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16 USC Sec. 1532 01/05/99

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TITLE 16 - CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 35 - ENDANGERED SPECIES

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Sec. 1532. Definitions

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For the purpose of this chapter -
(1) The term ''alternative courses of action'' means all
alternatives and thus is not limited to original project
objectives and agency jurisdiction.
(2) The term ''commercial activity'' means all activities of
industry and trade, including, but not limited to, the buying or
selling of commodities and activities conducted for the purpose
of facilitating such buying and selling: Provided, however, That
it does not include exhibition of commodities by museums or
similar cultural or historical organizations.
(3) The terms ''conserve'', ''conserving'', and
''conservation'' mean to use and the use of all methods and
procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or
threatened species to the point at which the measures provided
pursuant to this chapter are no longer necessary. Such methods
and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities
associated with scientific resources management such as research,
census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance,
propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the
extraordinary case where population pressures within a given
ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated
taking.
(4) The term ''Convention'' means the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora, signed on March 3, 1973, and the appendices thereto.
(5)(A) The term ''critical habitat'' for a threatened or
endangered species means -
(i) the specific areas within the geographical area occupied
by the species, at the time it is listed in accordance with the
provisions of section 1533 of this title, on which are found
those physical or biological features (I) essential to the
conservation of the species and (II) which may require special
management considerations or protection; and
(ii) specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by
the species at the time it is listed in accordance with the
provisions of section 1533 of this title, upon a determination
by the Secretary that such areas are essential for the
conservation of the species.
(B) Critical habitat may be established for those species now
listed as threatened or endangered species for which no critical
habitat has heretofore been established as set forth in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.
(C) Except in those circumstances determined by the Secretary,
critical habitat shall not include the entire geographical area
which can be occupied by the threatened or endangered species.
(6) The term ''endangered species'' means any species which is
in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion
of its range other than a species of the Class Insecta determined
by the Secretary to constitute a pest whose protection under the
provisions of this chapter would present an overwhelming and
overriding risk to man.
(7) The term ''Federal agency'' means any department, agency,
or instrumentality of the United States.
(8) The term ''fish or wildlife'' means any member of the
animal kingdom, including without limitation any mammal, fish,
bird (including any migratory, nonmigratory, or endangered bird
for which protection is also afforded by treaty or other
international agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk,
crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate, and includes any
part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead body or
parts thereof.
(9) The term ''foreign commerce'' includes, among other things,
any transaction -
(A) between persons within one foreign country;
(B) between persons in two or more foreign countries;
(C) between a person within the United States and a person in
a foreign country; or
(D) between persons within the United States, where the fish
and wildlife in question are moving in any country or countries
outside the United States.
(10) The term ''import'' means to land on, bring into, or
introduce into, or attempt to land on, bring into, or introduce
into, any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,
whether or not such landing, bringing, or introduction
constitutes an importation within the meaning of the customs laws
of the United States.
(11) Repealed. Pub. L. 97-304, Sec. 4(b), Oct. 13, 1982, 96
Stat. 1420.
(12) The term ''permit or license applicant'' means, when used
with respect to an action of a Federal agency for which exemption
is sought under section 1536 of this title, any person whose
application to such agency for a permit or license has been
denied primarily because of the application of section 1536(a) of
this title to such agency action.
(13) The term ''person'' means an individual, corporation,
partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity; or
any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of
the Federal Government, of any State, municipality, or political
subdivision of a State, or of any foreign government; any State,
municipality, or political subdivision of a State; or any other
entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(14) The term ''plant'' means any member of the plant kingdom,
including seeds, roots and other parts thereof.
(15) The term ''Secretary'' means, except as otherwise herein
provided, the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of
Commerce as program responsibilities are vested pursuant to the
provisions of Reorganization Plan Numbered 4 of 1970; except that
with respect to the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter
and the Convention which pertain to the importation or
exportation of terrestrial plants, the term also means the
Secretary of Agriculture.
(16) The term ''species'' includes any subspecies of fish or
wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment of any
species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when
mature.
(17) The term ''State'' means any of the several States, the
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American
Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands.
(18) The term ''State agency'' means any State agency,
department, board, commission, or other governmental entity which
is responsible for the management and conservation of fish,
plant, or wildlife resources within a State.
(19) The term ''take'' means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt,
shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to
engage in any such conduct.
(20) The term ''threatened species'' means any species which is
likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable
future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
(21) The term ''United States'', when used in a geographical
context, includes all States.

-SOURCE-
(Pub. L. 93-205, Sec. 3, Dec. 28, 1973, 87 Stat. 885; Pub. L.
94-359, Sec. 5, July 12, 1976, 90 Stat. 913; Pub. L. 95-632, Sec.
2, Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3751; Pub. L. 96-159, Sec. 2, Dec. 28,
1979, 93 Stat. 1225; Pub. L. 97-304, Sec. 4(b), Oct. 13, 1982, 96
Stat. 1420; Pub. L. 100-478, title I, Sec. 1001, Oct. 7, 1988, 102
Stat. 2306.)

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REFERENCES IN TEXT
The customs laws of the United States, referred to in par. (10),
are classified generally to Title 19, Customs Duties.
Reorganization Plan Numbered 4 of 1970, referred to in par. (15),
is Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84
Stat. 2090, which is set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government
Organization and Employees.

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AMENDMENTS
1988 - Par. (13). Pub. L. 100-478, Sec. 1001(a), amended par.
(13) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (13) read as follows:
''The term 'person' means an individual, corporation, partnership,
trust, association, or any other private entity, or any officer,
employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the Federal
Government, of any State or political subdivision thereof, or of
any foreign government.''
Par. (15). Pub. L. 100-478, Sec. 1001(b), inserted ''also''
before ''means the Secretary of Agriculture''.
1982 - Par. (11). Pub. L. 97-304 struck out par. (11) which
defined ''irresolvable conflict'' as, with respect to any action
authorized, funded, or carried out by a Federal agency, a set of
circumstances under which, after consultation as required in
section 1536(a) of this title, completion of such action would
violate section 1536(a)(2) of this title.
1979 - Par. (11). Pub. L. 96-159 substituted ''action would
violate section 1536(a)(2) of this title'' for ''action would (A)
jeopardize the continued existence of an endangered or threatened
species, or (B) result in the adverse modification or destruction
of a critical habitat''.
1978 - Pars. (1) to (4). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(1), (7), added
par. (1) and redesignated former pars. (1) to (3) as (2) to (4),
respectively. Former par. (4) redesignated (6).
Par. (5). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(2), (7), added par. (5). Former
par. (5) redesignated (8).
Par. (6). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(7), redesignated former par. (4)
as (6). Former par. (6) redesignated (9).
Par. (7). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(3), (7), added par. (7). Former
par. (7) redesignated (10).
Pars. (8) to (10). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(7), redesignated former
pars. (5) to (7) as (8) to (10), respectively. Former pars. (8) to
(10) redesignated (13) to (15), respectively.
Pars. (11), (12). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(4), (7), added pars.
(11) and (12). Former pars. (11) and (12) redesignated (16) and
(17), respectively.
Pars. (13) to (15). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(7), redesignated
former pars. (8) to (10) as (13) to (15), respectively. Former
pars. (13) to (15) redesignated as (18) to (20), respectively.
Par. (16). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(5), (7), redesignated former
par. (11) as (16) and substituted ''and any distinct population
segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which
interbreeds when mature'' for ''and any other group of fish or
wildlife of the same species or smaller taxa in common spatial
arrangement that interbreed when mature''. Former par. (16)
redesignated (21).
Par. (17). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(7), redesignated former par.
(12) as (17).
Par. (18). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(6), (7), redesignated former
par. (13) as (18) and substituted ''fish, plant, or wildlife'' for
''fish or wildlife''.
Pars. (19) to (21). Pub. L. 95-632, Sec. 2(7), redesignated pars.
(14) to (16) as (19) to (21), respectively.
1976 - Par. (1). Pub. L. 94-359 inserted '': Provided, however,
That it does not include exhibition of commodities by museums or
similar cultural or historical organizations.'' after
''facilitating such buying and selling''.

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TERMINATION OF TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
For termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, see
note set out preceding section 1681 of Title 48, Territories and
Insular Possessions.

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SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS
This section is referred to in section 1536 of this title.