PORTLAND, Ore.— In response to 2020 litigation, the Center for Biological Diversity today secured deadlines for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether 76 species warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The decisions, to be made over the next five years, will include whether to protect Arizona toads, Oregon vesper sparrows, Chesapeake logperch fish, golden-winged warblers, spotted turtles and more.

“It’s great that these 76 embattled plants and animals will finally get a shot at badly needed protections,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. “They shouldn’t have had to wait so long for protections in the first place.”

All of the 76 species have been waiting for protection for more than a decade in a process that’s supposed to take no more than two years. Hundreds of other plants and animals are still waiting for decisions and even more are waiting just to be considered for protection. Over the years, the Service’s process for making protection decisions has gotten increasingly time-consuming. Delays in protection increase risk of extinction and make recovery more difficult and expensive. At least 47 species have gone extinct waiting for protection.

“Scientists from across the globe warn that we’re in an extinction crisis that’s unraveling our world and still the Fish and Wildlife Service moves at a glacial pace protecting species,” said Greenwald. “I really hoped the Biden administration would improve the federal program for protecting plants and animals to make it more efficient, but sadly that didn’t happen.”

The Biden administration protected just 60 species, the lowest of any Democrat since the Endangered Species Act was passed more than 50 years ago. For comparison, the Obama administration protected 363 species and the Clinton administration protected 521. Under the previous Trump administration, just 25 species were protected.

The Center originally sued in 2020 over 241 species that were awaiting protection. The remainder of the species either received decisions or dates for decisions, including 55 that have been protected as threatened or endangered. In exchange for the Service agreeing today to meet deadlines for decisions about these 76 plants and animals, the Center agreed to delay suing over some species until fiscal year 2026 and to not seek decisions for other species until fiscal year 2029.

76 species to receive protection decisions: