conservation actions outweighed any negative impacts that could have occurred. Credits earned will have to be used for the same species from which they were received.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Announces New Conservation Program
Basically, the crediting system is used to help threatened species by developing and storing conservation credits that can be used at a later time in an attempt to off set any negative actions that it might have caused. By using the credits in the future, the overall outcome is the same as if the negative impacts had never happened.
The President announced the new system in October when talking about steps that the Administration was taking to preserve habitats for certain species.
"Conservation success resides in nurturing a Nation of citizen stewards," said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. "The recovery crediting system creates incentives for federal agencies to join with local communities to conserve federally protected species-and give them a helping hand on the road to recovery."
Federal agencies are required under Section7 of the Endangered Species Act to conserve threatened and endangered species and in doing so make sure that they don't jeopardize species listed as threatened or endangered. They must also ensure that they do not harm the species habitats.
The credits are gained by implementing helpful conservation actions on non federal lands. There will be a review by the Wildlife Service to make sure that the total benefit of any program or conservation actions outweighed any negative impacts that could have occurred. Credits earned will have to be used for the same species from which they were received.