350 endangered species covered by new fed plan
By TN News Service
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a seven-year plan for making Endangered Species Act protection decisions for roughly 320 species and moving protection forward for 30 candidate species that have already been determined to warrant federal safeguards.
The agency, however, faces a backlog of more than 550 species that have been petitioned for protection and that it has determined may warrant protection. Many hundreds more species formerly recognized as candidates for protection also await consideration for protection.
“We’re glad to see the agency pushing forward on many protection decisions, but its new plan only begins to scratch the surface, leaving hundreds more species without the help they desperately need,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “At least 42 species have already gone extinct waiting for protection. Under this plan, we’re at risk of losing hundreds more. Once a species is gone, nothing can be done to bring it back.”
Delays in protection of species have been a persistent problem almost since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. A recent peer-reviewed study found that, on average, species waited 12 years for protection during the Endangered Species Act’s 40-plus year history, and that lawsuits were an important factor in speeding protection for species stuck in the listing process. Last week the Center filed a notice of intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding 417 species that are awaiting protection decisions.
“We’re going to take a close look at this work plan, but overall it doesn’t appear to be sufficient to address our concerns that species are waiting too long for protection,” said Greenwald. “We agree with the Fish and Wildlife Service that species should receive protection according to biological need, but this plan simply leaves out too many species. We’re committed to working with the agency to find a solution that accelerates decisions for the plants and animals most in need of protection.”
The director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dan Ashe, said: “Our work-plan is an achievable, grounded, science-based approach for conserving America’s most imperiled species that will provide greater transparency and predictability on our upcoming actions to state wildlife agencies, non-profit organizations, private landowners and other partners. This predictability allows many conservation efforts already underway the opportunity they need to reach their full potential and succeed in recovering species before they require federal protections.”
The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) said the work-plan would assist the conservation efforts and planning processes for state wildlife agencies across the country.
“This new work-plan will bring better certainty to the states as the Service addresses ESA listings and critical habitat decisions in the upcoming years,” said Dave Chanda, AFWA President and Director of New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. “Addressing those species of greatest concern in the evaluation and prioritization process will help states best focus on further data collection and the demonstration of effective state management actions.”
