In the Wild
Sage Grouse Conservation Project - Team Resources
What is the PECE?
The Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts
(PECE) is a policy that provides guidance to both the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Fisheries (NOAA Fisheries) when making listing decisions
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The final version of the policy
was published in the Federal Register in March, 2003 and it became effective
on April 28, 2003.
Read
more about the PECE in this PDF document produced by the USFWS.
What is the Purpose of the PECE?
The PECE policy was developed to ensure consistent and adequate evaluation
of current and future conservation efforts when considering species
for addition to the federal list of threatened and endangered species.
It also identifies certain criteria that the two agencies will use in
determining whether future or recently implemented conservation effort,
such as habitat restoration or protection, has contributed to the long-term
survival of a species making listing that species unnecessary, or has
contributed to improving the status of a species to the extent that
it should be listed as threatened rather than endangered.
How is Authority Given to Consider Voluntary
Conservation Efforts?
Section 4(b)(1)(A) of the ESA requires the USFWS and NOAA-Fisheries
to not only consider various threats affecting a species, but to also
consider positive actions, such as conservation planning efforts, when
making listing decisions. All voluntary conservation efforts developed
on behalf of a species will be evaluated relative to the PECE policy.
The PECE policy should also guide states, local, and Tribal governments,
businesses, organizations, and individuals in their efforts to restore
populations of declining species before they require the protection
of the ESA.
Under the PECE policy, in order to determine that a conservation effort
contributes to making listing a species as threatened or endangered
unnecessary, or should be listed as threatened rather than endangered,
the Services must find that there is:
1) Certainty that the conservation efforts will be implemented
2) Certainty that the efforts will be effective
Additionally the policy provides specific factors under these two basic
criteria that will be used in a review of a conservation effort. These
factors include things like whether there is sufficient funding to carry
out the effort, do the parties to the effort have the authority to implement
it, is there a schedule for completing the effort, does the effort establish
specific conservation objectives, are there performance measures established
to monitor success, etc.
What is the Desired Outcome?
The bottom-line hope of the PECE policy is that it encourages active
conservation efforts before a species and its habitat are critically
imperiled. Such efforts will increase the likelihood that simple, cost-
effective conservation actions are undertaken to reverse population
declines and prevent the need to list some species.
A considerable amount of effort has gone into the development of the
Nevada Sage Grouse Conservation Plan and it is expected that the final
version will be both implementable and effective. State and federal
land management agencies are participating in the process, and counties
and Tribal entities have been invited to step up and be more involved.
Landowner Incentive Program funding has been obtained from the USFWS
to assist private landowners in protecting sage grouse habitat on their
land. The Nevada Department of Wildlife has established a granting process
to distribute these funds to landowners with active leks.
The Nevada Sage Grouse Conservation Plan is following the "En
Libra" philosophy first developed in Utah, which involves all of
the interested parties in a planning process coming together to reach
consensus decisions. Ranchers and wildlife advocates, along with town
residents, and state and federal agencies are sitting together in six
separate regional planning groups. Their task was to assess existing
sage grouse habitat and the impacts to the species in their local areas.
They were also tasked with identifying actions that should be undertaken
to guard against further impacts to the birds and increase their numbers.
Nevada's statewide sage grouse conservation plan will be finalized
by mid-June 2004.
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