WildEarth Guardians

Friday, November 6, 2009
Federal Protections for Endangered Species Still At All-Time Low

Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Yearly Report on Candidate Species
Contact: Nicole Rosmarino (505) 699-7404

DENVER - The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today announced its annual Candidate Notice of Review (CNOR) of species awaiting protection under the Endangered Species Act. There are now 249 species that are formal “candidates” awaiting federal listing. This is the first CNOR under the Obama administration, but it is nearly identical to the last such notice under the Bush administration. Indeed, new U.S. species listings under Interior Secretary Salazar have been slow in coming and are currently on par with the average annual listing rate under George W. Bush, of under 10 species per year, an all-time low.

“Change, metamorphosis, transformation - however you say it, we heard Obama promise it, and the endangered animals and plants that make our country great urgently need it,” stated Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians.

Until endangered species are actually listed under the Act, they do not enjoy its protections. Species have vanished while awaiting listing. Before candidates can be listed, they must be proposed for listing. Such proposals are supposed to be finalized in one year, with some exceptions. Secretary Salazar has also been slow with listing proposals, having proposed only 7 U.S. species thus far.

“The administration is carrying on the Bush-era legacy of failing to grant badly needed protections to animals and plants on the brink. We need a dramatic shift in the administration’s behavior, in order to protect our nation’s rich natural diversity,” stated Rosmarino.

The Obama administration is even late on finalizing a listing rule for the President’s native state: a listing proposal for 48 Kauai species was supposed to be finalized on October 21. In addition, the majority of the Service’s “Top 40” most imperiled candidates in the nation have not yet even been proposed for listing. In late April, WildEarth Guardians issued a report on the extreme imperilment of the Top 40 and outlined recommendations to President Obama and Secretary Salazar to address the listing backlog. Secretary Salazar has yet to implement any of the recommendations.

Secretary Salazar has listed 2 U.S. species that did not previously have federal protection and 5 additional U.S. species that were issued new listing rules based on changed taxonomy.

The CNOR will be published in Monday’s Federal Register, but is currently online at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-26841.pdf.

WildEarth Guardians’ April 2009 report on “America’s Top 40” is online at: report-top-40-4-30-09.pdf .