Northern Spotted Owl perched on tree branch in forest.

Threatened and Endangered Species

The BLM is a leader in the conservation of wildlife, fish, and plant species and their habitats. BLM-managed lands provide habitat for more than 3,000 special status species. The BLM Threatened and Endangered Species Program works to conserve all special status species, which include species federally listed as threatened or endangered and species identified as “sensitive” by the BLM. Special status species include mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, fish, and plants. Learn more on our special status species webpage. 

A lesser long-nosed bat flies to a flower to drink nectar.
Lesser long nosed-bat. Photo Courtesy of Scott Altenbach, Bat Conservation International

Each BLM state organization has fish and wildlife biologists and botanists who work to conserve species and habitats. Biologists and botanists work together to protect habitat that species use throughout the year, such as for breeding, migration, or wintering. The BLM coordinates with state and federal agencies, Tribal governments, universities, industry, private landowners, non-governmental conservation organizations, and other partners to conserve and recover fish, wildlife, and plant species and their habitats on public lands. Learn more about our partners. 

The priority of the BLM Threatened and Endangered Species Program is the proactive conservation and recovery of BLM special status species. By protecting and improving what we have today, we can increase conservation successes and avoid future species populations and habitat declines.

BLM Threatened and Endangered Species Program mission:  

Conserve and recover BLM special status species by collaborating across programs and with our partners, implementing proactive, science-based ecosystem-level conservation, and communicating Threatened and Endangered Species Program successes within the BLM and to our partners and the public. 

The BLM Strategic Plan for T&E Species, 2022-2027 describes the BLM’s priorities for conservation of wildlife, fish, plants and their habitat. 

Conservation Success Stories

Arizona, Gila DO
People standing and sitting in a creek with with buckets and scientific equipment

Successful mechanical removal of green sunfish from closed systems in southern Arizona

The green sunfish, which is native to eastern North America, was deemed by fish biologists as the most significant threat to native fishes in Aravaipa and Bonita creeks.
Alaska
A wood bison stands in a snowy landscape

Alaska Wood Bison Restoration project poised to build on decades of effort

Support alone wouldn’t return the wood bison to Alaska, the need to weave local knowledge with western science and several partners was required.
Wyoming, Cody FO
A black-footed ferret sticks its head out of its home, which is a hole in the ground.

First taste of freedom: 18 captive-born ferrets released in northwest Wyoming

BLM Wyoming Cody Field Office had the unique honor of participating in a release of endangered, captive-born black-footed ferrets to private and public land this fall in northwest Wyoming.
Barstow FO
A man looking at a cage in the marsh.

Moving toward the recovery of the Amargosa Vole

In the hottest and driest parts of the Mojave Desert lives the endangered Amargosa vole, a small mouse-like rodent with short ears and a short tail. This rare species only lives in small patches of habitat, about 75 acres spread across 55 patches of bulrush marsh along the Amargosa River near Tecopa, California. Near Tecopa, the Amargosa River rises above ground and creates a green oasis for the vole and other rare plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. The Amargosa vole was thought to be extinct in the early 1900s but was rediscovered in the late 1970s.