U.S. Modifies Species Protection Process

Why it matters locally: This modification to species protection processes could impact several of Maryland's listed threatened species, such as specific populations of Atlantic sturgeon or the bog turtle, as federal agencies will now develop individualized protection plans rather than applying automatic blanket safeguards.

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has revised its approach to safeguarding imperiled species, replacing automatic federal protections with a requirement for individualized plans. Under the previous framework, species designated as threatened automatically received the same protections as those listed as endangered. Moving forward, the addition of a species to the threatened list will necessitate the development of a specific protection strategy for that particular species. This change means that federal agencies will no longer apply a uniform set of safeguards to all threatened species upon their listing.