Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Citizens’ Groups File Notice of Intent to Sue for Poudre River Species, Arapahoe Snowfly

US Fish and Wildlife Service is in violation of the Endangered Species Act
Contact: Nicole Rosmarino 505 699-7404

FortCollins, CO – Today a coalition of citizens’ groupsprovided the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with a formal writtennotice of the groups’ intent to sue the Agency over its failure to address thegroups’ petition to list the Arapahoe Snowfly, an insect important for theecological health of the Poudre River basin, as an endangered species. Snowflies (sometimes called winter stoneflies) requirecool, clear rivers and streams to survive, which makes them excellent biologicalindicators of watershed health – the Poudre Watershed is the Arapahoe Snowfly’sonly known place of existence on earth. The Arapahoe Snowfly is endangered by a host of environmental problems,including stream dewatering. Scientists and conservation groups believe the Snowfly is on the brinkof extinction in the Poudre River ecosystem.

“Our organization’s mission is to protect and restore the Poudre River,” saidGary Wockner of Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper. “And that extends to everyspecies living in the river. Webelieve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is violating the Endangered SpeciesAct by not addressing our petition to list the Arapahoe Snowfly.”

By law, when any person or group petitions the USFWS to list a species underthe Endangered Species Act (ESA), the USFWS has 90 days to evaluate thepetition and make a “finding.” Thecoalition of groups filed the petition on April 6, 2010 – the finding shouldhave occurred by July 6, 2010. TheService is now nearly 5 months late.

“Unfortunately,these delays are all too common in our dealings with the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService,” said Nicole Rosmarino, whose group WildEarth Guardians is leading thelegal effort to list the Arapahoe Snowfly under the ESA. “While the USFWS has paid lip serviceto speeding up its ESA work, hundreds of species remain waiting for findings inthe United States. The ArapahoeSnowfly simply cannot wait – we will continue to press the government to issuea finding on this species.”

Thereare now 251 species of plants and wildlife that are formal “candidates”awaiting federal listing. Many of these species have been on the waitinglist for protection for a decade or more. Outside of Hawaii, only 4 newU.S. species have been listed under the Act since Interior Secretary KenSalazar took office. At the current pace, it would take nearly a centuryto get through the backlog of candidate species in the continental U.S.

“The U.S. Fish andWildlife Service needs to act immediately,” said Scott Black of Xerces Societyfor Invertebrate Conservation. “The Poudre River ecosystem cannot afford to lose the Arapahoe Snowfly –we can’t allow the Snowfly to go extinct.”

Co-signing the NOIare all of the groups that originally filed the petition, including: The Xerces Society forInvertebrate Conservation, an international nonprofit scientific organization dedicated toprotecting wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and theirhabitat; Dr. Boris Kondratieff, a Colorado State University entomologist and expert in aquaticinsects who discovered the Arapahoe Snowfly; Save the Poudre: PoudreWaterkeeper, an organization that works to protect and restore the Cache laPoudre River; Cache la Poudre River Foundation, an organization founded for theprotection of Wild Trout through the town of Fort Collins, Colorado; WildEarth Guardians, which protects and restoreswildlife, wild rivers and wild places in the American West; and Center for Native Ecosystems, a group dedicated to protectingnative species and their habitats in the Rocky Mountain Region.

The NOI is publiclyposted here.