Issues

IPAA Files Comments on USFWS’s Proposed Policy on Voluntary Prelisting Conservation Actions. This week, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) regarding the Service’s proposed policy on Voluntary Prelisting Conservation Actions.  IPAA’s comments were filed jointly with nearly fifty additional associations who represent thousands of America’s independent oil and natural gas companies, as well as the service and supply industries that support their efforts.

The Service’s proposed policy was released in July 2014 in an effort to incentivize landowners and businesses to implement voluntary conservation efforts for species that could later require federal protection. The current draft policy, however, fails to properly incentivize these efforts. E&E News reports:

IPAA and dozens of state and affiliated trade groups said the policy offers no assurances to participants that a species will not eventually be listed.

“The service’s proposed policy fails to guarantee participating landowners that their conservation actions, and the expenses incurred to implement these plans, will not simply impose greater restrictions on them in years to come,” said a statement by Dan Naatz, IPAA’s vice president of federal resources and political affairs.

Naatz pointed to Fish and Wildlife’s decision last March to list the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened,” despite scores of energy companies having previously agreed to invest millions of dollars in voluntary conservation plans that will spare them additional regulatory burdens.

“An example has been set that voluntary conservation action by landowners and other stakeholders will not help negate federal listings under the ESA,” he said, adding that the policy should be withdrawn and rewritten.

As IPAA’s Dan Naatz highlighted following the comment filing, “until the Service can assure stakeholders that voluntary actions will mitigate the likelihood of federal listings, a draft policy to incentive voluntary conservation measures will not hold weight.” Read IPAA’s press release HERE and the full comments to the Service HERE.

Devon Teams Up with BLM to Improve Wyoming Sage Grouse Habitat. In October, Devon Energy joined forces for the seventh time with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Buffalo Field Office (BFO) and the Wyoming Conservation Corps (WCC) to implement a nine-day restoration and conservation project to improve Greater sage-grouse habitat in the Powder River Basin.

As a part of the effort, employees from BLM, BFO, and Devon Energy joined together to thin and remove 550 invasive juniper and ponderosa pine trees across 160 acres of priority sage grouse habitat on BLM lands. Kevin McAulay, Devon’s production superintendent in the Powder River Basin, discussed the annual project, noting “each year our staff works side-by-side with the Wyoming Conservation Corp and Bureau of Land Management to preserve the land and protect habitats in our key areas of operation. We’re proud of our partnership and are dedicated to being good stewards of the land.”

Sage Grouse Conference Underway in Idaho. In related news, representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are meeting in Idaho this week to discuss ways to protect the sage grouse from wildfires. The three-day conference, Sage-grouse and Rangeland Wildfire in the Great Basin, is focused on how federal, state, and private stakeholders can collaborate to mitigate the impacts of wildfires and invasive species on sage grouse habitat.

According to media reports, federal leaders at the conference, including FWS Director Dan Ashe and BLM Director Neil Kornze, have highlighted that a federal listing of the grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could be avoided. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has until September 2015 to finalize its decision whether to list the bird under the ESA.

In the News

Cedar City landowners score victory over prairie dogs, Endangered Species Act. Deseret News. A federal judge ruled the government cannot extend protections for the Utah prairie dog to private property, reasoning that it is a state-specific species with little bearing on the economic “scheme” of the Endangered Species Act. The Wednesday decision by U.S District Court of Utah’s Judge Dee Benson invalidates a controversial and widely, locally disparaged 2012 administrative action that forbade any “taking” of the animal or harm to its habitat, even if that action occurred on nonfederal land such as farms or residences.

Bat Endangered Species Listing Puts Forest Health at Risk. Black Hills Pioneer, Sen. John Thune. In 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reached a secret sue-and-settle agreement with two radical environmental groups to require listing determinations on more than 250 species across the United States, including the northern long-eared bat. Northern long-eared bats are dying at alarming rates in parts of the country due to the spread of white-nose syndrome. Of the 39 states considered prime northern long-eared bat habitat, white-nose syndrome has only been found in 22 states, and has not been found in South Dakota.

Enviros to sue Forest Service over grazing impacts to threatened snakes. E&E News. The Center for Biological Diversity today notified the Obama administration that it plans to file a federal lawsuit against the Forest Service over what the group claims is the service’s failure to protect two federally protected snakes from impacts of grazing activity in six national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. The formal 60-day notice of intent to sue says the Forest Service has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to “insure that land management actions are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of the northern Mexican and the narrow-headed garter snakes — both of which were listed last summer as threatened under ESA.

Mead to focus on coal, Endangered Species Act. Casper Star-Tribune. “I am so frustrated about wolves, and my frustration is now not limited to wolves, it’s the Endangered Species Act,” Mead said recently. Once a species is listed, Mead said states have no way of knowing what they have to do to end federal protections and regain state management.

Lummis Wins Fourth Term. Wyoming Public Media. Lummis says she intends to focus on reforming the Endangered Species Act and decreasing the kind of federal overreach that she says hurts Wyoming’s economy and natural resources. She says she’s looking forward to working with a Republican-run senate, which she expects to lift the log jam that’s been blocking Washington for years.

Conference aims to keep sage grouse off ESA list. Associated Press. Some of the nation’s top public lands officials and rangeland scientists have gathered in Boise to try to figure out what can be done to avoid a listing of the sage grouse on the federal Endangered Species Act. The three-day conference, called The Next Steppe: Sage-grouse and Rangeland Wildfire in the Great Basin, opened Wednesday with keynote remarks by Mike Conner, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Feds decline protections for edible snail. The Hill. Federal regulators are denying requests from environmental groups to protect an edible sea snail. In its response released Tuesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service said the queen conch species does not need to be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Agencies get new tool for protecting sage grouse from fire, invasives. E&E News. Scientists are rolling out a new strategy this week to fight wildfire and cheatgrass threatening the greater sage grouse. The goal is to help the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service place firefighting assets, target vegetation treatments and launch rehabilitation projects for burned landscapes in the Great Basin. “This is the first time we’ve developed a landscape-scale prioritization for addressing wildfire and invasive threats,” said Jeanne Chambers, a research ecologist at the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, who was the lead author of a report detailing the strategy. “We’re really excited about the work being applied.”