Review of the proposal to de-list the American peregrine falcon

On 30 June 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published an Advance No tice of an Intent (Notice of Intent) to remove the American peregrine falco n (Falco peregrinus anatum; hereafter referred to as American peregrine) fr om the list of endangered and threatened wildlife. In October 1995, the Rap tor Research Foundation (RRF) appointed an ad hoc committee to review scien tific data available on the American peregrine's status. This paper summari zes the committee's findings and recommendations, which were based on a com parison of current biological data with recovery goals specified in recover y plans. Our review indicated that: (1) goals for numbers of territorial pa irs in regional recovery plans appeared to have been reached or exceeded by 1995 in the Alaska Recovery Region, Pacific Recovery Region, Rocky Mountai n Southwest Recovery Region, and Canadian Recovery Region, but not in the E astern Recovery Region; (2) state or zone goals within recovery regions for numbers of pairs were known to have been met by 1995 in only the Canadian Recovery Region; (3) goals for sustaining the desired number of territorial pairs over time were not known to have been met in the Alaska Recovery Reg ion (the only region with such a recovery goal); (4) goals for the average number of young fledged per territorial pair were known to have been met by 1995 in the Alaska and Rocky Mountain Southwest Recovery Regions, but were not known to have been met in the Pacific and Canadian Recovery Regions; a nd (5) goals for levels of organochlorine pesticide contamination in Americ an peregrine eggs were not known to have been met by 1995 in the 2 recovery regions where such goals had been established. Despite the fact that data were not available to document achievement of all recovery goals, we conclu ded that the available population data demonstrated a consistent picture of nearly a range-wide population increase over at least the past decade. We unanimously thought that the status of the American peregrine warranted dow n-listing or de-listing. However, a minority of members was concerned that sufficient data were not available to evaluate the sustainability of recove ry and whether or not causes of endangerment had been eliminated. A majorit y of members con eluded that populations in the Alaska, Pacific, Rocky Moun tain Southwest, and Canadian recovery regions are not at risk of becoming e ndangered in the immediate future because numeric population recovery goals had been attained and, therefore, should be removed from the list of feder ally threatened and endangered wildlife. A majority of members regarded bre eding peregrines in the Eastern Recovery Region as less secure and recommen ded that the population in the eastern United States be down-listed but not de-listed until numeric goals for numbers of nesting pairs are met. Prelim inary data suggest that this might have occurred in 1996.