Context: Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are required to create an Endangered Species Recovery Plan outlining the goals, tasks required, likely costs, and estimated timeline to recover endangered species (i.e., increase their numbers and improve their management to the point where they can be removed from the endangered list). The ESA does not specify when a recovery plan must be completed. The FWS has a policy specifying completion within three years of the species being listed, but the average time to completion is approximately six years. The annual rate of recovery plan completion increased steadily from the Ford administration (4) through Carter (9), Reagan (30), Bush I (44), and Clinton (72), but declined under Bush II (16 per year as of 9/1/06).

Question: What four topics are required in an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: goals, tasks required, likely costs, and estimated timeline to recover endangered species

Question: What is the time limit for completing an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: The ESA does not specify when a recovery plan must be completed.

Question: What Recovery Plan duration the does Fish and Wildlife Service plan for in their policies?
Answer: completion within three years

Question: What is the average time of completion of an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: approximately six years

Question: Which president had the most completed Recovery Plans during their administration?
Answer: Clinton (72)

Question: What does FWS require NMFS to create?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What length of time does the NMFS policy say plans must be completed by?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What was the average completion time for an FWS plan?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: Who requires the FWS to have a completion policy?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What organizations are not required to have a recovery plan?
Answer: Unanswerable