Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 10 Sec. 5402

  • Agency: means the Agency of Natural Resources. See
  • Endangered species: means a species listed as endangered under this chapter or under the federal Endangered Species Act. See
  • Habitat: means the physical and biological environment in which a particular species of plant or animal lives. See
  • Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Natural Resources. See
  • Species: means wildlife or wild plants and any subspecies or other group of wildlife or wild plants of the same species, the members of which may interbreed when mature. See
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
  • Threatened species: means a species listed as a threatened species under this chapter or determined to be a "threatened species" under the federal Endangered Species Act. See
  • Wildlife: means any member of a nondomesticated species of the animal kingdom, whether reared in captivity or not, including any mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod, or other invertebrate and also including any part, product, egg, offspring, dead body, or part of the dead body of any such wildlife. See

§ 5402. Endangered and threatened species lists

(a) The Secretary shall adopt by rule a State endangered species list and a State threatened species list. The listing for any species may apply to the whole State or to any part of the State and shall identify the species by its most recently accepted genus and species names and, if available, the common name.

(b) The Secretary shall determine a species to be endangered if it normally occurs in the State and its continued existence as a sustainable component of the State’s wildlife or wild plants is in jeopardy.

(c) The Secretary shall determine a species to be threatened if:

(1) it is a sustainable component of the State’s wildlife or wild plants;

(2) it is reasonable to conclude based on available information that its numbers are declining; and

(3) unless protected, it will become an endangered species.

(d) In determining whether a species is threatened or endangered, the Secretary shall consider:

(1) the present or threatened destruction, degradation, fragmentation, modification, or curtailment of the range or habitat of the species;

(2) any killing, harming, or over-utilization of the species for commercial, sporting, scientific, educational, or other purposes;

(3) disease or predation affecting the species;

(4) the adequacy of existing regulation;

(5) actions relating to the species carried out or about to be carried out by any governmental agency or any other person who may affect the species;

(6) competition with other species, including nonnative invasive species;

(7) the decline in the population;

(8) cumulative impacts; and

(9) other natural or human-made factors affecting the continued existence of the species.

(e) In determining whether a species is threatened or endangered or whether to delist a species, the Secretary shall:

(1) use the best scientific, commercial, and other data available;

(2) at least 30 days prior to commencement of rulemaking, notify and consult with appropriate officials in Canada, appropriate State and federal agencies, other states having a common interest in the species, affected landowners, and any interested persons; and

(3) notify the appropriate officials and agencies of Quebec or any state contiguous to Vermont in which the species affected is known to occur. (Added 1981, No. 188 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 2015, No. 145 (Adj. Sess.), § 20.)