Endangered & Protected Species

 

Groups Petition Feds To Restore Wolf Protection Under Endangered Species Act. According to Helena Independent Record, “A trio of environmental interest groups petitioned the Biden administration Wednesday to reinstate federal protections for wolves in response to new laws in Montana and Idaho directing state wildlife managers to reduce populations. The Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the United States and Sierra Club submitted the petition to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Martha Williams, requesting that wolves in the Northern Rockies or across the entire West see emergency relisting under the Endangered Species Act. The department has 90 days to reply. The request comes after Republicans in Montana and Idaho passed new laws aiming to lower the estimated population of 2,700 animals between the two states. The laws are necessary, supporters have said, to help bolster elk, deer and moose numbers and reduce livestock depredations. Opponents counter that some of the methods either legalized or encouraged cross ethical lines and drastic reduction of wolf populations is a drive toward extirpation. The petition questions whether the new laws have left state wildlife mangers enough tools and flexibility to maintain viable wolf populations. ‘The best available information shows that the changes to Idaho and Montana state law will drive populations below these minimum thresholds, and strip state agencies of their already limited capacity to maintain populations above these levels,’ the petition states. ‘Rather than wait for state wolf populations to fall below minimum recovery levels, the Service should proactively reinstate federal protections.’” [Helena Independent Record, 5/26/21 (=)]

 

Skinks Cut To Front Of Endangered Species Evaluation Line. According to Courthouse News Service, “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed Thursday to make endangered species decisions for eight rare species of skinks after putting off the decisions for the past six years, settling a lawsuit with the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday. A type of lizard scattered across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, skinks are quickly moving toward extinction thanks to climate change, development and predators like rats, cats and mongeese that have been introduced to their island habitats. ‘Between all these threats, we need to ensure that skinks don’t get squeezed out of existence,’ Elise Bennett, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a phone interview. For years, skinks were all thought to be one species, and it wasn’t until 2012 that scientists discovered that there are several separate kinds of skinks. Since then, scientists have watched them quickly disappear. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition to protect the reptiles under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. When the agency missed the deadline to make a decision, the center filed a lawsuit in 2020. ‘Since then the skinks have gone without a decision or interim protections. They are languishing while a decision is made,’ Bennett said. ‘Meanwhile, we keep hearing anecdotes from experts in the field who say that they are not seeing skinks where they are supposed to be seeing them.’” [Courthouse News Service, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

Fish And Wildlife May List Prairie Chicken As Endangered Species. According to Albuquerque Journal, “The lesser prairie chicken needs federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday. Fish and Wildlife is proposing to list the prairie chicken as an endangered species in most of eastern New Mexico and across the southwest Texas Panhandle, and as threatened in southeastern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and the northeast Texas Panhandle. Prairie chicken habitat has been decimated by drought and energy development. Clay Nichols, an FWS lesser prairie chicken biologist, said existing conservation programs would continue to provide Endangered Species Act ‘coverage’ permits for landowners and energy companies if the listing decision is finalized. ‘Infrastructure to support urban development or energy development, if those things are placed adequately, you can avoid impacts to lesser prairie chicken,’ Nichols said. ‘But if they’re placed in lesser prairie chicken habitat, there is potential for impacts there.’ The agency proposal has drawn criticism from oil and gas industry groups and praise from conservation organizations. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal. Amy Lueders, director for the FWS Southwest Region based in Albuquerque, said a year-long review of scientific and commercial data drove the proposal. ‘I certainly appreciate and recognize the work of private landowners, including farmers and ranchers, who have enrolled in voluntary state and federal conservation programs to conserve and restore native grasslands in the southern great plains,’ Lueders said.” [Albuquerque Journal, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

Federal Authorities Seek To Protect Lesser Prairie Chicken In Oklahoma, Surrounding States. According to The Oklahoman, “A long-running effort to list the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act has taken flight once again. The lesser prairie chicken, a species of prairie grouse commonly recognized for its colorful spring mating display and stout build, lives across parts of five states — Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. Populations of the bird have been in decline for years, due largely to habitat loss and fragmentation, some of which is credited to the installation of energy infrastructure across the region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the species under the act, reversing course from a decision agency officials made several years ago that left the bird’s fate in the hands of conservation programs adopted by nonprofits and businesses. A lesser prairie chicken dances to attract a mate near a wind farm in northwestern Oklahoma. Agency officials said they believe the species’ southern population segment, which is found in shinnery oak prairie areas of eastern New Mexico and across the southwest Texas Panhandle, is threatened with extinction. The agency also proposes classifying the chicken’s northern population segment found in grasslands and sagebrush that cover parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado as being threatened under the act.” [The Oklahoman, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: We Can Save Lesser Prairie Chicken And Ranching. According to an op-ed by Mack Kizer, Jim Gray, Kirk Williams, Mark Gardiner, and Stacy Hoeme in Albuquerque Journal, “As ranchers from New Mexico, Texas and Kansas, we are here to tell you the proposed listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken spells trouble for our property rights. It complicates or eliminates the chance to use our pastures and fields for almost everything – from ranching to farming to oil extraction, even renewable energy. It seems the only choice we will be left with is leaving the LPC to fend for itself. The problem is that, to date, government doesn’t pay well enough for our ranches to stay in conservation. Last time the LPC was listed, our state governments had a ‘solution’ billed as a way for us to keep ranching, save the LPC and even make some money. Well folks, out here in the High Plains we know government bureaucracy and failed government programs when we see them. Such was the case with the Western Alliance of Fish and Wildlife Agencies – WAFWA – LPC conservation and easement program. WAFWA failed to deliver on-the-ground conservation and wasted $40 million of precious industry money along the way. We won’t belabor the point, but we wouldn’t be writing this if WAFWA’s program was successful. Because now the LPC is proposed for relisting. It’s now clear the LPC needs real solutions, and us ranchers need real solutions, too. The Endangered Species Act now proposes that the Lesser Prairie Chicken be listed as endangered in New Mexico and West Texas, where there are fewer than 6,000, and threatened in Kansas where there are fewer than 20,000. Truth be told, these levels are really near to extinction.” [Albuquerque Journal, 5/27/21 (+)]

 

Wildlife

 

Sen. Feinstein Presses Haaland To Investigate Slaughter Claims. According to E&E News, “California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) is joining advocacy groups in calling on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to investigate recent claims that some animals in a wild horse and burro adoption program have ended up at auctions where they could have been sold for slaughter. Feinstein, in a letter sent today to Haaland, wrote that she has ‘great concern’ over evidence outlined in a recent story by The New York Times that found potentially ‘truckloads’ of adopted wild horses have been sent to auctions attended by known buyers for slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. The American Wild Horse Campaign last week submitted a detailed report to Haaland outlining the results of an investigation in which it and three other horse advocacy groups documented that at least 79 wild horses and one burro removed from federal rangelands ended up at these auctions in the past year (Greenwire, May 20). The report also included documented evidence that at least 18 of the 79 wild horses at auction were animals that had been adopted in the past two years to private owners through the Bureau of Land Management’s adoption incentive program that pays people to take the animals. ‘I strongly urge BLM to immediately suspend this program and conduct a thorough investigation to ensure federal funds are used to protect wild horses and burros against abuse, neglect, or slaughter, as intended by Congress,’ Feinstein wrote.” [E&E News, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

Greens Intensify Push To Block Nev. Lithium Project. According to E&E News, “Four conservation groups today ramped up their effort to prevent a mining company from breaking ground on a lithium project in Nevada. Basin and Range Watch, the Western Watersheds Project, Great Basin Resource Watch and Wildlands Defense asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to stop construction at Lithium Americas Corp.’s Thacker Pass mine while the groups’ legal challenge against the project is underway. The Trump administration gave the mine a stamp of approval in January after completing a yearlong environmental review. The conservation groups sued shortly after, alleging that the Bureau of Land Management did not adequately consider potential effects to sage grouse habitat and water quality (Greenwire, March 1). Lithium Americas plans to start construction early next year, according to its most recent earnings report.” [E&E News, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

Struggling Seabirds Wave Red Flag About Ocean Health. According to E&E News, “Seabirds are ‘sentinels’ of ocean health. If marine ecosystems are suffering, the birds will be among the first to show it. Now a major study finds that seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere are already struggling. And without extra precautions, those in the Southern Hemisphere might be next. The findings point to broader patterns of environmental change across the world’s oceans. Climate change, combined with pollution, overfishing and other human activities, is steadily altering marine food webs. Food sources are shifting. Some fish populations are dwindling or migrating to new areas. As a result, seafaring birds perched at the top of the food chain are struggling to breed and raise their young. They’re canaries in the coal mine, so to speak — clear indicators that something is wrong with the entire ecosystem. ‘Seabirds travel long distances — some going from one hemisphere to the other — chasing their food in the ocean,’ P. Dee Boersma, a biologist at the University of Washington and one of the study’s authors, said in a statement. ‘This makes them very sensitive to changes in things like ocean productivity, often over a large area.’ The new study, published yesterday in the journal Science, examines 50 years of data on 66 seabird species worldwide. The research, led by William Sydeman of the Farallon Institute in California, involved contributions from more than three dozen experts at institutions around the world.” [E&E News, 5/28/21 (=)]

 

Wildlife Corridors

 

Colorado Senate Passes Bipartisan Legislation To Protect Wildlife Corridors. According to Pagosa Daily Post, “On Monday, the Colorado Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution to protect the state’s wildlife corridors, which would conserve native species while improving road safety and bolstering Colorado’s economy. The bipartisan resolution was introduced earlier this month by Democratic Senator Jessie Danielson and Republican Representative Perry Will. The legislation, which marks a monumental step towards preserving Colorado’s rich biodiversity and wildlife heritage for future generations, now goes to the House of Representatives for a vote. Corridors are natural areas that connect patches of habitat to allow native species to move freely across the landscape. Researchers suggest that migration routes are critical to the survival of many of Colorado’s beloved native species. For this reason, Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order in 2019 to protect big game migration corridors throughout the state. Additionally, a bipartisan group of legislators recently called for legislative action to address habitat fragmentation, facilitate wildlife movement, and conserve ecological connectivity. Without ecological corridors to connect important habitat, protected areas become isolated ‘islands’ that are unable to sustain wildlife populations. Colorado’s iconic wildlife — including moose, elk, deer, and pronghorn, as well as non-game species such as lynx and cutthroat trout — depend on intact seasonal habitats and the migratory routes that connect them. ‘Healthy and resilient wildlife populations, as well as connected natural landscapes, are the foundation of what makes Colorado so special,’ says Michael Dax of Wildlands Network. ‘The same landscapes and species that contribute to the quality of life for Coloradans also draw visitors here who contribute greatly to state and local economies.’” [Pagosa Daily Post, 5/26/21 (=)]

 

Republicans: Use NEPA Against Immigration. According to E&E News, “Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, along with other GOP members of the House Natural Resources Committee, pressed the Biden administration to hew to the National Environmental Policy Act on public lands in the southwest United States. ‘We know that a porous border subjects our environment to extreme levels of deterioration,’ Gosar said at a virtual forum hosted by the committee’s Republican members, titled ‘The Environmental Cost of a Border Crisis.’ Although the two-hour session aimed to focus on the environmental impacts of illegal border crossing on the 25 million acres of public lands within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico boundary, much of the session addressed broader issues like the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy that Biden repealed earlier this year. That Trump-era regulation prevented asylum seekers from living in the United States while awaiting review. But lawmakers also argued that increased migration is affecting public lands along the border. The Interior Department manages about 40% of the 2,000-mile boundary across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. … Environmental groups have raised repeated concerns about the border wall’s construction, saying it has blocked wildlife corridors, abused groundwater resources and destroyed Native American gravesites. But most of those organizations abandoned anti-immigration policies — like those that argued population controls could protect the environment — at the turn of the century. They also have decried arguments that immigration is linked to environmental problems (Greenwire, June 5, 2020).” [E&E News, 5/27/21 (=)]

 

 

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