§ 81.1 - Definitions.

§ 81.1 Definitions.

As used in this part, terms shall have the meaning ascribed in this section.

(a) Agreements. Signed documented statements of the actions to be taken by the State(s) and the Secretary in furthering the purposes of the Act. They include:

(1) A Cooperative Agreement entered into pursuant to section 6(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and § 81.2 of this part.

(2) A Project Agreement which includes a statement as to the actions to be taken in connection with the conservation of endangered or threatened species, benefits derived, cost of actions, and costs to be borne by the Federal Government and by the States.

(b) Conserve, conserving, and conservation. The use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated taking.

(c) Endangered species. Any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range (other than a species of the Class Insecta as determined by the Secretary to constitute a pest whose protection under the provisions of The Endangered Species Act of 1973 would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man).

(d) Fish or wildlife. Any member of the animal kingdom, including without limitation any mammal, fish, bird (including any migratory, nonmigratory, or endangered bird for which protection is also afforded by treaty or other international agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof.

(e) Plant. Any member of the plant kingdom, including seeds, roots, and other parts thereof.

(f) Program. A State-developed set of goals, objectives, strategies, action, and funding necessary to be taken to promote the conservation and management of resident endangered or threatened species.

(g) Secretary. The Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative.

(h) Species. This term includes any subspecies of fish or wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature.

(i) State. Any of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(j) State agency. The State agency or agencies, or other governmental entity or entities which are responsible for the management and conservation of fish or wildlife resources within a State.

(k) Plan. A course of action under which immediate attention will be given to a State's resident species determined to be endangered or threatened.

(l) Threatened species. Any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range, as determined by the Secretary.

(m) Project. A plan undertaken to conserve the various species of fish and wildlife or plants facing extinction.

(n) Act. The Endangered Species Act of 1973, Pub. L. 93-205, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

(o) Project segment. An essential part or a division of a project, usually separated as a period of time, occasionally as a unit of work.

(p) Resident species. For the purposes of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, a species is resident in a State if it exists in the wild in that State during any part of its life.

[40 FR 47509, Oct. 9, 1975, as amended at 44 FR 31580, May 31, 1979; 49 FR 30074, July 26, 1984]