Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act Glossary: Key Terms & Definitions for Developers and Consultants

Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act Key Terms & Definitions

Action Area: The geographic area impacted by an activity requiring Incidental Take Authority. Includes all areas to be affected directly or indirectly, not merely the immediate area involved in the action. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Candidate Species: Species of wildlife and plants that the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks has determined to be candidates for listing as threatened or endangered in Kansas. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Conservation Plan: A plan developed by the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks for ensuring the survival and effective management of threatened or endangered species. May include research, censuses, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Critical Habitat: Specific geographic areas, designated by regulation of the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks, that contain physical or biological features essential to the conservation of a listed threatened or endangered species and that may require special management considerations or protection. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Endangered Species: Any species of wildlife or plant whose continued existence as a viable component of the state's wild fauna or flora is determined to be in jeopardy. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Essential Habitat: Those areas designated for a threatened or endangered species pursuant to K.S.A. 32-960, and amendments thereto, and subject to the provisions of the Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act and its regulations. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Harm: Any act that actually kills or injures wildlife, including significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, or sheltering. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Harass: An intentional or negligent act or omission which creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by annoying it to such an extent as to significantly disrupt normal behavioral patterns which include breeding, feeding, or sheltering. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Incidental Take: Any take otherwise prohibited, if such take is incidental to and not the purpose of the carrying out of an otherwise lawful activity. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Incidental Take Authority: Authority provided by the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks that allows incidental take of threatened and endangered species when such take is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful activity. (K.A.R. 115-15-2)

Listed Species: Those species of wildlife and plants determined to be threatened or endangered pursuant to K.S.A. 32-960. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Person: Any individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or other private entity; or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the federal government, or any state or political subdivision thereof, or of any foreign government. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Recovery Plan: A plan developed by the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks for the conservation and survival of a threatened or endangered species. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Significant Habitat Loss: An adverse impact on occupied habitat of a listed species that represents a substantial and imminent threat to the population's ability to survive and reproduce on a long-term basis. (K.A.R. 115-15-3)

Take: To harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Threatened Species: Any species of wildlife or plant which appears likely, within the foreseeable future, to become an endangered species. (K.S.A. 32-958)

Unforeseen Circumstances: Changes in circumstances affecting a species or geographic area covered by an Incidental Take Authority that could not reasonably have been anticipated by the applicant or the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks and that result in a substantial and adverse change in the status of a threatened or endangered species. (K.A.R. 115-15-1)

Wildlife: Any member of the animal kingdom, including, without limitation, any mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod, or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof. (K.S.A. 32-958)