Special Status Species

IM MT 2009-039 2009 Montana/Dakotas Special Status Species List

The objectives of the Bureau of Land Management Special Status Species (SSS) program are:

1. To conserve listed species and the ecosystems on which they depend, and
2. To ensure that actions requiring authorization or approval by the BLM are consistent with the conservation needs of special status species and do not contribute to the need to list any special status species either under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or other provisions of the Bureau's SSS policy.

Special Status plants include species proposed for listing or listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, candidates for listing as threatened or endangered, state listed species, and species which the State Director has designated as sensitive. 

Four plant species in Montana and one species in North and South Dakota are protected by the Endangered Species Act.  None of them are known to occur on BLM land.

Sensitive species are designated by the State Director and are species that are under status review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; could become endangered in the state; have downward trend in habitat or population; have small, widely dispersed populations; inhabit ecological refugia; specialized or unique habitats; or are state-listed.

Sensitive species are designated in cooperation with the Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota Natural Heritage Programs, which maintain information about species of concern.