Issues
Lesser Prairie Chicken Population Increases Again. The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), the group tasked with overseeing the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan, released its second annual report this week. The report indicated the prairie chicken’s population increased by 25 percent over last year to over 29,000 birds and industry partners had paid almost $51 million in mitigation actions.
The good news comes one month after Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Junell upheld his September 2015 ruling that overturned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to list the chicken as a threatened species. The judge specifically cited the WAFWA’s range-wide plan for the prairie chicken in his decision to overturn the listing. The 25 percent increase reported this year follows the first annual report, which saw a 20 percent increase in the prairie chicken population between 2013 and 2014.
WNS reaches West Coast, scientists search for key to survival. Scientists confirmed last week the presence of white-nose syndrome in bats in Washington, the first time the lethal disease has appeared in the Western United States. Some biologists believe the disease has already killed roughly 7 million bats and has been found in 28 states and five Canadian provinces.
State and federal officials in nearby Montana are reportedly on “heightened alert” for signs of white-nose syndrome spreading to their state’s bat population. Because the fungus can be spread by the clothing and equipment of recreational cavers, caver groups are working to educate their members on proper decontamination techniques to prevent the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, researchers are working to figure out why some populations of bats in affected areas appear to have stabilized. Some populations of little brown bats have stabilized in upstate New York and Vermont, near the area where white-nose syndrome was first discovered in America a decade ago. Some hypothesize the fungus is unable to spread as easily in the thinned cave populations following the massive die-off, while others point to evidence that bats can adapt to the disease.
Texas Comptroller selects new team to manage dunes sagebrush lizard habitat. After Texas Comptrollers ended their four-year partnership with the Texas Habitat Conservation Foundation last month, the Comptrollers have turned to a new team of biologists, scientists, and managers from Bio West to continue administering the conservation plan for the dune sagebrush lizard. The Texas Conservation Plan strikes a balance between protecting the lizard as well as oil and natural gas development, and was cited in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to not list the lizard as a threatened species.
Glenn Hegar, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, addressed concerns of his office’s decision in an op-ed this week. Hegar sought to reassure the public of the ability of the conservation plan to protect the lizard, noting that “less than 300 acres of the 200,000 acres of
In the News
State effort struggles to buy prairie chicken habitat. E&E News (sub req’d). A state-led effort to offset the impacts of development on the lesser prairie chicken continues to struggle with purchasing permanent conservation areas for the bird, according to an annual report released yesterday by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. In its second year implementing a rangewide plan that seeks to conserve the lesser prairie chicken with voluntary cooperation of landowners and industry, WAFWA secured its first permanent conservation site. The 2013 document set a goal of establishing “one or more strongholds” in each of the four eco-regions in which the bird is found and offsetting 25 percent of the acreage affected by development with permanent conservation. But WAFWA reported yesterday that it has permanently conserved a 1,604-acre track of Texas native rangeland, which represents 10 percent of the habitat used for oil and gas development, wind turbines or other developments.
The Birds: Concerns over grouse populations are delaying lease sales in the West. BOE Report. The Endangered Species Act protects the grouse bird species, found across the western half of the country. Concerns over protection of these birds have further delayed the sale of over 60,000 acres of oil and gas leases across Montana and surrounding states. This delay adds to the already 8 million acres of leases deferred for sale across Colorado, North Dakota, and other western states. Several oil and gas companies are keeping a watchful eye on these resources as the delays get longer and longer.
Greens demand info on sage grouse habitat. Courthouse News Service. Environmentalists sued the Bureau of Land Management for information about the effect cattle grazing in Idaho and Nevada have on the greater sage grouse. Western Watersheds Project claims the BLM and Department of the Interior are way past their deadlines to respond to freedom of information requests about two livestock grazing allotments. The FOIA requests concern the Garat grazing allotment in the Owyhee Canyonlands of southwest Idaho and the Argenta allotment in northern Nevada. Both allotments provide habitat for important populations of sage grouse.
Grouse suit seeks to block new fences on BLM land in Nevada. Associated Press. Conservationists are suing the Bureau of Land Management to block the construction of fences in northern Nevada they say are intended to appease livestock ranchers at the risk of harming sage grouse and the drought-stricken federal rangeland. The Western Watersheds Project filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Reno last week on the heels of a broader one it filed last month challenging the Obama administration’s overall protection plan for the greater sage grouse across 10 western states. Leaders of the Idaho-based group say the 3 miles of new fence planned near key grouse habitat flies in the face of BLM’s own research showing the low-flying, hen-sized birds often die when they strike fences.
Petition demands EPA revoke license for weed-killer ingredient. The Hill. More than 14,000 people have signed a petition that asks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revoke the license for glyphosate — the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup. Last April, the United Nations World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a scientific assessment that found glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” In an email Tuesday, an EPA spokesperson told The Hill the agency is “working through some important science issues,” by doing an in-depth human incidents and epidemiology evaluation of glyphosate residue in human breast milk and doing a preliminary analysis of glyphosate’s toxicity to milkweed, which is a critical resource for the monarch butterfly.
Laxalt: Interior’s ‘Grouseketeers’ violated law in sage grouse ruling. Elko Daily Free Press. Attorney General Adam Laxalt is asking a federal court to rule in favor of the state’s and Elko County’s lawsuit over sage grouse, claiming that Department of Interior officials who called themselves “Grouseketeers” illegally met with environmental groups after the agency’s public comment period ended. In a release Tuesday afternoon, Laxalt’s office announced that the plaintiffs, which include nine counties as well as mining and ranching interests, had requested a summary judgment in the case involving land-use restrictions.
Further review on species effects needed for three pesticides. Agri-Pulse. Federal wildlife agencies will have to prepare detailed analyses on how three widely used pesticides affect endangered species, the EPA has concluded. The agency released draft biological evaluations today on the effects of chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion on threatened and endangered species and designated critical habitat, updating evaluations it released in December. The “effects determinations” indicate that the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service will have to prepare Endangered Species Act (ESA)-required Biological Opinions on 1,725 species for chlorpyrifos and malathion, and on 1,416 species for diazinon. Those species are “likely to (be) adversely affected” by use of the three chemicals, EPA found.
Restrictions and protection efforts still underway. Argus Observer. The Southeast Oregon RAC met Monday and Tuesday in Ontario. The group advises federal land-management agencies about management issues and policies. Greater sage grouse populations have been of concern for years — so much so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was considering listing the bird as an endangered species. Oregon’s Sage-Grouse Action Plan to protect grouse habitat was one of several measure cited by the Fish and Wildlife Service in its September decision not to list the bird as endangered. There are still restrictions related to greater sage grouse, however. One of the current restrictions on sage grouse habitat is a suspension, for at least two years, on all new mining permits in focal areas of sagebrush habitat.
