Issues

First annual report released on conservation efforts for the lesser prairie chicken. This week, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAWFA) released their first annual report on the progress of the Lesser Prairie Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan, a plan administered by the wildlife agencies. In the plan’s initial year, the lesser-prairie chicken range-wide population increased by over 20 percent and landowners conserved nearly 40,000 acres of habitat.

The lesser prairie chicken currently occupies a five-state range in the Southwest region of the United States. In April 2014, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed the bird as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). FWS also released a 4(d) rule for the bird, which “provides that take incidental to activities conducted by a participant enrolled in, and operating in compliance with, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group’s Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan (rangewide plan) will not be prohibited.”

According to the survey, industry partners, including 181 energy, electric, and oil and natural gas companies, have committed $45.9 million in fees by enrolling in mitigation agreements with WAWFA. Impacted habitats have also decreased by 23 percent as a result of the consolidation of oil and gas development projects, and the agencies have authorized about 700 project agreements to offset the impact of development on the lesser prairie chicken population. As WAFWA’s grassland coordinator Bill Van Pelt describes, the survey demonstrates “that both industry and landowners are willing to conserve the species.”

Industry supports survey results, continues opposition to listing decision. While the energy industry applauded the improved conservation of the prairie chicken, concerns still remain regarding the listing of the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

As Ben Sheppard, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association (PBPA) noted in the Midland Reporter-Telegram, the improved population numbers are a testament to the efforts industry has made to support the lesser prairie chicken’s population. According to Sheppard, “We’re quickly getting back to the numbers biologists say is a healthy population…It’s also not a surprise that the numbers have increased through conservation efforts, funded in part by PBPA members.”

PBPA and others, including IPAA, continue to support local and state based conservation of the bird while fighting the federal listing of the lesser prairie chicken in court. As Sheppard discusses, FWS failed “to follow their own process” by listing the species after deeming the range-wide plan “an effective conservation tool” that would “preclude the need to list the species.”

For more information on the lesser prairie chicken visit IPAA’s new species page HERE.

Industry submits comments on interim 4(d) rule of the northern long-eared bat. On Wednesday, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) filed joint comments with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) on the interim 4(d) rule for the northern long-eared bat. The bat was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) this spring.

In the current interim rule, FWS provides information on why timber harvesting is exempt from the prohibition against incidental take, while it fails to exempt forest conversion activities associated with oil and gas development.  The comments filed with FWS use new information on timber harvesting to demonstrate that FWS’s record does not support disparate treatment of timber harvesting and oil and gas activities, stating there “is no rational basis in the record for concluding that it is ‘necessary and advisable for the conservation and management’ of the NLEB to exempt timber harvesting from the incidental take prohibition, but not oil and gas development activities.”

Additionally, the comments state that the rule fails to consider any existing regulatory framework meant to protect the northern long-eared bat, including successful forest management regulations put in place for oil and gas development activities in the state of Pennsylvania. As the comments state, these existing state-based regulations demonstrate that the proposed 4(d) rule should classify oil and gas activities as forest management, not forest conversion.

In addition to these comments, IPAA has made additional efforts to inform the public on the threatened listing of the northern long-eared bat and the impacts the 4(d) rule will have on the oil and natural gas industry. Last month, IPAA hosted a congressional briefing focused on the current stipulations included in the rule, highlighting the impacts it will have on energy and economic development if the final language is not modified. Panelists noted that while the rule will impact energy development in the species habitat region, there will also be a negative ripple effect throughout the local communities that are supported by regional energy development.

FWS initiates status review for 31 species. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) this week published 90-day findings for 31 species mostly stemming from a July 11, 2012 petition from Center for Biological Diversity claiming 53 reptiles and amphibians require federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  With these findings, FWS determined that the petition presented substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that these species may warrant protection under the ESA.  This opens a 60-day comments period that expires on August 31.

Species included in the findings that may be of concern to existing and future oil and gas operations in numerous states include: Alligator snapping turtle, Blanding’s turtle, Cascade Caverns salamander, Gopher frog, Green salamander, Illinois chorus frog, Arizona toad, Rio Grande cooter, and Spotted turtle.

While 31 species were included in the findings, there were also several species that were found to not provide substantial scientific or commercial information for protections.

Groups combat BLM’s sage grouse plans. As E&E News reports, this week various stakeholders filed formal protests against the Department of the Interior’s 14 Environmental Impact Statements to guide land use activities on Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service administered resources in 10 western states with sagebrush habitat.

The Western Energy Alliance noted its decision to protest the rules as “they impose draconian restrictions on oil and natural gas development that are not supported by science, nor have the agencies gone through the appropriate procedures to implement them.” One challenge submitted by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) also “challenges some of the fundamental facts that were misused” by BLM and the Forest Service in devising the plans, according to senior policy analyst John Harja.

Meanwhile, conservation groups such as WildEarth Guardians and Center for Biological Diversity are also preparing protests to the rule, stating the plans are not strong enough to protect the grouse.

In the News

Is it endangered? More study for alligator snapping turtles. Associated Press. Federal protection may be needed for three amphibian species and seven reptiles, including the hard-biting, spiky-shelled alligator snapping turtle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. The Fish and Wildlife Service said that those species will undergo further study to decide whether they merit classification as endangered or threatened.

FWS denies calls to reduce gray wolf protections, considers delisting. E&E News (sub req’d). The Fish and Wildlife Service today rejected a request — supported by dozens of animal welfare groups and members of Congress — to downlist all gray wolves in the Lower 48 from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act instead of potentially ending federal protections for the species altogether.

FWS announces review of red wolf recovery program, halts reintroductions. E&E News (sub req’d). While Fish and Wildlife will continue to protect the existing red wolves as an “experimental, nonessential” population under the Endangered Species Act, it couldn’t rule out that the species could once again perish. That level of protection gives the agency greater leeway to permit the harassment or killing of the species when it conflicts with landowners, as it did earlier this month.

Western Watersheds protests BLM grouse plans. Idaho Statesman (Blog). Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project and other conservation groups filed administrative protests today against 14 federal sage grouse plans, spanning 10 western states saying they don’t adequately protect the birds. Under a settlement resolving the backlog of imperiled species awaiting federal decisions, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has until Sept. 30 to recommend whether Endangered Species Act protection is warranted for sage grouse.

Why Efforts to Save Bats are Complicated by Electric Utility Rules. WKMS. Kate Lochte speaks with Grant about the complicated issue involving two conflicting government agencies and efforts to maintain populations of the Northern long-eared bat alive, which has been plagued by white-nose syndrome. The US Forest Service is interested in the health and wellbeing of animals, including bats which have been dying of fungal disease in eastern North America. The populations have gotten so small, they need to be listed as an endangered species, Grant says.

Wildlife issues top agenda for Western governors. E&E News (sub req’d). Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, the incoming chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, announced today that his focus for the year ahead will be wildlife management. Western states’ collective efforts on sage grouse management, he said, could serve as a model for other species.

Where the sage grouse roam, Part III: Will new regulations threaten Northwest Colorado’s energy economy? Craig Daily Press. Whereas ranching is considered to be compatible with conservation efforts, oil and gas development is more disruptive to the bird. It therefore faces steeper regulations in the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service’s plan — titled the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement. The BLM developed the plan in large part to preclude the need for a listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Greater sage-grouse plan balances interests. The Gazette (Op-Ed). That’s why Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s new plans to protect habitat for the greater sage-grouse in Colorado make sense to me. She’s done a remarkable job balancing (there’s that word again!) energy interests with proactive conservation of public lands habitat for the beleaguered bird and other species – hopefully avoiding the need for a listing.

Feds defend Utah prairie dogs rules in closely watched case. Casper Star Tribune. Government attorneys are defending federal protections for Utah prairie dogs after 10 states stepped into the case in favor of a ruling that animal activists say could undermine the Endangered Species Act. The ruling could have wide-ranging effects because most protected animals in the U.S. are only found in one state. If it’s upheld on appeal, the case could bring the Endangered Species Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.