FWS revised its regulations concerning protections of endangered and threatened species under the ESA by reinstating the general application of the "blanket rule'' option for protecting newly listed threatened species pursuant to §4(d) of the Act, with the continued option to promulgate species-specific §4(d) rules, and extending to federally recognized tribes the exceptions to prohibitions for threatened species that the regulations currently provide to the employees or agents of FWS and other federal and state agencies to aid, salvage, or dispose of threatened species.

FWS and NMFS finalized revisions to portions of their regulations that implement §4 of the ESA, concerning procedures and criteria used for listing, reclassifying, and delisting species on the lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants and designating critical habitat.

FWS and NMFS finalized revisions to portions of their regulations that implement §7 of the ESA concerning interagency cooperation procedures.

FWS and NMFS rescinded the final rule titled “Regulations for Listing Endangered and Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat” that was published in December 2016; the recession removes the regulatory definition of "habitat" established by the rule. 

FWS and NMFS proposed to add a definition of “habitat” to regulations that implement §4 of the ESA; the proposal is intended to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 48 ELR 20196, that an area must logically be “habitat” in order for that area to meet the narrower category of “critical habitat” as defined in the Act.