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

Government’s Yearly Assessment of Endangered Species Shows Little Progress
Contact: Nicole Rosmarino 505 699-7404

DENVER – The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)published its annual Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR) of species awaitingprotection under the Endangered Species Act in today’s Federal Register. Thereare now 251 species of plants and wildlife that are formal “candidates”awaiting federal listing. This isthe second CNOR under the Obama administration, but it includes many speciesthat have been on the waiting list for protection for a decade or more. The CNOR shows that, outside of Hawaii,only 4 new U.S. species have been listed under the Act since Interior SecretaryKen Salazar took office. At thecurrent pace, it would take nearly a century to get through the backlog ofcandidate species.

The sluggish pace of new listings is notable during2010, which is the first-ever International Year of Biodiversity. WildEarth Guardians has launchedprojects throughout the year pressing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tocelebrate this year by fully enforcing one of the world’s strongestenvironmental laws, the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Altogether, the group has filed lawsuits or scientificpetitions for 130 species this year, in an effort to jump-start a stalled U.S.endangered species program.

“It’s time for Ken Salazar to realize there’s anextinction crisis unfolding right here in the U.S. The best way to stop it is to bring more imperiled speciesunder the protection of the Endangered Species Act, rather than leaving themout in the cold,” stated Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians.

Candidates for listing enjoy none of the EndangeredSpecies Act’s protection. Severalspecies in the western United States face extinction unless they are protectedunder the law. An example is thesand dune lizard (or dunes sagebrush lizard), which has been a candidate since2001. In 1997, scientists warnedthat this rare lizard, which occurs only in New Mexico and Texas, could goextinct. Yet it has languished onthe candidate list for nearly a decade. The lesser prairie-chicken, which has been eliminated from 90 percent ofits range in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, has languishedeven longer: 12 years. TheSprague’s pipit was placed on the candidate list this September, having alreadylost 99 percent of its habitat in the U.S. This is despite the Sprague’s pipit’s historically massiverange across the Great Plains and American southwest. Also of note are three types of grouse added to thecandidate list earlier this year: the Gunnison sage-grouse, Mono Basinsage-grouse, and greater sage-grouse. Onslaughts of threats face each of these birds, but there’s littlerelief until they are actually listed under the law.

“These unique and fascinating species will be lostforever if the federal government does not protect them in the face ofescalating threats,” stated Rosmarino.

The CNOR is in today’s Federal Register: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-27686.pdf.

For more information, call Nicole Rosmarino at505-699-7404 or email nrosmarino@wildearthguardians.org.