The Consultation Initiation Template was created to help federal agencies, their delegated agents, and consultants prepare and submit the information needed to request Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultations. These submissions are known as biological assessments or biological evaluations. NOAA Fisheries Service Northwest Region has developed a standardized template for biological assessments or biological evaluations to encourage consistency in format and content, reduce additional information requests, and to facilitate and expedite reviews.

The Consultation Initiation Template is also a completion checklist that federal agencies and the Northwest Region will use to ensure that all applicable information has been provided. When we determine that a biological assessment/biological evaluation is complete, we'll notify the federal action agency that we've initiated consultation. Consultations can be tracked on our Public Consultation Tracking System (PCTS).