ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1967

RECOVERY PLAN: 1993

CRITICAL HABITAT: None

RANGE: Occurs naturally in portions of Kent, Queen Annes, Talbot and Dorchester counties in eastern Maryland; translocated populations occur in several other counties on the eastern shore of Maryland, in one Delaware county and at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia

THREATS: Loss and fragmentation of habitat due to logging (most notably short-rotation pine forestry), agriculture, urban and commercial development, and road construction; habitat inundation due to sea-level rise caused by climate change

POPULATION TREND: In 1967, when the squirrel was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, it survived in only 10 percent of its former range in four eastern Maryland counties. Translocated populations now exist on one remote island off the Virginia coast and in Sussex County, Delaware, and the fox squirrel has re-expanded its range into additional Maryland counties. But with suitable habitat still under threat, the squirrel’s recovering numbers are vulnerable.