Endangered Species

 

Officials Say Nashville Crayfish No Longer Endangered. According to Associated Press, “Federal officials are proposing removing the Nashville crayfish from the endangered species list. A news release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a review has found the crayfish populations are ‘healthy, stable and robust.’ The 7-inch (18-centimeter) crustacean lives only in the Mill Creek watershed in metropolitan Nashville. The last review of the crayfish by the Fish and Wildlife Service recommended listing the species as ‘threatened.’ Tierra Curry says that would be a better option. The senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity says Nashville is developing rapidly, and giving the species threatened status would allow it some continued protection. The proposal for delisting is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. The agency will accept public comments through January 27.” [Associated Press, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

Nashville Crawfish Claws Its Way Off ESA List. According to E&E News, “Score the generally obscure Nashville crawfish as a notable Endangered Species Act victory. Thirty-three years after being listed as an endangered species, the crawfish that inhabits the Mill Creek watershed south of Nashville has now recovered and no longer needs federal protections, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. ‘Any time we are able to work with diverse stakeholders to successfully recover a species is a good day,’ FWS Regional Director Leo Miranda said today. ‘Overcoming conservation challenges and recovering species is very often due to ESA-inspired collaborations,’ he said, pointing to the assistance of the Nashville Zoo, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Mill Creek Watershed Association, private landowners and local developers. The Nashville Zoo, for instance, removed two dams located on its property that had created a barrier to crawfish and other small aquatic life, preventing upstream migration. A relative heavyweight within its family, growing to about 7 inches as an adult, the Nashville crawfish eats insects, worms, algae, fish eggs, snails and mussels, and in turn is dined upon by raccoons, fish and reptiles. It was formerly deemed acutely vulnerable due to siltation, stream alterations and water quality deterioration resulting from urban development pressures in the fast-growing Nashville area.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

Feds Tout Endangered Species Act Success For Three Species. According to Courthouse News Service, “The Nashville crayfish has an inordinately narrow habitat range. In fact, it exists in only one place in the world – the Mill Creek watershed located squarely in Nashville, Tennessee. Urban encroachment into its habitat prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the species as endangered in 1986. But a recovery program initiated since has proven so successful that the service will officially delist the crayfish Tuesday. ‘The ESA continues to be a dynamic tool for recovering wildlife, even in the nation’s urban settings,’ said Leo Miranda, regional director for the service’s southeast division. ESA stands for the Endangered Species Act, the embattled federal law that provides protection for endangered and threatened species throughout the United States. Even as industry groups attack the law as unnecessarily restrictive and an impediment to economic growth, the ecological successes of the recovery programs mandated by federal law continue to accumulate. On Tuesday, as the delisting of the Nashville crayfish is published on the federal register, Fish and Wildlife will also publish the reclassification of the June sucker, a fish native to the Provo River and Utah Lake watershed in northern Utah, moving it from endangered to threatened.” [Courthouse News Service, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

Koalas Aren’t Extinct, But Their Future Is In Danger, Experts Say. According to The New York Times, “There is no doubt that the fires tearing across eastern Australia have been hurting koalas. With large areas of their crucial habitat ravaged, it is unclear what the future holds for a species that was already under threat before this round of bush fires. Some koalas have been rescued — singed and dehydrated — from the wild. And with blazes still burning, it is hard to know how many have been killed. But in describing the plight of these animals, is it possible to go too far? The phrase ‘functionally extinct’ made the rounds in news articles and on social media over the weekend. The term refers to a species that no longer plays a role in an ecosystem or that is on its way to extinction, possibly irremovably. That provoked a visceral reaction from readers who wondered if the fuzzy marsupials, a national symbol of Australia, will be gone forever. In fact, koalas are not extinct. And some scientists warned that exaggeration can hurt, rather than help, conservation efforts. ‘What is particularly frustrating about the term ‘functional extinction’ is it indicates a population that is basically past the point of no return, so it means that nothing really can be done,’ said Jacquelyn Gill, an associate professor at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute and School of Biology and Ecology. ‘That might seem like scientists quibbling over terms or trying to argue for nerdy levels of precision, but a strong statement like that should mean something,’ she said.” [The New York Times, 11/25/19 (+)]

 

Feds: Endangered Willamette Valley Wildflower Has Recovered. According to Associated Press, “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing wildflower called the Bradshaw’s desert parsley from the Endangered Species List, saying it has successfully rebounded after being nearly wiped out more than three decades ago. The wildflower, which grows in wet prairie habitat, is only found in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and in nearby southwest Washington state, said Tierra Curry, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Portland. Since the desert parsley was first granted federal protection in 1988, its population has increased from about 25,000 flowers in 11 distinct populations to more than 11 million flowers in two dozen populations, she said. The plants features tight clusters of tiny yellow blooms and had suffered from habitat loss before it was listed. ‘It’s always good news when a plant or animal is saved from extinction, so today we celebrate Bradshaw’s desert parsley and the Endangered Species Act,’ Curry said. ‘This lovely wildflower is yet another success for America’s most effective conservation law, which has saved more than 99 percent of species placed under its care.’” [Associated Press, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

Arizona Tribes Oppose Plan To Dam Colorado River Tributary. According to Associated Press, “Native American tribes, environmentalists, state and federal agencies, river rafters and others say they have significant concerns about proposals to dam a Colorado River tributary in northern Arizona for hydropower. Phoenix-based Pumped Hydro Storage company is seeking preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study sites on the Navajo Nation, east of Grand Canyon National Park. The company’s manager, Steve Irwin, has touted the potential economic benefits of damming the Little Colorado River in four locations, including paved roads, tourism and jobs. The Navajo Nation owns the land, and the projects won’t move forward without the tribe’s OK. The tribe wrote in comments posted online Monday that the dams could negatively impact its land, water, wildlife and cultural resources. Cameron, the Navajo community closest to the proposed projects, already has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny the permits. … The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has no hard deadline to act on the request for the preliminary permits. Construction would not start on the dams for at least a decade if they ultimately are licensed. … It’s also the primary spawning habitat for the endangered humpback chub in the lower Colorado River basin. Two-thirds of that habitat could be destroyed if the dams are built, the Interior Department wrote in its comments.” [Associated Press, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

AP | Agency Agrees To Designate Habitat For Threatened Ice Seals. According to The New York Times, “A federal agency will decide by September how much ocean and coast in northern Alaska will be designated as critical habitat for two ice seal species. The Center for Biological Diversity announced Monday it had reached an agreement with the Commerce Department for the Trump administration to issue a critical habitat rule for ringed and bearded seals. Ringed and bearded seals use sea ice in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Both seals are listed as threatened. Designation of critical habitat for threatened species is required by the Endangered Species Act a year after a listing. Federal agencies that authorize activities such as oil drilling within critical habitat must consult with wildlife managers to determine if threatened species will be affected. The Center for Biological Diversity sued in June because no critical habitat has been designated. Ice seal habitat is rapidly melting, said Emily Jeffers, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, and it should not have taken a lawsuit for officials to follow the law. ‘Ringed and bearded seals need our help to survive an Arctic that’s heating up at twice the global rate,’ she said in a statement. ‘They need habitat protections now, and they need us to quickly address climate change.’” [The New York Times, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

AP | Conservation Groups Sue To Rewrite Bull Trout Recovery Plan. According to E&E News, “A trio of conservation groups are suing the U.S. government over its plan for the recovery of threatened bull trout. Save the Bull Trout, Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the lawsuit against the heads of the Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Department in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. The recovery plan for the fish, which is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, was released in 2015. Among their arguments, the plaintiffs say the plan doesn’t have population targets, so there are no objective criteria in it to measure the species’ recovery. Federal officials declined to comment. It’s the second lawsuit to attempt to force a rewrite of the plan. The first was dismissed by a judge in Oregon for a lack of jurisdiction.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

AP | Forest Service To Review Diversions That Could Harm Salmon. According to E&E News, “The Forest Service has agreed to complete environmental reviews of 20 water diversions in central Idaho that a conservation group says could be harming imperiled salmon. A U.S. district court judge on Thursday signed off on the agreement between the Forest Service and Idaho Conservation League involving the water diversions in the Sawtooth Valley. The conservation group says the Forest Service is violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to complete consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries about the water diversions. The Forest Service has three years to complete the reviews of the diversions that mostly supply water to homes in the area. The diversions are on tributaries or the Salmon River, which is home to federally protected salmon, steelhead and bull trout. Salmon and steelhead swim about 900 miles up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers to arrive in the Sawtooth Valley. ‘Any salmon that makes it up that far doesn’t need to get sucked into an [irrigation] ditch or run into a dry creek,’ said Marie Callaway Kellner of the Idaho Conservation League. Some landowners have also filed lawsuits contending the land where six of the diversions are located doesn’t belong to the Forest Service. The Forest Service review will look into that question.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

AP | Olaf The In Vitro Crested Toad Gives Scientists Hope. According to E&E News, “A critically endangered Puerto Rican toad was for the first time born via in vitro fertilization as U.S. scientists attempt to save it from extinction, officials announced Friday. Olaf — named in honor of the frozen semen he came from — is the first of more than 300 Puerto Rican crested toads that hatched after the first attempt failed, Diane Barber, ectotherms curator at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas, told the Associated Press. ‘We don’t typically name our toads, but that one deserved special recognition,’ she said via phone. ‘We were super, super excited. ... You kind of hold your breath for 30 days to see if they’re going to metamorphose.’ Barber was part of a team that traveled to the southwest town of Guayanilla last year to collect semen from six male Puerto Rican crested toads that were later released back into the wild. The scientists were careful to select bigger toads that had what are called ‘nuptial pads’ on their thumbs, which indicate sexual maturity and help them grab on to females, she said. Extracting semen from toads that measure up to 4.5 inches long is normally easy: They release it in their urine, and they usually pee whenever they’re picked up, Barber said. But for those toads that did not pee, another tactic was used. ‘It’s kind of weird, but if you hold them in your hand and look at them and bark at them like a dog, they will pee,’ she said.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

AP | Sumatran Rhino Is Extinct In Malaysia As Lone Survivor Dies. According to E&E News, “The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia, after the last of the species in the country succumbed to cancer. The Wildlife Department in eastern Sabah state on Borneo island said the rhino, named Iman, died of natural causes Saturday due to shock in her system. She had uterine tumors since her capture in March 2014. Department director Augustine Tuuga said in a statement that Iman, who reportedly was 25 years old, was suffering significant pain from growing pressure of the tumors to her bladder but that her death came sooner than expected. It came six months after the death of the country’s only male rhino in Sabah. Another female rhino also died in captivity in 2017 in the state. Efforts to breed them have been futile, but Sabah authorities have harvested their cells for possible reproduction. ‘Despite us knowing that this would happen sooner rather than later, we are so very saddened by this news,’ said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew, who is also environment minister. Liew said that Iman had escaped death several times over the past few years due to sudden massive blood loss, but that wildlife officials managed to nurse her back to health and obtained her egg cells for a possible collaboration with Indonesia to reproduce the critically endangered species through artificial insemination.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Prescribed Fire Helps Prevent Wildfires, Conserves Wildlife In Florida. According to Palm Beach Post, “As the old saying goes, sometimes you’ve got to fight fire with fire. In this case, however, it’s about preventing wildfires, protecting people and property, and conserving wildlife with a proactive tool called prescribed fire. Prescribed fire is a planned and carefully controlled fire. Prescribed fires are done only on fire dependent ecosystems to maintain and renew vegetation in natural areas, while reducing the risk of damaging wildfire to land and property. The fire may be designed to create a mosaic of diverse habitats for plants and animals, to help endangered species recover, or to reduce fuels and thereby prevent a destructive fire. These actions help reduce the risk of devastating wildfires that can threaten people, wildlife, and natural forests. Florida has 17 million acres of forests that provide wonderful areas for outdoor recreation and business opportunities, as well as habitats for dozens of threatened and endangered species such as Florida panthers, Bachman’s sparrows, red cockaded woodpeckers and Florida bonneted bats. Fire and wildlife have had a long and intimate association both in and out of a forest environment.” [Palm Beach Post, 11/26/19 (+)]

 

Wildlife

 

Failing Ice Cellars Bring Changes In Alaska Whaling Towns. According to E&E News, “For generations, people in Alaska’s far-north villages have relied on hand-built ice cellars dug deep into the permafrost to age their whale and walrus meat to perfection and keep it cold throughout the year. Scores of the naturally refrigerated food caches lie beneath these largely Iñupiat communities, where many rely on hunting and fishing to feed their families. The ice cellars range from small arctic root cellars to spacious, wood-lined chambers, some topped with sheds. Now a growing number of these underground cellars are being rendered unreliable as global warming and other modern factors force changes to an ancient way of life. Some whaling villages are working to adapt as more cellars — some stocked with tons of subsistence food — turn up with pooling water and mold. ‘I’m worried,’ said Gordon Brower, a whaling captain who lives in Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community, which logged its warmest May through September on record this year. His family has two ice cellars: One is more than 100 years old and used to store at least 2 tons of frozen bowhead whale meat set aside for community feasts; the other was built in 1955 and is used as the family’s private subsistence-food cache. … ‘It seems like slight temporary variations in the permafrost — that active layer — is affecting the temperature of our cellar,’ Brower said.” [E&E News, 11/26/19 (=)]

 

AP | Animal Defenders, Aquarium Tussle Over Beluga Importation. According to E&E News, “A proposal to import five whales to Connecticut has sparked a standoff between animal welfare groups and an aquarium that says the animals will contribute to its research. Mystic Aquarium wants to import the captive-born beluga whales from Marineland of Canada in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Connecticut aquarium, where belugas have been a popular attraction for generations, says the acquisition of the whales would enable research that helps protect the species. The Animal Welfare Institute and other animal advocates disagree. They said the stress of importation would be too much for the whales, and it would make more sense for the scientists to come to the animals. ‘From a stress standpoint, from a welfare standpoint for the whales, I think it just makes more sense to do it there,’ said Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute. ‘The research can be done at Marineland.’ The importation of the whales would require a federal permit, and NOAA is taking comments on the permit application until Dec. 2. The agency also held an Nov. 18 hearing about the proposal and has received more than 6,500 comments — both for and against — via an online portal. Belugas are white, cold-water whales that can weight up to about 3,500 pounds and are often displayed in captivity. Some subpopulations of the whales are endangered, and they face threats such as pollution and climate change.” [E&E News, 11/25/19 (=)]

 

 

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