NATIONAL
Lawsuit aims to block US-approved Nevada drilling. Associated Press. A rural Nevada group is asking a federal judge to block the sale of oil and gas leases it says will be used for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and other development that poses a much greater threat to sage grouse, fish and other wildlife than the U.S. government claims.
Change endangered species act to give humans a place. Albuquerque Journal (Editorial). All these species deserve a place here. But so do humans. The balanced approach recognizes both. And Congress needs to change the law to recognize that – since environmentalists and bureaucrats insist there is no leeway.
Feds declare Arizona, N.M. gartersnakes threatened species. White Mountain Independent. The center said the gartersnake ruling is the latest in a series of decisions that stemmed from a 2011 settlement of its lawsuit to force action on endangered species petitions. Since then, the center said in a news release, 120 species have gained protection under the act, including the gartersnakes, and another 23 have been proposed for protection. “The Endangered Species Act is the most powerful tool we have to protecting our nation’s wildlife,” Adkins Giese said.
Threatened and Endangered Species Listings Likely to Increase Under New U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Policy. National Law Review. Once FWS decides that a portion of a species’ range is significant and lists the species as endangered or threatened, ESA protections fully apply to all individuals of that species, wherever they are found – not just to the individuals of the species found within the SPR.
Biologists look for ways to preserve grizzlies as feds consider delisting. Missoulian. “The grizzly adds to the value of the wild country,” Wolfe said. “I grew up exploring the Pecos country of New Mexico. There used to be bears there, but not anymore. As I look back on spending time in the outdoors, my experience in wilderness areas of Montana with its full complement of wildlife and predators – grizzlies, cougar, lynx – it’s a different experience. If the grizzly wasn’t there, I’d personally be missing something. I don’t have the same experience in Colorado or New Mexico.”
“Endangered” – You keep using the word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Discover Magazine (Blog).But whether an animal is listed under the ESA and whether that animal is endangered are completely separate. The definition of the term “endangered” has nothing to do with US regulations, or even international listings like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A species or population is endangered if it is on the brink of extinction. Period.
Hello Progressive government, goodbye cheap electricity. Columbia Daily Tribune (Op-Ed). The environmental movement is no longer mainstream, but is instead radical in nature. Their position on issues demonstrates this. They are against the Keystone XL pipeline. They are against fracking. They want to end coal-based energy. They are against nuclear energy. They are against oil energy. They want to force us to use expensive renewable energy. They want us to enact expensive carbon tax or cap and trade schemes. They use the Endangered Species Act to try to limit private property rights.
Congress did something rare — it passed a bill. Reno Gazette-Journal. Environmentalists and federal officials say development in Nevada threatens the sage grouse habitat. Without federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the unique bird faces extinction, conservationists say. They also say that protecting the sage grouse habitat will help save the pronghorn antelope and the pygmy rabbit.
Partisan bickering sinking fishing bill. Press of Atlantic City. Green groups are also concerned the Hastings bill would give regional fishing councils more authority when fishing issues fall under other federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, Antiquities Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Sustainable tourism industry needs third party certification. Blue and Green Tomorrow. “While there are some national and international laws that impact tourism, such as the climate change convention, biodiversity convention, endangered species act, clean water act, clean air act, and protected areas legislation, they are only a small part of the overall sustainability issues that tourism faces.”
Deer declining across Colorado and West. Denver Post. “For example, sage grouse and mule deer occupy the same habitat for part of the year, and both are in trouble.”
Congress tackles invasive species. Durango Herald. From kudzu-choked trees in the Southeast, to Burmese pythons swallowing pets in the Florida wetlands or cheatgrass thriving in sage grouse habitat in Colorado and much of the West, invasive species are a problem across the United States.
Rain, retardant slow SE Oregon wildfire. Herald and News. The BLM says a closer look at the burn perimeter shows the fire has burned across about 1,800 acres, or less than 3 square miles. The initial estimate was about 3,000 acres, or nearly 5 square miles. The agency said the fire was threatening sage grouse habitat, but no ranches. Human presence in the area is sparse.
Senate should extend protections to knife and bow users. Political News. Enzi also joined other senators in filing amendments that would: require the Department of Interior to suspend for 10 years a listing decision in states with approved or endorsed sage grouse management plans. Andprevent the EPA from regulating all bodies of water, no matter how small and regardless of whether the water is on public or private property.
ARKANSAS
Game and Fish Notebook. Courier News. Several dead least terns have been found on a small island in the Arkansas River. Least terns are protected by federal and state endangered species regulations. A reward of up to $8,500 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the deaths.
CALIFORNIA
Study: More great white sharks off Marin, California. Marin Independent Journal. Some studies showed the population roaming in a section of sea from the Monterey Bay, Farallon Islands, north of Marin to Bodega Bay at between 200 and 400. That prompted calls for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. But the new effort published in PLOS ONE last month suggests that great whites — also known just as white sharks — are returning to abundance in the Pacific Ocean and puts the number closer to 2,400.
KANSAS
Kansas duck, prairie chicken numbers soar. Topeka Capital Journal. But the good news is, like many biologists had hoped, the number of lesser prairie chickens increased as areas received more rain and habitats improved. A recent aerial survey conducted showed a 20 percent increase range-wide in lesser prairie chicken.
MASSACHUSETTS
Plovers and people saga continues in Orleans. Wicked Local Cape Cod. He
MONTANA
Drilling the ’Tooths: Stillwater Mining Co. calculates expansion by exploratory drilling. Billings Gazette. The work is occurring only about a mile east of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area on the Custer National Forest in known bear habitat, as well as near whitebark pine trees, a species that has been declared warranted but precluded for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Montana landowners can kill 100 wolves a year under new rule. Prairie Star. “I think this is the kind of program that helps foster more tolerance for wolves on the landscape,” Vermillion said. When wolves were protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, Montanans felt powerless to deal with the predators’ impact, and that fostered intolerance for their presence, he argued.
Montana FWP closes sage grouse hunting in most counties. KXLO News. Sage grouse hunting will end across most of Montana in an effort to keep the game bird off the federal Endangered Species Act. “This is somewhat of a tragic day,” Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Matthew Tourtlotte said on Thursday. “We’re going to close a significant portion of the state to sage grouse hunting. Those areas arent likely to have sage grouse hunting ever again. But something is going to have to be done besides taking hunting out of the equation. I think you have to go forward with the plan.”
Political hypocrisy over public lands is prevalent. Montana Standard (Op-Ed).So what are they talking about? Federal public lands won’t be transferred to Montana to sell and trade. The Sagebrush Rebellion failed due to the vast subsurface mineral-oil-gas estate. Selling the surface and retaining the subsurface would have created a public land nightmare as today.
NEVADA
Fracking Economy. Las Vegas Review Journal (Editorial). As The Associated Press’ Scott Sonner reported July 2, Reese River Basin Citizens Against Fracking has asked a federal judge to block the sale of oil and gas leases in Nevada. The rural Nevada group claims the leases will threaten sage grouse, fish and other wildlife.
NORTH CAROLINA
Red wolf program to undergo review. News & Record. Fish and Wildlife ended a seven-year effort to establish red wolves in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1998. The state commission said too many pups died and adults weren’t able to stay within the 521,000-acre park. The commission questions whether the federal program can achieve its goal of establishing a “self-sustaining” wolf population on federal land. Much of the wolf range on the Albemarle peninsula is privately owned. It quotes the federal Endangered Species Act as requiring the agency to estimate the time and cost to achieve the recovery goal.
OREGON
Plenty of sockeye for spawning grounds, bag limits go way up above Priest Rapids. Dalles Chronicle. The bag limit expansion is due to the fact that sockeye salmon returns above Priest Rapids Dam are predicted to be far in excess of needs for wild fish escapement to the spawning grounds. The population, bound for the Okanogan and Wenatchee river basins, is not listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Documentary on Life of OR-7 to be Shown at Salem Cinema. Salem News. In 1973, with only 500 wolves left In the contiguous United States, the grey wolf was added to the endangered species act, setting the species on a slow path of recovery. Now, states are fighting to have that status removed, opening the door for hunters and ranchers to once again decimate the wolf population.
PENNSYLVANIA
HSUS marks 60 years of animal advocacy. Philadelphia Inquirer (Blog). A lot has changed since then. In 1958 passage of the Humane Slaughter Act passage of the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act (which would be extended to protect dogs in puppy mills and other commercial animal breeding facilities, as well as zoos and dog fighting).Other accomplishments include: 1973 – Passage of the Endangered Species Act.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Cape Romain gears up for sea turtle nesting season. Moultrie News. Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge is gearing up for another loggerhead nesting season. The project was founded in 1980, shortly after the loggerhead species was declared “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.
TEXAS
Chicken Crosses the “Road to Spaceflight”. KTRH News. According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, the airport submitted and addendum to its environmental impact study in March, after the species was placed on the ‘threatened’ list. The US Fish and Wildlife service has yet to approve the change, saying there are concerns that sonic booms from the facility could affect the chickens’ mating habits.
VERMONT
Devastation Led to Call for Protection of Vermont’s Environment. Valley News. Vermonters’ passion for the land and our commitment to conservation has led to the successes of the past 100 years. The recovery of these once-endangered species is a testament to the importance of a connection to the land and the water in our cultural heritage and to our long-standing engagement with wild animals and places. Maintaining our connection to the land will ensure the success of the Endangered Species Act for generations to come.
WEST VIRGINIA
Groups disagree on classification of state’s bat population. State Journal. Stihler said it’s possible the bats are hibernating in an area where the disease is not affecting them, such as locations where it is less humid and the fungus doesn’t grow as well. He said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service petitioned to list the bat as an endangered species and are in the process of determining if it should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. He said a decision should be made by October, but it looks like there will be a 6-month extension.
WYOMING
If elected, Haynes would open entire state to drilling — including Yellowstone. Billings Gazette. Haynes, a physician and rancher, also argued with the government research. In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed Endangered Species Act protection for Preble’s populations in Wyoming but reinstated those protections in 2011. Haynes believes that his work caused the federal government to back off from Wyoming for years, he said.