Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Regulations for Prohibitions to Threatened Wildlife and Plants

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or FWS), revise our regulations related to threatened species to remove the prior default extension of most of the prohibitions for activities involving endangered species to threatened species. For species already listed as a threatened species, the revised regulations do not alter the applicable prohibitions. The revised regulations provide that the Service, pursuant to section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA” or the “Act”), will determine what protective regulations are appropriate for species added to or reclassified on the lists of threatened species.