MN State Statue 84.0895 (PROTECTION OF THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES) states that the DNR Commissioner “may undertake management programs, issue orders, and adopt rules necessary to bring a resident species of wild animal or plant that has been designated as threatened or endangered to a point at which it is no longer threatened or endangered.”
Minnesota DNR develops recovery plansto support this mandate. Recovery plans define speciesspecific recovery criteria and outline actions that can help achieve them. These recommendations aim to help conservation practitioners create shared goals to focus on actions that will most effectively support species recovery.
Recovery plans are designed for land managers, environmental professionals, consultants, researchers, and others working toward species recovery. They do not function as regulatory documents, sitespecific management plans, or replacements for permits required when working with endangered or threatened species.
What is Species Recovery?
Recovery criteria describe the conditions that must be met for a species to be considered recovered in Minnesota. “Recovered” in this context means the species is expected to persist without the protections of Minnesota’s Endangered and Threatened Species Statute. Recovery plans use criteria based on three core conservation principles: redundancy, resiliency, and representation (Shaffer & Stein, 2000; Wolf et al., 2015). The three Rs provide a framework for ensuring a species can adapt and persist over time. The three principles are designed to work together to ensure wholistic conservation. Meaning, a species is considered recovered only when all recovery criteria are met independently. The three Rs are also used for Federal species status assessments and recovery planning (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2016), which ensures Minnesota’s species recovery efforts support and align with national recovery efforts.
The three Rs can be assessed in a variety of ways. Measurements of redundancy and resiliency align closely to factors used in NatureServe Conservation Status Assessments (Faber-Langendoen et al., 2012).. As a member of the NatureServe Network, the MN DNR uses NatureServe’s methodology to track and assess the conservations status of native species in the state. These status assessments use variables such as population size, range extent, area of occupancy, and number and condition of Element Occurrences, or EOs. NatureServe provides consistent standards for defining populations (Element Occurrences, or EOs), assessing viability at the population level (EO Ranks) and developing conservation status ranks (SRanks) at the species level (Master et al., 2012).Using the quantitative metrics from this methodology allows recovery criteria to be set as thresholds that represent a species’ risk of extirpation...
Element Occurrences (EOs)
An Element Occurrence (EO) is a standard term used by NatureServe and MN DNR to represent a biological population and is the core biological unit assessed in recovery planning. An EO is a location where a specific species has been observed. It is typically based on a series of observations (source features) within proximity to each other. Element Occurrences are meant to represent persistent, biologically meaningful populations—not just one‑time sightings of a species outside appropriate habitat. They form the basis for further evaluations, such as EO viability (EO rank) and state conservation status ranks (Sranks).
EO Ranks are a metric for a population’s viability, or an EO’s probability of persistence based on population size, habitat conditions, and landscape context. NatureServe provides general guidelines on EO ranking (Hammerson et al., 2020). Additional species-specific considerations or criteria for assigning ranks may be specified in recovery plans.
Typical EO Rank categories include:
- A – Excellent condition
- B – Good condition
- C – Fair condition
- D – Poor condition
- F – Failed to find (historical location that could not be relocated)
- H – Historical (not observed recently)
- X – Extirpated
- E – Extant EO, unranked
Recovery criteria rely on EO ranks to represent viable populations (EO ranks A – B), which are considered likely to persist into the foreseeable future in the same or better condition. Viable populations are a subset of persistent populations (EO ranks A – CD), which are considered likely to persist into the foreseeable future, but the condition may degrade or the size may decrease. Populations ranked D, X, F or H are considered unlikely to contribute to species recovery. The viability of a population ranked E has not been assessed and indicates a key uncertainty.
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Read more about how recovery criteria are developed
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Redundancy is defined as the ability of the species to withstand catastrophic events. This is typically measured by the number of persistent populations (EOs ranked A-CD) and how spatial dispersion of those populations (total range extent). The more populations there are of a species and the more dispersed those populations are, the less likely it is that a single, large event can have a large negative impact (a catastrophe) and substantially increase the risk of a species’ being lost from Minnesota.
Resiliency is defined as the ability of a population to withstand natural stochasticity or human induced disturbance events. Most populations experience fluctuations in size from year-to-year. These fluctuations can be random, referred to as stochastic. They can be caused by natural disturbance events, such as weather or disease. Or, they can be caused by human activity. Many factors can contribute to the resiliency of a population: the species’ life history, the population size, genetic diversity, the area and quality of habitat available, and presence or absence of various threats. Resiliency is typically measured by the number of viable populations (EOs ranked A-B).
Representation: is defined as the ability of a species to adapt to changing conditions. Representation can be indicated by ecological or genetic diversity. Species with greater geographic distribution or more genetic diversity have more variation that may provide more ability to adapt to changes. Representation is often measured geographically as the number of Ecological Subsections in which persistent populations (EOs ranked A-CD) occur. Additional geographic or genetic factors may be incorporated where those data are available for a species. Genetic preservation, such as through conservation seed banking, may also be incorporated into this criteria (Center of Plant Conservation xxxx).
- Read more about how recovery actions are developed
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Recovery actions are essential for the successful implementation of recovery plan. Recovery actions included in recovery plans are based on the IUCN Conservation Actions Classification Scheme (IUCN, 2012a) and the IUCN Research Needed Classification Scheme (IUCN, 2012b).
Recovery actions are identified based on an assessment of the current status of a species. The actions included in a recovery plan are deemed the most critical to reaching the thresholds set in the recovery criteria.
Conservation Actions fall into the following six high level categories:
- Land or Water Protection
- Land or Water management
- Species management
- Education and awareness
- Law and Policy
- Livelihood, economic, and other incentives
Information needs fall into the following three high level categories:
- Research
- Conservation Planning
- Monitoring
Reducing the impact of and exposure to threats for a species are often the most essential recovery actions. Thus, the status assessment of a species includes a full threat assessment based on the IUCN Threats Classification Scheme (IUCN, 2022). Major threats fall into the following 12 high level categories:
- Residential and Commercial Development, including tourism and recreation areas
- Agriculture and Aquaculture, including wood plantations and ranching
- Energy Production and Mining, including renewable energy
- Transportation and Service Corridors
- Biological Resource Use, including hunting, gathering, logging, and fishing
- Human intrusion and disturbance, including recreation, miliary and work
- Natural system modifications, including fire/fire suppression and water management
- Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases
- Pollution, including from agriculture or excess energy
- Geological events
- Climate change & severe weather
- Other
- References
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Faber-Langendoen D, Nichols J, Master L, Snow K, Tomaino A, Bittman R, Hammerson G, Heidel B, Ramsay L, Teucher A, and Young B. 2012. NatureServe Conservation Status Assessments: Methodology for Assigning Ranks. NatureServe, Arlington, VA
Hammerson, G., Schweitzer, D., Master, L., Cordeiro, J., Tomaino, A., Oliver, L., & Nichols, J. 2020. Ranking Species Occurrences: Generic Guidelines and Decision Key. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
IUCN. Conservation Actions Classification Scheme (Version 2.0). International Union for the Conservation of Nature 2012a. https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/conservation-actions-classification-scheme
IUCN. 2012b. Research Needed Classification Scheme (Version 2.0). International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 2012b. https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/research-needed-classification-scheme
IUCN. Threats Classification Scheme (Version 3.3). International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 2022. https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/threat-classification-scheme
Master L, Faber-Langendoen D, Bittman R, Hammerson GA, Heidel B, Ramsay L, Snow K, Teucher A, and Tomaino A. 2012. NatureServe Conservation Status Assessments: Factors for Evaluating Species and Ecosystem Risk. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
Shaffer, M. L., & Stein, M. A. “Safeguarding Our Precious Heritage.” In Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States. (Oxford University Press, 2000), 399.
Wolf, S., Hartl, B., Carroll, C., Neel, M. C., & Greenwald, D. N. Beyond PVA: “Why Recovery under the Endangered Species Act Is More than Population Viability.” BioScience 65 no. 2 (2015): 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biu218.
- Questions about Species Recovery Planning?
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Contact
Bridget Henning-Randa, MN Endangered Species Consultant
Species Plans
The Minnesota DNR has developed new, streamlined recovery plans for priority endangered and threatened species. These plans make recommendations to help conservation partners identify shared goals and focus on the most effective conservation actions. Several existing species conservation plans were developed prior to this effort. They take a different form but continue to provide essential information to support strategic species conservation across the state.
