Issues
IPAA highlights state role in sage-grouse conservation. In advance of the late September listing deadline for the greater sage-grouse, IPAA President Barry Russell was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune this month, highlighting the key role of states in the conservation of the grouse. Russell stated in the Tribune:
“From ranchers to energy producers, stakeholders have worked together with state agencies to implement robust conservation measures for the sage-grouse, balancing economic growth with species conservation. In the oil and gas industry alone, producers utilize horizontal drilling and robust restoration and adaptation techniques to limit surface disturbances, while other companies have joined forces with state and federal agencies to improve Greater Sage Grouse habitats and abide by existing state-based conservation plans, such as Utah’s Greater Sage Grouse Management Plan.”
As IPAA has stated previously, recently proposed federal plans for the grouse could impose significant new limitations on land use while failing to address some of the key impacts on the grouse, including wildfire and invasive species. To read more about the greater sage-grouse visit IPAA’s species page HERE.
Western wildfires impact sage-grouse habitat. Wildfires continue to impact western states, resulting in damage to private and public lands and the burning of key sage-grouse habitat. As the Bureau of Land Management explains, wildfire is a key factor impacting protection of the grouse and sagebrush habitat by converting previously healthy sagebrush habitat into cheatgrass.
New reports note fires in Idaho and Oregon have impacted 185 square miles, including areas containing grasslands and sagebrush that serve as habitat for the grouse. According the Idaho Statesman, at least 15 square miles of primary sage-grouse habitat was burned in the state. The Reno Gazette-Journal also reports 988 acres of priority sage-grouse habitat burned in California.
Lesser prairie chicken population continues to grow. A new range-wide report from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies finds the population of the lesser prairie chicken has grown approximately 25 percent from 2014 to 2015 and 45 percent since 2013. The aerial survey credits increased spring rainfall in the habitat region and continued efforts to protect the bird under the Lesser Prairie Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan for the growth.
Kansas lawmakers have pushed to repeal the listing of the prairie chicken in recent weeks, touting the survey results as additional evidence that the bird does not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As Senator Jerry Moran recently stated in a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, “more rainfall, as well as locally-driven, voluntary conservation plans developed with stakeholder input, will do far more for the bird’s conservation than bureaucrats and regulators in Washington.”
In the News
FWS, Alaska argue over polar bear habitat in court. E&E News (sub req’d). Justice Department lawyers clashed with petroleum industry groups in federal appeals court yesterday during arguments over whether a huge swath of the Arctic could be designated as critical habitat for polar bears. Defending a plan from the Fish and Wildlife Service, DOJ lawyer Robert Stockman said that though it does not contain information on the specific locations of polar bear dens, the agency used the best available data, as required by the Endangered Species Act, in making its decision. NOTE: Associated Press also reports.
Susan Combs: It’s time to delist the golden-cheeked warbler. Dallas Morning News (Op-Ed). Recent, exhaustive and peer-reviewed studies by Texas A&M University concluded that warbler habitat is five times more abundant than originally believed and populations are far greater than previously estimated. In fact, the Texas population is a whopping 19 times greater today than estimated in 1990. This is wonderful news and should be celebrated, but don’t expect much, because it turns out the listing and delisting process is less about actual animals and more about agendas.
Former chief of wolf program to lead sage grouse effort. E&E News. The former head of Montana’s wolf-management program will now lead the state’s Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program. “Montana’s new sage grouse conservation program is key to demonstrating to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that an
Conversations Around Sage Grouse Pick Up Ahead Of Listing Decision. Wyoming Public Radio. Governor Matt Mead released his plan for Sage Grouse conservation in Wyoming earlier this month, but September’s federal deadline to decide on endangered species listing is rapidly approaching. Scientists across the west are now engaged in a discussion of whether or not states are doing enough to adequately protect the bird’s numbers. An upcoming panel at the University of Wyoming will attempt to address some of those issues.
Mysterious fungus killing snakes in at least 9 states. Daily Record. In less than a decade, the fungus has been identified in at least nine Eastern states, and although it affects a number of species, it’s especially threatening to rattlesnakes that live in small, isolated populations with little genetic diversity, such as those found in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York. In Illinois, the malady threatens the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, which was a candidate for the federal endangered species list even before the fungus appeared.
Court strikes down FWS’s eagle ‘take’ rule. E&E News (sub req’d). A federal court in Northern California has struck down a controversial Fish and Wildlife Service rule allowing developers to obtain 30-year permits to harm protected eagles, marking a major blow for the wind energy industry. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled yesterday that FWS should have conducted a National Environmental Policy Act review prior to finalizing the rule in late 2013 that extended eagle take permits from five to 30 years.
The EPA’s unfair ‘sue and settle’ tactics. Highland County Press (Op-Ed, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds). Too often, rather than writing and implementing regulations in an open and transparent process, environmental regulations are enacted as a result of citizen suits prompted by environmental activists. This practice is commonly known as “sue-and-settle.”
Environmental groups want federal protection for Midwestern moose. Lewiston Tribune (sub req’d). Two environmental groups recently filed a legal petition seeking federal Endangered Species Act protection for moose in Minnesota and other Midwest states.
