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<br />. <br /> <br />CJ02332 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />PrOl!ram Result:s/Monitorine:. The Service does not have a system <br />whereby it gathers sufficient management information in each of the three <br />key program areas of listing, consultation, and recovery. In the listing <br />area, there was no consistent system for tracking the number and cost of <br />species status surveys. In the consultation area, there was no <br />consistent system for tracking employee time or the species involved in <br />accomplishing formal and informal consultations. Finally, in the <br />recovery area, there was no consistent system for tracking recovery plans <br />and corresponding recovery tasks. <br /> <br />Listine. The Service performs status surveys of candidate and other <br />species in order to determine if such species merit official listing as <br />endangered or threacened. Stacus surveys are performed by the Service, <br />private contractors, and states or educational institutions through <br />grants provided by the Service under Section 6 of the Act. In many <br />cases. more than one status survey is needed to obtain the substantive <br />informacion needed to assess the status of a species. Status surveys <br />represent a vital aspect of decermining which species require protection <br />under the Act. As such, we believe that the cosCs and resultant benefits <br />of these studies should be appropriately tracked. Neither Regions 1 nor <br />4 employed a method to concrol and track, on a species-by-species basis, <br />the number, cosc, and resul ts of all scatus surveys performed. The <br />responsible person aC Region 4 could noC tell us the total number of <br />Regional surveys performed in the previous year without first polling the <br />various field offices under that region's authority. In our opinion, the <br />number, cost, and results of all status surveys performed on subject <br />species should be cumulatively tracked in order for Service management to <br />readily assess the status of subject species and to reasonably estimate <br />future resource needs. <br /> <br />Consultation. Under Section 7 of the Acc, other Federal agencies <br />are required to consult with the Service so that actions authorized, <br />funded, or carried out by those agencies are noC likely to jeopardize the <br />continued existence of any endangered or threatened s~ecies. Ue believe <br />that this section of the Acc represents perhaps its greatest protective <br />measure. As such, the Service requires that each regional and field <br />office report the number of formal a~d informal consultations performed <br />and determine which ones are likely to have an adverse impact on a <br />species. However, the Service does not consistently concrol and track <br />employee time and species involved in formal and informal consultations. <br />We believe that only tracking and reporting the numbers of consultations <br />performed without relating these numbers to resources used (estimated <br />cost) and particular species involved do not provide Service management <br />or Congress with the critical information needed to manage and evaluate <br />the program. potential problems with particular agencies or specieS <br />could be better decected and addressed if such information was available <br />to both higher Service management and the Congress. <br /> <br />Endaneered Species Information Svstem. The Service has not made <br />timely progress in establishing a national system to exchange biological <br />information on listed, proposed, and candidate species among Federal <br />agencies and the states. The General Accounting Office recommended that <br />such a system be established in a report issued July 2, 1979, entitled <br />"Endangered Species--A Controversial Issue Needing Resolution." The <br /> <br />18 <br />