Separating Proactive Conservation from Species Listing Decisions.

Area of Science:

• Conservation Biology
• Wildlife Management
• Endangered Species Policy

Background:

• Proactive Conservation encourages voluntary efforts to protect at-risk species before regulatory listing.
• The Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts (PECE) is used with Proactive Conservation to avoid listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
• Critical evaluations of Proactive Conservation outcomes, particularly regarding species status and recovery metrics, are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the outcomes of Proactive Conservation using the New England cottontail as a case study.
• To assess the effectiveness of the PECE decision in preventing the listing of the New England cottontail under the ESA.
• To examine the broader benefits and limitations of the Proactive Conservation paradigm in relation to ESA implementation.

Main Methods:

• Review of the history and current status of the New England cottontail based on scientific literature.
• Analysis of the 2015 PECE decision and its impact on New England cottontail conservation.
• Evaluation of Proactive Conservation's benefits and limitations concerning species status and recovery metrics.

Main Results:

• The New England cottontail's status and recovery prospects under the PECE policy were overly optimistic; the species' condition has deteriorated since the listing decision.
• Proactive Conservation, coupled with PECE, may be used to avoid ESA listing due to perceptions of the ESA as punitive, despite low extinction rates for listed species.
• The current approach to recovery, linked to delisting, may be a barrier; decoupling recovery from delisting and focusing on persistence probability is suggested.

Conclusions:

• The Proactive Conservation paradigm, as applied with PECE for the New England cottontail, did not ensure sufficient species recovery.
• Revising recovery definitions to focus on probability of persistence could strengthen Species Status Assessments and improve endangered species management.
• Recommendations are made for refining the role of Proactive Conservation within the ESA framework for future at-risk species management.