Notice2026-01909
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget; Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making Listing Decisions (PECE)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 30, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing to renew a currently approved information collection without change.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 20 (Friday, January 30, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 20 (Friday, January 30, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4097-4099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-01909]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-HQ-ES-2025-N041; FXES11110900000-267-FF09E24000; OMB Control
Number 1018-0119]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget; Policy for Evaluation of Conservation
Efforts When Making Listing Decisions (PECE)
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing to
renew a currently approved information collection without change.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
March 2, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this
particular information collection by selecting ``Currently under
Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
Please provide a copy of your comments to the Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB
(JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803 (mail); or by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b8f1d6ded7e7fbd7d4d4f8decfcb96dfd7ce"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="440d2a222b1b072b2828042233376a232b32">[email protected]</span></a>. Please reference ``1018-0119'' in the
subject line of your comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madonna L. Baucum, Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0e47606861514d6162624e68797d20696178"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="074e6961685844686b6b4761707429606871">[email protected]</span></a>, or by
telephone at (703) 358-2503. Individuals in the United States who are
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay
services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay
services offered within their country to make international calls to
the point-of-contact in the United States. You may also view the
information collection request at <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act (PRA; 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and its implementing regulations at 5
CFR part 1320, all information collections require approval under the
PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor, and you are not required to respond
to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
On August 11, 2025, we published in the Federal Register (90 FR
38658) a notice of our intent to request that OMB approve this
information collection. The Service published the Federal Register
notice on <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (Docket No. FWS-HQ-NWRS-2025-0023) to provide
the public with an additional method to submit comments (in addition to
the typical email and U.S. mail submission methods). In that notice, we
solicited comments for 60 days, ending on October 10, 2025. We received
the following comments in response to that notice:
Comment 1: Electronic comment received August 11, 2025 via
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0002) from Jan Publie. The
commenter did not address the information collection requirements.
Agency Response to Comment 1: No response required.
Comment 2: Anonymous electronic comment received September 22, 2025
[[Page 4098]]
via <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0003). The commenter did not
address the information collection requirements.
Agency Response to Comment 2: No response required.
Comment 3: Electronic comment received October 3, 2025 via
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0004) from Michael B. Sloane,
Director, on behalf of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The
commenter indicated their agency responded to previous requests for
information regarding the listing decision process for a variety of
species and their responses were prepared with minimal time
requirements (1-4 hours per request). They also indicated they provided
information to inform Species Status Assessments for a variety of
species and participated in the development of conservation and
management plans. For these activities, the commenter indicated the
information collection activities were not burdensome and that the
information collected is valuable and reflective of a good
collaboration with State agencies and consideration of their
perspectives and conservation work. The commenter expressed their
appreciation for the opportunity to comment on the information
collection process.
Agency Response to Comment 3: No response required.
Comment 4: Electronic comment received October 9, 2025 via
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0005) from W. Laird Hamberlin,
Chief Executive Officer, on behalf of the Safari Club International
(SCI). The submission included the following comments:
The commenter indicated SCI supports PECE because it is consistent
with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and provides a thoughtful and
structured method to consider conservation efforts that have not yet
generated measurable results. However, they also indicated SCI feels
PECE is incomplete and believes that PECE should explicitly include the
efforts made by a foreign nation to protect species. SCI recommends
that FWS develop a policy to specifically address considerations of
efforts being made by foreign nations or political subdivisions of
foreign nations to protect species.
Agency Response to Comment 4: We appreciate SCI's comment and
recommendation for ways to expand our considerations of efforts being
made by foreign nations to protect species; however, revisions to the
PECE Policy are outside the scope of the currently approved information
collection. We will consider this suggestion in the future if we
undertake a revision to the PECE Policy.
Comment 5: Electronic comment received October 10, 2025 via
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0006) from Jennifer A. McIvor,
EWAC Policy Chair, John M. Anderson, EWAC Executive Director, and
Brooke Marcus, Nossaman LLP, on behalf of the Energy and Wildlife
Action Coalition. The submission included the following comments:
EWAC encourages FWS to continue to incentivize and collect
information on voluntary conservation efforts across the United States.
EWAC highlighted that voluntary conservation plays a critical role
in species protection and can directly influence the Service's decision
not to list species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). EWAC did
not provide any information on the information collection burden
related to the PECE policy but stated that resources expended to
collect information on voluntary conservation will help further
national energy and grid reliability goals.
Agency Response to Comment 5: We appreciate EWAC's comment and
support for the PECE Policy.
Comment 6: Electronic comment received October 10, 2025 via
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0008-0007) from Andrew Langer,
Director, and Kiley McLeroy, Policy Analyst, on behalf of the
Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) Center for Regulatory
Freedom (CRF). The submission included the following comments opposing
the renewal of the information collection associated with PECE:
The CPAC-CRF stated that the PECE Policy is not based on the best
reading of the statutory authority and should be rescinded. The CPAC-
CRF contends that the Policy which allows FWS to consider voluntary
conservation efforts when making listing decisions under the ESA
misinterprets the ESA's intent, which they assert is focused on
protecting species already classified as endangered or threatened--not
those that might become so in the future.
Their comment also cited legal and procedural concerns they have
with the information collection and PECE policy.
Further, CPAC-CRF's comment invokes Executive Order 14219 and the
Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo,
which overturned Chevron deference. They argue that PECE relies on
agency interpretation rather than the ``best reading'' of the ESA,
making it legally indefensible under current federal policy and
judicial precedent.
Agency Response to Comment 6: We appreciate CPAC-CRF's comment,
however, the concerns regarding the legality of the PECE Policy are
outside the scope of the currently approved information collection.
As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we are again inviting the public and other Federal agencies to
comment on new, proposed, revised, and continuing collections of
information. This helps us assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It
also helps the public understand our information collection
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format.
We are especially interested in public comment addressing the
following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection
of information, including the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of response.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. Before including your address, phone number, email
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal
identifying information--may be publicly available at any time. While
you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Abstract: Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) outlines the process by which we can list a species as a
threatened species or an endangered species. When we consider whether
to list a species, the ESA requires us to take into account the efforts
made by any State or any political subdivision of a State to protect
such species. We also consider the
[[Page 4099]]
efforts made by other entities. States or other entities often
formalize conservation efforts in conservation agreements, conservation
plans, management plans, or similar documents. The conservation efforts
recommended or described in such documents could prevent some species
from becoming so imperiled that they meet the definition of a
threatened species or an endangered species under the ESA.
The Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making
Listing Decisions (PECE; 68 FR 15100, March 28, 2003) encourages the
development of conservation agreements or plans and provides the
standard that an individual conservation effort must meet in order for
us to consider whether it is likely to make a difference in a species'
status. PECE applies to formalized conservation efforts that have not
been implemented or have been implemented but have not yet demonstrated
if they are effective at the time of a listing decision.
Under PECE, formalized conservation efforts are defined as
conservation efforts (specific actions, activities, or programs
designed to eliminate or reduce threats or otherwise improve the status
of a species) identified in a conservation agreement, conservation
plan, management plan, or similar document. To assist us in evaluating
whether a formalized conservation effort meets the standard under PECE,
we collect information such as conservation plans, monitoring results,
and progress reports. The development of any agreement or plan is
voluntary. The PECE is posted on our candidate conservation website at
<a href="https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/candidate-conservation-policies-regulations-and-guidance">https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/candidate-conservation-policies-regulations-and-guidance</a>.
Title of Collection: Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts
When Making Listing Decisions (PECE).
OMB Control Number: 1018-0119.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved
collection.
Respondents/Affected Public: Primarily State, local, or Tribal
governments. However, individuals, businesses, and not-for-profit
organizations also could develop agreements/plans or may agree to
implement certain conservation efforts identified in a State agreement
or plan.
Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.
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Estimated Estimated Completion
number of Average number number of time per Estimated
Activity annual of submissions annual response annual burden
respondents each responses (hours) hours
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PECE--Reporting
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Individuals..................... 1 1 1 120 120
Private Sector.................. 1 1 1 120 120
Government...................... 1 1 1 120 120
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PECE--Monitoring
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Individuals..................... 1 1 1 600 600
Private Sector.................. 1 1 1 600 600
Government...................... 1 1 1 600 600
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PECE--Development of Conservation Plan/Agreement (One-Time Burden)
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Individuals..................... 1 1 1 2,000 2,000
Private Sector.................. 1 1 1 2,000 2,000
Government...................... 1 1 1 2,000 2,000
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Totals...................... 9 .............. 9 .............. 8,160
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An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-01909 Filed 1-29-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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