Ten animals and 39 plants from Hawaii threatened by shrinking habitat and the onslaught of invasive species were proposed to receive U.S. Endangered Species Act protections Tuesday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the proposal in line with a 2011 legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and now has a year to determine whether to list.

“The Endangered Species Act has helped save a lot of species from extinction,” said Loyal Mehrhoff, former field supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office and now the center’s recovery director. “This is a good thing for Hawaii. This is a good thing for these species.”

The 49 plants and animals proposed for listing include the band-rumped storm petrel, the orangeblack Hawaiian damselfly and Maui reedgrass. There’s an anchialine pool shrimp found only on Maui and Hawaii island, and seven yellow-faced bees.

The species are found across all of the Hawaiian Islands in 11 different habitat types, with 48 of them occurring nowhere else but Hawaii.

Twenty-two of the plants and animals are found on Hawaii island and one or more of the other islands. Nine of the plants are found only on Kauai.

The species, officials said, are at risk of extinction due to invasive species, recreational activities, small population size and threats from erosion, landslides and fire. Most are threatened by a combination of habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change.

“Many of these species are at low numbers, from one to 10 individuals in the wild,” Mehrhoff said.

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for protection of 27 of the 49 Hawaii species in 2004, Mehrhoff said.

Tuesday’s decision, he said, is part of a landmark settlement agreement between the center and the service that expedites decisions on 757 species around the country and has so far resulted in endangered-species protections for 142 species and proposed protection for another 66, including the Hawaii 49.

Although the federal agency said it would not be designating critical habitat areas for these species at this time due to insufficient information, it will examine that issue later.

Officials said the listing of these species will have long-term benefits for the state by not only boosting ongoing conservation efforts, but by improving the ecological health of the islands.

“Implementing an ecosystem-based approach to the proposed listing allows the service to better prioritize and focus conservation and recovery actions in Hawaii,” said Kristi Young, acting field supervisor for the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office.

The orangeblack damselfly was once described in the early 1900s by renown Hawaii naturalist RCL Perkins as the most commonly observed insects on Oahu, seen in gardens and low-lying areas all over the island.

But the species began to disappear following the introduction of non-native fish to Hawaii after World War II.

The anchialine pool shrimp, Procaris hawaiana, is found within only a handful of particularly rare anchialine pools in coastal habitat on Maui and the Big Island. It is only one of two species in its genus, Procaris, with a sister species located in pools on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.

Among the threats to the shrimp: sedimentation and dumping of trash and non-native fish in their pools.

One of the species up for listing is a native palm, discovered by California horticulturist Don Hodel and named for Ray Baker, the late palm expert at Lyon Arboretum.

Another species — the band-rumped storm petrel — occurs in Japan, Hawaii, the Galapagos and subtropical areas of the Atlantic. But only the Hawaii population — found on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai and Lehua — is being proposed for listing.

The service is accepting comments through Dec. 1. Requests for a public hearing must be submitted in writing to Field Supervisor, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96850. Hearing requests must be received by Nov. 16.