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<br />.......- .:._~...--~.."'-.~...--....:....-_~_. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />002343 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />APPENDIX 4 <br />Page 1 of 3 <br /> <br />OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL REPLIES TO <br />U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT REPORT <br /> <br />The following comments address the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's <br />detailed comments on the draft report included in its July 12, 1990, <br />response (Appendix 3). The page and line number citations correlate to <br />those in our May 30, 1990, draft report. <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />Page 3. First item. Although we ag;ree ",ith the Service that: this is one <br />of its program actions, we believe we accurately cited this item on page <br />4 of our draft report, wherein we used the Act's definition of <br />conservation which is "the use of all methods and procedures which are <br />necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the <br />point at which the measures provided pursuant to this Act are no longer <br />necessary. " <br /> <br />Page 3, Second item. We believe that the Service has the authority to <br />"restrict," through consultation, the actions of Federal agencies. A <br />provision of the Act cites the requirement to "insure that any action <br />authorized, funded, or carried out by such agency (hereinafter in this <br />section referred to as an "agency action") is not likely to jeopardize <br />the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened <br /> <br />species <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />Page 4, Paragraph 2. We did not intend to reiterate all the specific <br />requirements and purposes of Section 2(b) but set forth, in our opinion, <br />the primary purpose and salient aspects of that section. <br /> <br />Page 5. Para~raph 1. This statement was made in the context: of listing <br />and recovery actions and referred to the overall focus of the Endang;ered <br />Species Act, which is geared toward the recovery of individually affected <br />species. The Service referred to consultation practices which will <br />consider "may affect" situations. However, the Act requires recovery <br />actions on individually listed species without consideration of their <br />impact on other species and habitat. <br /> <br />A. LISTING OF ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES <br /> <br />Page 8. Paragraph 1. This paragraph is the lead paragraph to our overall <br />finding on the listing activities of the Service, which is a synopsis of <br />the information that follows. The statement in the paragraph regarding <br />how a shortage of personnel and dollars has created a listing backlog <br />identifies, in our opinion, the cause of the problem. The Service's <br />statement recognizes that the lengthy listing and review process also <br />contributes to the backlog. <br /> <br />35 <br />