The report includes a recovery plan that presents ways to help panthers thrive as their southern Florida habitat becomes more limited because of urban sprawl, agricultural development and road building.
The only breeding population is located in southern Florida, where roughly 80 panthers remain in the wild.
"There is insufficient habitat in South Florida to sustain a viable panther population," said the report released Tuesday. "The prospects for population expansion into south-central Florida are questionable at this time."
The wildlife service's plan includes specific criteria to be met to downlist the Florida panther to threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
It includes the possible reintroduction of panthers in locations across the southeastern United States, but presents no timetable. Instead, the plan calls for holding extensive public hearings and coordination with state agencies before any action is taken.
The thought is that moving the panthers to more wide-open locations where they can find prey will provide the necessary habitat for them to feed, rest and mate.
The Florida panther once ranged throughout most of the South. Today, the Florida panther presently occupies less than 5 percent of its historic range.
State and federal officials designated 600,000 acres of privately owned land in Lee, Collier and Hendry counties as prime habitat for the panther in the early 1990s, but that area has seen a drastic rise in development.
Officials have allowed people to build throughout the panther habitat, granting permits for a new university, new churches, roads, golf courses and subdivisions.