The demands of implementing the Endangered Species Act have always stretched the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s resources thin. The resulting backlog of species in need of listing (the only way to receive the full protections provided by the ESA) has led to regular litigation with biodiversity advocacy groups. In May and July of 2011, plaintiffs WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) entered into major settlement agreements with FWS. The settlements set a schedule for FWS to resolve the backlog of candidate species, requiring that a determination be made for every species on the 2010 candidate list by the end of fiscal year 2017. The panel will discuss the issues that led to this settlement, its implications for ESA implementation in the coming years, and some of the concerns that have made the settlement controversial. Of particular concern are recent cases (including since the settlement) that have required time-consuming NEPA documentation for certain FWS actions, some of which will be necessary during settlement compliance. Finally, the panel will discuss the carving-out of climate-change related harms from the ESA’s reach, especially as it relates to settlement compliance (by requiring additional procedures recently held to be covered by NEPA).