Endangered Species

 

A Big Decision Is Thrown To The Wolves. According to E&E News, “The Fish and Wildlife Service today formally enunciated plans to remove the Lower 48’s gray wolf population from Endangered Species Act protections, elevating a dispute that could still take years to resolve. In a highly anticipated notice, the agency cited considerable progress in reviving a species first identified as endangered decades ago. The wolf’s population now numbers an estimated 6,000 in the continental United States, officials say. ‘The facts are clear and indisputable; the gray wolf no longer meets the definition of a threatened or endangered species,’ said acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.’Today the wolf is thriving on its vast range, and it is reasonable to conclude it will continue to do so in the future.’ But while Bernhardt cast the gray wolf as an ESA success story along the lines of the delisted bald eagle, peregrine falcon and American alligator, some environmentalists denounced the proposal as premature. ‘The Trump administration is attempting to sign a death warrant for America’s gray wolves,’ said Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, adding that ‘we’ll fight as hard as we can to stop that from happening.’” [E&E News, 3/14/19 (=)]

 

Federal Wolf Plan Open For Public Comment Friday. According to Duluth News Tribune, “The U.S Interior Department on Thursday said it will publish its plan to remove federal protections for wolves in the Federal Register on Friday, giving the public until mid-May to comment on the proposal. The plan, first promised last June and announced again last week, would have the most impact on Minnesota, Wisconsin and Mcichgian where established populations of wolves currently exist but where a court order has retained Endangered Species Act Protections for them. The federal plan, developed by the U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service in recent months, would ‘delist’ wolves across all the contiguous U.S., even where they do not exist, although acts of Congress already removed federal protections for Rocky Mountain and other western wolves. Comments on the plan must be made within 60 days of publication ... It will be the fourth straight administration to pursue a formal wolf delisting, with each effort so far thwarted by wolf protection groups and federal courts that deemed the previous efforts improper on unwarranted.” [Duluth News Tribune, 3/14/19 (=)]

 

AP | US Moves To Lift Remaining Gray Wolf Protections. According to Star Tribune, “Gray wolves in the U.S. would be stripped of federal protection and subjected to hunting and trapping in more states under a proposal released Thursday that declares the predators recovered following a decades-long restoration effort. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to revoke the wolves’ endangered and threatened species status and put them under authority of state wildlife agencies across the Lower 48 states. The Associated Press reported last week that the proposal was in the works. ‘The facts are clear and indisputable — the gray wolf no longer meets the definition of a threatened or endangered species,’ acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said. Wildlife advocates and some members of Congress say the move is premature because wolves occupy only a fraction of a historical range that once stretched across most of North America. But state officials, livestock interests and hunters want the government to make it easier to kill wolves. The predators periodically prey on livestock such as cows and sheep and have been blamed for declining numbers of elk, moose and other big game in some areas.” [Star Tribune, 3/14/19 (=)]

 

AP | Wolves Prove Resilient, But Proposal Could Curtail Expansion. According to Billings Gazette, “A proposal to strip gray wolves of their remaining federal protections could curtail their rapid expansion across vast swaths of the U.S. West and Great Lakes, yet the predators already are proving to be resilient in states where hunting and trapping occur. Thursday’s Interior Department proposal to remove threatened and endangered species protections for wolves would end a decades-long restoration effort that saw a remarkable turnaround for an animal once nearly exterminated across the Lower 48 states. Now more than 6,000 gray wolves live in portions of nine states. Authority over wolves would revert to state wildlife agencies with no obligation to maintain current numbers. Critics say that amounts to a death sentence for thousands of the animals, shrinking well-established populations and preventing wanderers from carving out new territory. The track record suggests otherwise in parts of the Northern Rockies, where wolf numbers have not noticeably flagged in the face of aggressive hunting and trapping.” [Billings Gazette, 3/15/19 (=)]

 

Editorial: Wolves Won't Be Delisted Without A Fight. According to Capital Press, “Cattlemen are cheering an announcement that the Department of the Interior will soon propose a plan to end federal protections on grey wolves. On March 6, Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon come up with a plan for delisting wolves, returning management to the states and tribes. ‘Recovery of the grey wolf under the Endangered Species Act is one of our nation’s great conservation successes, with the wolf joining other cherished species, such as the bald eagle, that have been brought back from the brink with the help of the ESA,’ said Fish and Wildlife spokesman Gavin Shire. While we agree that this is good news, the proposal has a long way to go before becoming reality. Since they were reintroduced in in 1995, grey wolves have enjoyed intensive federal and state management. When biologists first considered how long it would take wolves to become re-established in the Pacific Northwest, they had no idea the species would thrive the way it has. They started with 31 wolves transplanted from Canada to Idaho and 35 transplanted to Yellowstone National Park. Now hundreds of wolves blanket Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming and range as far west as the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and across much of Washington state.” [Capital Press, 3/14/19 (-)]

 

Congress Members Want Protection For Gulf Whales. According to WLRN, “The unique whales are dark, sleek and can grow to over 40 feet long. Year round, they live in an area called DeSoto Canyon-- about 25 miles south of Pensacola and 90 miles west of South Tampa. It’s estimated there are less than 100, or maybe even less than 50 of them left. ‘We’re concerned about any kind of risk to them that might push them over the edge as it were because there are so few of them to begin with,’ said Laura Engleby, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She said a few things threaten the whales, like human-caused noise underwater, vessel strikes and oil spills. Back in 2016, the National Marine Fisheries Service said the whale was in danger of extinction and recommended it be protected under the Endangered Species Act. But two years later, it’s still under review. U.S. Representatives of Florida Vern Buchanan and Kathy Castor sent a letter to NOAA recently, urging the agency to act on that recommendation. Researchers are just now starting to learn more about Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whales, like how they interact, how they feed and what they eat.” [WLRN, 3/14/19 (=)]

 

Sage Advice. According to Politico, “Conservation groups are preparing themselves for Interior’s final record of decision on sage grouse plans to be released any day now. In anticipation, the Center for Western Priorities released analysis finding oil and gas companies with links to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt own 20 percent of all federal oil and gas leases that overlap with sage-grouse habitat across five states.” [Politico, 3/15/19 (=)]

 

Wildlife & Conservation

 

Lax Trafficking Laws, Internet Make ‘Otter Cafes’ A Thing. According to E&E News, “In trendy neighborhoods here, you can stay overnight at a bookstore, eat lunch with robots, catch your dinner in a ‘fishing restaurant’ and eat pizza in a cafe patrolled by a couple of wandering goats. But things get wild at Harry Harajuku Terrace. Harry Harajuku is a cafe, yes, but it’s more a rooftop petting zoo in the heart of the neon jungle. For $16, you get one drink and 30 minutes of quality time with non-native species — chinchillas, hedgehogs, prairie dogs and the cafe’s star attractions, Asian small-clawed otters. The otters are a growing concern for conservation activists monitoring the spread of online wildlife trafficking throughout East Asia. Wildlife advocates are hoping to pass tighter restrictions on international trade in Asian otters and other species this summer, rules that could halt the spread of exotic animals in Japan’s pet and entertainment market. But Harry’s customers just shrug. They post photos and videos online of the playful creatures that fuel demand for otters as pets.” [E&E News, 3/14/19 (=)]

 

 

 

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