Western Ark Must Set Sail

Group Presses Fish & Wildlife Service to Protect 21 Endangered Animals & Plants

DENVER-WildEarth Guardians filed three notices of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today regarding the agency’s failure to federally protect 21 endangered animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For 12 species, the Service failed to issue a required decision on whether the species warrant ESA protection. For 8 species, the Service ruled that they don’t warrant ESA protection although they are so rare some may already be extinct. One species has been placed on the Service’s waiting list for ESA protection although it suffers from imminent threats.

The species covered by today’s notices include six plants, a salamander, a tortoise, a bird, seven mollusks, a crayfish, two insects, and two mammals. Collectively, the ranges of these species include portions of 19 U.S. states, and large expanses in Mexico and Canada.

WildEarth Guardians filed the petitions requesting federal protection for these species under the Bush administration and hopes today’s notices will inspire the Obama administration to move quickly to protect these endangered animals and plants under the nation’s endangered species law. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is the key official to make the decision.

“We urge Obama and Salazar to fling open the doors to the legal ark of the Endangered Species Act,” said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. “The Bush administration barred those doors, and there is now a long line of passengers who urgently need to board the ark,” continued Rosmarino.

Others have compared the ESA with the parable of Noah’s Ark, particularly religious groups. Today’s effort is aimed at drawing attention both to the large number of endangered species not yet protected by the nation’s endangered species law, as well as the diverse nature of those species. WildEarth Guardians is calling its efforts to obtain ESA protection for imperiled western species the “Western Ark.”

The 12 species for which the Service failed to issue required findings are:

Six freshwater mussels occurring in the southeastern U.S. One of the mussels - the “false spike” - has not been seen alive in decades. These highly imperiled mussels filter water and are barometers of water quality.

Sprague’s pipit, a bird that ranges across the Great Plains and southwest. Due to widespread habitat destruction, this grassland bird has declined by 79% since 1966. The pipit’s range extends across more than 300 million acres in the U.S.

Chihuahua scurfpea is a plant with two current populations containing a total of 300 individuals. Threatened by herbicide in the U.S., it appears to be gone from Mexico. This plant was historically collected for use as medicine to reduce fevers.

Wright’s marsh thistle now occurs only in New Mexico. Its wetland habitat is threatened by water diversion and agriculture. While the Wright’s marsh thistle is native, it can be harmed by herbicides targeting non-native thistles.

Jemez Mountains salamander is restricted to the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico. The Jemez Mountains were recently ranked the most vulnerable area in NM to climate change, with this salamander identified as a likely victim.

Sonoran desert tortoise, which ranges across southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, has declined by 51% since 1987. The Service passed up an opportunity to protect this tortoise in 1991, and the situation has only grown worse since then.

White-sided jackrabbit occurs in just one small area in New Mexico but historically extended through southern Mexico. Surveys in the 1990s counted only five jackrabbits per year. This jackrabbit depends on rare desert grasslands.

The Service designated the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse a candidate for listing. This jumping mouse exists in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, but it is gone from 74% of the places it historically occurred. Protecting this mouse would benefit the arteries of life its streamside habitat provides. WildEarth Guardians contended in its notice that the Service should immediately propose the jumping mouse for listing, given that it faces high-magnitude, imminent threats to its survival.

The eight species for which the Service denied protection are:

Cylindrical vertigo, a mollusk that scientists fear may be extinct, despite a wide historic range including the western and Midwestern U.S. and portions of Canada.

Mccart’s whitlow-wort, a flowering plant historically found in Texas, but which has not been found since 1962. The Service previously considered this plant to be a candidate for listing, but it has slipped through the cracks and never received federal protection.

Watson’s false-clappia, a flowering plant that is known from only 2 collections made in western Texas in the 1970s. It has not been seen since.

Nueces crayfish is known from one site, a tributary of the Nueces River in Atascosa County, Texas. Subsequent surveys found no other specimens nearby. There are only six known specimens.

A Stonefly (Isoperla jewetti) that historically occurred in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, which, as of 2005, is not known to exist. Its Texas site was destroyed by agriculture.

A Mayfly (Fallceon eatoni) that was originally collected over 100 years ago and was redescribed from northern Sonora, Mexico in 1934, but was then not seen again until 2005 when a single specimen was collected in Salt River Canyon, Gila County, Arizona.

Donrichardsia macroneuron, a moss known only from one occurrence, on the boulders in the water of Seven Hundred Springs in Edwards County, Texas. It has survived at this spring only because the spring has not yet dried up. It may be represented by just a single clone.

Many-flowered unicorn-plant, a flowering plant which historically occurred in Texas and Mexico. It has not been relocated since 1967 despite searches. The Service previously considered this plant to be a candidate for listing, but it has slipped through the cracks and never received federal protection.

The 21 species face a variety of threats, including habitat destruction from livestock grazing, logging, energy development, and off-road vehicle use; collection of plants and animals; excessive water use; disease; insecticides; pesticides; non-native species; pollution; climate change; drought; flooding; risk of extinction due to small numbers; and inadequate protections provided by state and federal agencies.

With the inclusion of both a tortoise (the Sonoran desert tortoise) and a “hare” (the white-sided jackrabbit), Rosmarino stated, “The tortoise and the hare are in a race with extinction - a race that neither wants to win.”

View notice 1.

View notice 2.


 

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