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The Illinois List Review and Revision
Under the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act, the Board is responsible for maintaining the Illinois List of Endangered and Threatened Species. The Illinois List is reviewed and revised as necessary, but no less often than every five years. The first Illinois List was published in 1981. Since then, there have been eight five-year reviews and revisions of the entire List, as well as some administrative and editorial revisions, resulting in the current (2020) Illinois List of 483 endangered and threatened species (153 animal and 330 plant species).
By law, changes to the Illinois List must be based on scientific evidence. Factors that are considered when evaluating a species include changes in population size, changes in range in the state, whether it occurs at protected sites, any known threats to its existence, as well as features of its life history which might have a bearing on survival. The Board may remove from the Illinois List any non-federally-listed species for which it finds satisfactory scientific evidence that its wild or natural populations are no longer endangered or threatened in Illinois. A public hearing is held to consider the Board’s action of listing, delisting, or changing the listing status of a species.
Please refer to the links below for more information about the Illinois List and the review and revision process.
History of the Illinois List
The following Board publication includes a review of the history of the Illinois List of Endangered and Threatened Species: The Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act at Forty: a Review of the Act’s Provisions and the Illinois List of Endangered and Threatened Species.
Review and Revision of the Illinois List
To produce an updated Illinois List of Endangered and Threatened Species (Illinois List) in 2020 as mandated by the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act, the Board began the review and revision process in 2016. Follow this link for information on the 2020 revision.
The 2025 Review and Revision of the Illinois List
The next mandated, five-year review and revision of the Illinois List is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Petition packages to add a species to the Illinois List, remove a species from the List, or change the status of a listed species can be submitted to the Board at any time. The Board has the discretion to make changes to the List prior to a scheduled five-year revision, but petitions may be held until the next review process is underway. Use the following links to create a petition package.
Past Review & Revisions