Interagency Cooperation-Endangered Species Act of 1973, as Amended; Incidental Take Statements

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services), are amending the incidental take statement provisions of the implementing regulations for section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The two primary purposes of the amendments are to address the use of surrogates to express the amount or extent of anticipated incidental take and to refine the basis for development of incidental take statements for programmatic actions. These changes are intended to improve the clarity and effectiveness of incidental take statements. The Services believe these regulatory changes are a reasonable exercise of their discretion in interpreting particularly challenging aspects of section 7 of the ESA related to incidental take statements.