Issues
FWS publishes 4(d) rule for northern long-eared bat. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final 4(d) rule establishing guidelines for human interaction with the threatened northern long-eared bat (NLEB). The bat’s population has declined in recent years due to a fungus called white nose syndrome. The rule establishes that people can only intentionally take the NLEB if specifically permitted to capture and handle the species, or if the bats are on human structures, in trees that endanger human life or property, or endangering human life.
The rule notes incidental take is legal only in areas where the white nose syndrome has yet to be discovered. To prevent excessive incidental take, tree removal is prohibited within a quarter-mile of places where the NLEB is known to hibernate and the rule prohibits cutting trees within a 150 foot radius of trees where bat pups are nursed during June and July. The final rule also exempts oil and gas activities from incidental take prohibitions in the same way that forest management activities were exempted.
IPAA welcomed the final rule and praised the agency for recognizing that white nose syndrome, and not oil and gas activities, is the primary threat to the bat. “While oil and gas operations have a negligible impact on the health of the northern long-eared bat, independent producers stand willing and able to comply with conservation measures designed to protect the bat during its most sensitive stages of life,” said IPAA senior vice president Dan Naatz in the Associated Press. IPAA has been actively involved in both the listing and 4(d) rule surrounding the NLEB, and joined with numerous other industry groups in January 2014, August 2014, December 2014, March 2015, and July 2015 urging the Fish and Wildlife Service not to list the northern long-eared bat as endangered.
USFWS considers changes to 17 species under ESA. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced it will publish its findings on petitions to list, reclassify, or delist 17 species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service concluded that seven species of Caribbean lizards, three insects and a weasel may warrant ESA protection and is requesting additional information on each. This includes species in various energy producing states, such as the Great Basin Silverspot Butterfly (Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico), Narrow-foot Diving Beetle (Wyoming), Northern Rocky Mountain population of fisher (Northern Rockies Population, Idaho and Montana) and the Scott Riffle Beetle (Kansas).
The Service also rejected petitions to list three lizards and the Yellowstone bison, and maintained the “threatened” status of the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear, despite competing petitions to list the bear as endangered or delist the bear completely. The agency’s preliminary findings will be open for comment through March 12.
FWS announces draft methodology for ESA status reviews. The Fish and Wildlife Service will publish a draft methodology for prioritizing status reviews and accompanying 12-month findings on petitions for listings in Friday’s Federal Register. According to the Service’s announcement, the plan would create common-sense prioritization and a work plan to complete status reviews for species. The five categorizes that determine prioritization include 1) Highest Priority-Critically Imperiled, 2) Strong Data Already Available on Status, 3) New Science Underway to Inform Key Uncertainties, 4) Conservation Opportunities in Development or Underway and 5) Limited Data Currently Available.
As highlighted by the Service in its announcement, “This draft methodology is intended to allow us to address the outstanding workload of status reviews and accompanying 12-month findings strategically as our resources allow and to provide transparency to our partners and other stakeholders as to how we establish priorities within our upcoming workload.” Once published, the notice will be open for comment for 30 days.
Researchers looking at relationship between spring grazing and sage grouse. Researchers from the University of Idaho and a host of government agencies and rancher associations are two years into a 10-year study that hopes to provide concrete data on how grazing affects sage grouse reproduction. Thus far, researchers have set up nearly 300 test sites in south-central Idaho and are measuring sage grouse nest success, cow grazing patterns, and how grazing affects grass height.
The study is intended to better inform land-management decisions crucial both to ranchers and to the health of the sage grouse population. Preliminary results show that sage grouse prefer Wyoming big sagebrush and tall grass when selecting a nesting area, but so far the research has not found a difference in nesting success between grazed and un-grazed pastures. Researchers are planning to begin altering the grazing patterns at their test sites to measure how those changes affect grass height, cow density, and nest success.
In the News
Most listed plants and animals are declining – report. E&E News (sub req’d). More than half of the threatened and endangered species in the United States are in decline, according to a new report from a diverse team of scientists. The wide-ranging report published this month in Issues in Ecology also recommends improvements, urging federal wildlife agencies to improve how they allocate recovery funds and better leverage partnerships with states and private landowners. Federal agencies, it notes, can also take steps to make voluntary partnerships with landowners less complicated and time-consuming, and market-based solutions such as habitat credit exchanges should continue to be utilized.
Mining companies frustrated with BLM proposal. Utah Public Radio. The Department of Interior, along with the Bureau of Land Management, has proposed that 10 million acres of federal mining land be withdrawn in order to protect sage grouse populations. Critics allege that the measure is unnecessary and will not benefit the bird species. Katie Sweeney of the National Mining Association said research shows that invasive species and wildfires present a bigger threat to sage grouse than mining does. She said that federal agencies are ignoring efforts made by private companies to improve conservation.
Nevada critics lose again in sage grouse fight; July trial looms. Associated Press. A federal judge has rejected a rural Nevada water district’s latest attempt to expedite construction of a storage tank in greater sage grouse habitat near the Utah line in a legal battle now expected to drag into the summer. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du denied this week the final part of a request for a preliminary injunction that White Pine County officials say is necessary to set aside federal regulations protecting the bird so the town of Baker can replace a leaking water tank near Great Basin National Park.
Texas governor urges constitutional reset over federal ‘threat’. E&E News (sub req’d). Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called today for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution and roll back what he called overreach by the executive branch and the Supreme Court. Abbott, a Republican, cited U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan and the Endangered Species Act as prime examples of “government run amok.” His “Texas Plan” proposed nine changes to the Constitution that he said would put power back into the hands of the people. “The threat to our Republic doesn’t come just from foreign enemies, it comes in part from our own leaders,” he said in a speech at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas.
Dan Ashe: Guardian of sage grouse, hunter of ducks and geese. Bloomberg Government (sub req’d). The man responsible for conserving America’s rarest species worries most about the decline of political animals in Congress. Dan Ashe, director of the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service, says the “commitment to bipartisanship as a way of doing business is endangered — no, an extinct — species.” Last year USFWS opted not to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act but rather use the law as leverage to get buy-in from many states and industry groups pledging to comply with conservation plans. The decision was closely watched by the oil and gas industry because so much of the bird’s habitat is shared with energy lands. And while there are critics both in industry and among wildlife advocates, Ashe says that decision best represents how his agency should operate.
Montana to decide whether to relocate sage grouse to Canada. Associated Press. Montana officials are set to decide Thursday whether to relocate dozens of sage grouse to the Canadian province of Alberta, a plan opposed by some lawmakers who say the state should look to bolster its own fragile population first. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on a recommendation by the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency to send 40 greater sage grouse to Alberta this year, followed by 40 more in 2018 and 2020. Canadian officials requested the relocation to aid in the recovery of its population, which is at about 120. The Montana sage grouse would come from populations in Valley and Phillips counties that have rebounded this year. Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency director Jeff Hagener said there are an estimated 10,000 sage grouse in the area and removing the initial 40 hens would have an “insignificant impact.”
