The recovery of Interior Least Terns is another testimony to the success of the Endangered Species Act.

Last week the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed delisting the Interior Least Tern, a subspecies of the Least Tern, the smallest American tern species. When the Interior Least Tern was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1985 as threatened with extinction, there were fewer than 2,000 remaining, and only a few dozen nesting sites scattered across a once-expansive range in the Great Plains and the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Today there are more than 18,000 Interior Least Terns that nest at more than 480 sites in 18 states, thanks to decades of innovative conservation efforts and diverse partnerships among local, state, and federal stakeholders.

A thorough review of the best available biological studies indicates that Interior Least Tern populations are healthy, stable, and increasing, and the species no longer faces the threat of extinction. Consequently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to delist the species from the ESA as a result of its recovery.

“The recovery of the Interior Least Tern is truly an American conservation success story,” said Margaret Everson, principal deputy director of the Service. “Dozens of states, federal agencies, tribes, businesses, and conservation groups all pitched in to prevent the tern’s extinction and put it on the path to recovery, thanks to the strength of these partnerships.”

To review the rest of this article and more information about Interior Least Terns and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, see https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=recovery-of-america%E2%80%99s-smallest-tern-prompts-proposal-to-delist-&_ID=36484