NATIONAL

Request prioritizes operations, acquisitions over species. E&E News (sub req’d). Spending levels at the Fish and Wildlife Service would get a significant boost under the budget proposed yesterday by the president, with most of the new funds targeting operations, maintenance and land conservation. The Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 spending proposal for FWS is $1.6 billion, an increase of $135.7 million — or about 9 percent — over current spending levels. The budget request includes $258.2 million to conserve, protect and enhance wildlife that is listed under the Endangered Species Act as well as its habitats. The figure is an increase of $32.3 million from 2015. Of that total, $4 million would go toward protecting the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, which is home to 350 species of concern as well as 60 that are listed or candidates for ESA listing, like the greater sage grouse.

House chairman advocates ‘bully pulpit’ on regulation, not hearings. E&E News (sub req’d). House Agriculture Chairman Michael Conaway (R-Texas) said yesterday his committee will likely take a sidelines approach on environmental and safety regulations, saving their hearings for the committee’s more pressing matters. Conaway’s take is different from the approach of Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who has identified regulations — from the Waters of the United States proposal to the lesser prairie chicken listing under the Endangered Species Act — as a top threat to farmers and ranchers.

Enviros sue over dams’ harm to ‘living dinosaur’ fish. E&E News (sub req’d). The pallid sturgeon faces localized extinction in the upper Missouri River Basin because dam operations prevent the “living dinosaur” species from accessing spawning grounds, according to a new lawsuit from conservation groups. Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed the lawsuit today against the Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers, and Fish and Wildlife Service. Among other things, they accuse the agencies of violating the Endangered Species Act by not adequately changing the operations of two dams.

Extremely Rare Fox Seen in Yosemite—First Time in 100 Years. National Geographic. The find is meaningful because a Sierra Nevada red fox population within Yosemite’s borders would enjoy the special protections of a national park, where harmful activities such as logging and livestock raising are off-limits. The fox, which is protected by the state of California, is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. NOTE: Washington Post also reports.

Cromnibus Environmental Provisions Stymie Obama Environmental Efforts. Heartland Institute. The greater sage grouse—a bird inhabiting millions of acres across the Western United States—has lately been the subject of intense debate, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a lawsuit settlement deadline to decide whether the sage grouse, among other species, should be listed as endangered or threatened. The grouse’s habitat is prime land for oil and gas development. As a result, the mere threat of listing the species has discouraged government lease sales and development due to regulatory uncertainty. The Cromnibus prevents the EPA from making new listing determinations for two species of sage grouse; a win for Western landowners and oil and gas interests.

CALIFORNIA

CA High-Speed Rail Crews Ruined Fox Den. Courthouse News Service.  Even before the California high-speed rail project broke ground last month, work crews ran afoul of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by destroying a potential den of the endangered San Joaquin kit fox. In a Jan. 26 letter to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, FWS deputy assistant field supervisor Dan Russell said two areas dug up by work crews this past summer – amounting to nine acres total – fell outside the construction footprint agreed to by the authority, FWS and the Federal Railroad Administration in 2012.

COLORADO

Grouse concerns. Craig Daily Press, LTE. Ever since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Gunnison Sage-Grouse as threatened last fall, I am increasingly concerned that a listing of the Greater Sage-Grouse might be next. An Endangered listing for the Greater Sage-Grouse would adversely impact the economies of the 11 western states that make up the bird’s habitat, including Colorado and more specifically here in Northwest Colorado.

Moffat County Commissioner Feb. 3 meeting recap. Craig Daily Press. Kinkaid and Beck also said discussions about the Greater sage grouse were had at the capitol. Comstock presented a letter drafted by Moffat County’s Land Use Board about the State Land Board Stewardship Trust current review process. In the process, the State Land Board will remove or add parcels to the Stewardship Trust. The trust comprises 300,000 acres of land specified for extra oversight and protection. Some local officials are concerned about some of the acreage proposed for inclusion in the trust. Nearly 40,000 acres proposed for inclusion are in Moffat County, many of which are Greater sage grouse habitat.

INDIANA

Critics Say Rulemaking Bill Nixes Indiana’s Flexibility. WBAA. A House committee Tuesday approved legislation that opponents say will prevent state agencies from enacting much-needed protections.  But proponents argue it will help ensure agencies don’t overstep their rulemaking authority. Indiana Wildlife Federation executive director Barbara Simpson says many times federal regulators will only create rules that operate on the bare minimum, allowing states flexibility to go further.  She says Wolkins’ bill would eliminate that flexibility. “We need the option to be able to go beyond the federal requirements of, let’s say, the Endangered Species Act,” Simpson says.  “There are many other wildlife issues that benefit the state as a resource that’s going to require going beyond the federal minimums.”

KANSAS

Farmers in western Kansas are feeling endangered. Hillsboro Free Press, Op-Ed. Many Kansans believe the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species is unnecessary and unwarranted, especially during a tough drought that lasted three to five years in the western part of the state. Western Kansas farmers and stockmen believe this endangered listing could stop some agricultural production practices including irrigation and pesticide use. They believe forcing them to take drastic measures now to aid the lesser prairie chicken doesn’t make sense. It will only make farmers’ and ranchers’ current financial distress due to the drought even worse.

Bats could alter tree removal projects in city. KSN. A west Wichita road project is being fast tracked because city leaders say a threatened species could put that project and many others in danger. The deadline is designed to help save the northern long ear bat. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it’s a species that is threatened by a newly discovered fungus that’s killing the bats. It’s just the latest regulation affecting projects in Kansas. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran recently tried to remove the lesser prairie chicken from the endangered list in order to expedite construction on the Keystone XL pipeline in Kansas. That proposal failed.

MONTANA

Montana Senate President Discusses Energy Legislation. Petroleum News Bakken. Sen. Debby Barrett sat down with Petroleum News Bakken on Jan. 23 in her capitol office in Helena and shared her views on some of the more important oil and gas-related legislation facing Montana lawmakers in the state’s 64th legislative session. She said, “We have no choice — we’re between a rock and a hard place when it comes to endangered species and especially the lawsuits behind sage grouse that brought the governor’s executive order at the end of last session that Montana had to have a sage grouse plan focused on habitat, not the species. The species is alive and well in Montana, it’s thriving. But it’s the abuse of the Endangered Species Act that connected us with 10 other states — there are now 11 states that all have to come up with plans focused on habitat.”

NEW JERSEY

Restoration planned for Delaware Bay beaches to make them safer for wildlife. WHYY. Globally important populations of shorebirds and horseshoe crabs will get extra protection starting this year with the restoration of more beaches on New Jersey’s Delaware Bay shore, where Hurricane Sandy devastated some spawning grounds and feeding areas. The beach restoration represents the latest step in a years-long effort to prevent the extinction of shorebird species that depend on eating crab eggs during their migratory stopover on the bay beaches, including the Roufa red knot, which has become well-known because of extensive media coverage, and was recently listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act

TEXAS

Reward offered in case of dead whooper. Corpus Christi Caller Times. The reward total is up to $27,500 for information about the death of a whooping crane found on the backside of San Jose Island last month, according to state and federal wildlife officials and sources from several a nonprofit organization. Whooping cranes are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Penalties for harming or killing a crane can range up to a $100,000 fine and/or one year in federal prison.

WASHINGTON

Animal rights group to sue Woodland Park Zoo over elephants. KOMO. Animal rights advocates have publicly announced plans to file a lawsuit in federal court against the Woodland Park Zoo to try to stop two Asian elephants from being sent to another zoo. The group Elephant Justice Project claims the Seattle park is violating the Endangered Species Act. It sent a 60-day notice to Woodland Park Zoo in mid-January about its plans to file the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said. The group claims the size of the elephant exhibit at the zoo and Seattle’s climate have put the elephants, Chai and Bamboo, at risk.

WEST VIRGINIA

W.Va. regulators deny bid to block surface mine near forest. Associated Press. West Virginia regulators have denied an attempt to halt further development of a 400-acre surface mine at the northeastern boundary of Kanawha State Forest. The denial is from the West Virginia Surface Mine Board. It rejected all 14 arguments raised by attorneys representing 21 individuals and the Keeper of the Mountain Foundation. Among the claims: that the DEP failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the presence of the northern long-eared bat, a species proposed for federal Endangered Species Act protection.