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The Guardians & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed suit in district court against the U.S. F&WS, charging that the government's decision to deny protection under the ESA to the mountain plover is based on interference from Bush political appointees Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate Fish and Wildlife Service higher-ups rejected advice and biological data provided by their own career scientists that supported mountain plover Endangered Species Act listing. Political interference in listing is illegal, given the Endangered Species Act’s requirement that listing decisions be solely based on biological information. On September 9, 2003 the Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision to withdraw an earlier proposed rule to list the mountain plover as threatened under the Endangered Species Act [68 Federal Register 53083]. This withdrawal notice came as a surprise. The draft rule to list the mountain plover as a Threatened species was developed on July 17, 2003-less than two months before the Fish and Wildlife Service reversed its decision to list the mountain plover. The document indicates that Fish and Wildlife Service biologists were prepared to list the mountain plover. This document contains citations to scientific studies that were deleted from the Final Rule to withdraw the listing rule. In the Final Rule to withdraw the Proposed Rule to list the mountain plover as Threatened, several key scientific documents that support listing the mountain plover were deleted before the publication of this document in the Federal Register. The decision to not list the mountain plover as a Threatened Species was not based on sound scientific data and all the best available science. View the Federal Register Notice (PDF) View the Political Interference in the Mountain Plover Listing Withdrawal Decision Summary (PDF)
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