The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for administering and implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conserve and recover federally listed species of plants and animals native to the United States and its territories. It also enforces fish and wildlife laws, protects and recovers threatened and endangered species, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores vital wildlife habitat and assists other governments with conservation efforts.

Before a plant or animal species can receive protection under the ESA, it must first be placed on the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. An "endangered" species is one that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. A "threatened" species is one that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

The Endangered Species Program (Program) works cooperatively with many partners, such as local, state and Federal governments, Tribes, business, and private citizens in order to conserve and restore our threatened and endangered species. Additionally, the Program identifies species that are candidates for listing and others that are at-risk of being listed under the ESA. Through these cooperative partnership efforts, fish, wildlife, plants, and their ecosystems have a greater opportunity of reaching a secure and self-sustaining status in the wild so they no longer need the protections of the ESA.

The roles and responsibilities of the Endangered Species Program are numerous and include the following: Conservation Planning, Listing/Delisting, Recovery, Consultation, Grants

In order to carry out the purposes of the ESA, the Service creates both rulemaking and non-rulemaking documents reflecting the policies, regulations, and legislation. As of January 2008, the Carlsbad Fish & Wildlife Service posts its government regulations on the Internet at www.regulations.gov and at http://www.fws.gov/carlsbad

Regulations.gov is a one-stop electronic document system that allows the public to easily search, view, and comment on numerous federal regulatory actions (e.g. Federal Register Notices, supporting analysis, etc.) from more than 35 Departments and Agencies. By having these rulemaking and non-rulemaking documents accessible on a single Internet site, the public can more easily participate in the regulatory process and have more efficient interactions with its government.