Tag Archives: Endangered Species Act

Feds reject Endangered Species Act protection for greater sage grouse

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Sage Grouse

The Interior Department decided not to give sage grouse Endangered Species Act protection . . .

The Interior Department said Tuesday that the greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose vast range spans 11 Western states, does not need federal protections following a costly effort to reverse the species’ decline without reshaping the region’s economy.

The fight over whether to list the bird as endangered or threatened recalled the battle over the spotted owl 25 years ago, where federal protection greatly impeded the logging economy. The Obama administration and affected states have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to saving the species without Endangered Species Act protections that many argued would threaten the oil and gas industry and agriculture.

Tuesday’s announcement signaled that the Obama administration believes it has struck a delicate balance to save the birds from extinction without crippling the West’s economy. It also could help defuse a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election; federal protections could have brought much more sweeping restrictions on oil and gas drilling, grazing and other human activities from California to the Dakotas.

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Also read: Shift in US firefighting prioritizes sage grouse in West (Missoulian)

Experts mull path towards grizzly delisting

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Again, a lot of discussion of a shift from grizzly bear recovery to grizzly bear management . . .

Top grizzly bear experts from Montana, U.S. and Canadian governments descended on Many Glacier Hotel last week to discuss the future of grizzly bear populations throughout the Northwest, including in and around Glacier National Park.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, created in 1983 to oversee recovery of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states, is considering removing the protected status under the Endangered Species Act of two bear populations: those in the Northern Continental Divide and Yellowstone ecosystems.

Grizzlies were one of the first high-profile listings under the 1973 law, listed as a “threatened” species in 1975 after being extirpated from the vast majority of their historical range.

“The animals are leading the way — they’re recovering themselves, along with a lot of our help…”

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Western Governors’ Association releases report on sage grouse conservation efforts

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The western U.S. states really do not want a federally managed sage grouse conservation effort . . .

A group of Western-state governors has released a report on voluntary efforts in 11 states to conserve the habitat of sage grouse as part of an effort to avoid a federal listing of the bird under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The 32-page “2014 Sage-Grouse Inventory” released Thursday by the Western Governors’ Association identifies conservation work during the year and is accompanied by a 101-page appendix listing efforts since 2011.

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Protections blocked, but sage grouse work continues

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The feds will keep investigating the status of the sage grouse, even though they can’t actually do anything about it right now . . .

U.S. wildlife officials will decide next year whether a wide-ranging Western bird species needs protections even though Congress has blocked such protections from taking effect, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday.

They could determine the greater sage grouse is heading toward possible extinction, but they would be unable to intervene under the Endangered Species Act. The bird’s fate instead remains largely in the hands of the 11 individual states where they are found…

Jewell said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue collecting and analyzing data on sage grouse. A decision on whether protections are warranted will be reached by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, Interior officials said.

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Environmental groups will sue to protect fisher

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A lawsuit is in the works to force federal protection for the fisher . . .

A coalition of environmental groups warned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it plans to sue over the agency’s decision not to protect the fisher under the Endangered Species Act.

“Fisher in Montana are being decimated by trapping and logging,” said Arlene Montgomery of Friends of the Wild Swan, one of the five groups suing the government. “While the Fish and Wildlife Service delays protection, the Northern Rockies fisher faces imminent threats to its survival.”

The groups initially asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to give the fisher protection in 2009. The agency ruled there wasn’t enough information on what kind of habitat the fur-bearing carnivore needed in the northern Rocky Mountains. The groups appealed again in September 2103, and the agency had one year to respond. That deadline was reached this September.

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Endangered Species Act’s 40th draws praise and some grumbling

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The Endangered Species Act turns 40 on December 28. Here’s a pretty good review of its history and current status . . .

Last Thursday, a bald eagle devoured a goldeneye duck on the ice beside Brennan’s Wave, just downstream of Missoula’s Higgins Avenue Bridge.

Such a sight was inconceivable 40 years ago, when the nation’s mascot was disappearing from its skies and just 12 breeding pairs were known in Montana. The bald eagle was one of the “charismatic megafauna” that helped pass the Endangered Species Act, which soon had more than 1,200 plants and animals under its protection.

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service delays decision on wolverine protection

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Over at the Missoulian, Rob Chaney posted more information about the delay in extending federal protections to wolverines . . .

Disputes over the science of wolverines has prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take an extra six months of study before it decides whether to put the elusive carnivore on the endangered species list.

The agency already extended its public comment period once through Dec. 2, after receiving conflicting opinions on the reliability of available research earlier this year. Wolverines had been considered “warranted but precluded” from ESA protection until 2012, when FWS decided to make a more thorough review.

“During the six-month extension, we will be formally engaging with experts in the scientific community to further evaluate areas of scientific disagreement and uncertainty as they relate to the wolverine delisting,” the agency said in a written statement Tuesday. “We intend that any final action resulting from these proposals be based on the best scientific and commercial data available and be as accurate and as effective as possible.”

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Note: The instructions in the article for retrieving information about the proposed rule to list wolverines under the Endangered Species Act have minor errors. The best approach seems to be to open the entire “docket folder” and browse the contents.

Decision on federal wolverine protections delayed

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The feds kicked the can down the street a little farther, delaying a decision on placing wolverines under Endangered Species Act protection . . .

Federal wildlife officials have delayed until next summer a decision on whether wolverines should receive more federal protections.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that the delay will be used to address questions about the impacts of climate change on wolverine habitat. Spokesman Steve Segin says the agency will decide by Aug. 4 if wolverines should be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

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Grizzly bear managers recommend delisting in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

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A good article by Rob Chaney of the Missoulian on the recommendation to no longer list grizzlies as threatened in the Yellowstone region . . .

With new research showing grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park are going strong, Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee members unanimously called for ending federal protection of their namesake animal.

“This is not a decision to delist the grizzly,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly recovery coordinator Chris Servheen said after the vote was taken Wednesday. “It’s a recommendation to write a new rule.”

Higher authorities in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may decide by early January whether to follow the IGBC recommendation, made near the end of a two-day meeting in Missoula.

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Feds petitioned for Northern Rockies fisher protection

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Several environmental groups are worried about survival of the Northern Rockies fisher . . .

Six environmental groups petitioned the federal government Monday to enact endangered species protections for the Northern Rockies fisher, saying increased trapping in Montana and Idaho is killing more of the small, weasel-like predators.

The fisher, which lives in old-growth forests in western Montana and northern Idaho, preys on porcupines, snowshoe hares and other small animals and birds. There is no comprehensive population estimate for the predators, though environmental groups believe up to 500 may be living in the Northern Rockies.

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