Transition for Activities that are Already Approved or Planned:

After listing, the Endangered Species Act sets time lines for the development of a Recovery Strategy, Government Response Statement and a Habitat Regulation, which can mitigate or lessen the impacts of the general habitat protection provisions of the Act. The full impacts of listing should be deferred until after the habitat regulation is in effect; for activities and applications that pre-date listing.

Alternately, the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) posts a preliminary list of species that it will be considering at forthcoming meetings, well in advance of the actual meeting date. The Ministry of Natural Resources should facilitate use of this time to determine the likely impacts of listing through habitat restrictions, and prepare to address the impacts either at the same time as the species is added to the SARO list, or very soon afterwards.

The OFA recommends that applications be considered based on the species status at the date of application.