How does the Service determine whether a species is recovered?
The criteria spelled out in the recovery plans are used as a yardstick to measure whether the species is no longer endangered or threatened. But those factors are not the only criteria. The ESA identifies five factors that the Service must consider to determine if delisting is appropriate: 1. Threats to, or actual destruction of, the habitat needed by the species; 2. Threats from the over-use of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; 3. Threats from disease or predation; 4. The amount of protection provided to the species or its habitat by other laws and regulations; and 5. Any other natural or manmade factors affecting the continued existence of the species. The Service determines whether recovery has been achieved by reviewing the best available scientific information on whether the threats to the species have been reduced and the population levels have reached the goals established in its recovery plan. Achievement of the recovery plan=s crite
