Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested public input to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its voluntary conservation programs under Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act. Voluntary conservation programs provide crucial regulatory certainty for landowners seeking to manage lands containing listed and candidate species. This appears to be a genuine opportunity to influence how these programs operate.

The agency is requesting comments on two key programs:

• Conservation Benefit Agreements with Enhancement of Survival Permits (Section 10(a)(1)(A)), which are intended to incentivize voluntary conservation on non-federal lands. Recall, that USFWS updated its regulations in April 2024 to consolidate “safe harbor agreements” and “candidate conservation agreements with assurances” into a single “conservation benefit agreement” framework.
• Habitat Conservation Plans with Incidental Take Permits (Section 10(a)(1)(B)), which provide protections for lawful activities that may result in incidental take of listed species.

Areas where USFWS is specifically interested in comment include:

• Barriers preventing participation in these programs
• Streamlining methods for agreement and plan development
• Communication strategies to better inform stakeholders
• Role clarification between the Service and applicants
• Funding and resource needs for implementation
• Pilot strategies to improve overall program effectiveness

As evidenced by other recent ESA proposals, USFWS is open to rethinking long-settled regulatory positions. Interested stakeholders should take the opportunity to provide the agency with information on how these programs can be improved.

Comments are due July 9, 2025. You can read the agency’s notice here.