WildEarth Guardians

Friday, December 31, 2010
Good News for Moby Dick At Close of International Year of Biodiversity

Recap of Year of Actions for Endangered Species
Contact: Nicole Rosmarino 505 699-7404

Washington, DC-Dec 31. In the final week of the first-ever International Year of Biodiversity (IYOB), the federal government issued a recovery plan for the sperm whale – after making the whale wait for nearly 40 years.  The government’s action came in response to a court order obtained by WildEarth Guardians. 

“We’re pleased that the sperm whale has, at long last, a plan for recovery,” stated Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. “While the International Year of Biodiversity has come to a close, the extinction crisis nonetheless persists. We will continue to urge the government to use all means at its disposal, most notably the Endangered Species Act, to confront this life-threatening crisis.”

In February 2010, Guardians sued the government for failing to issue recovery plans for the sperm, fin, and sei whales. The action came during the final week of the group’s “BioBlitz,” in which it filed lawsuits or petitions every day for 36 consecutive days to mark both the IYOB and the 36^th anniversary of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Altogether, Guardians took actions for 100 species during its January and February BioBlitz. Later in the year, the group conducted a BioBlitz for several Gulf of Mexico species as part of “Gulf Week,” in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; and celebrated Halloween with a final BioBlitz of species symbolic of the holiday: bats, rattlesnakes, the Mexican wolf, Gila monster, and tarantulas.

The group’s year-long campaign built on its decades of effort to provide upgraded or new ESA safeguards to species across the U.S. The ESA has proven to be 99 percent effective in preventing species extinction. In addition, Guardians aimed to encourage the federal government to mark the IYOB by fully implementing the ESA, which has long been under-funded and under-enforced to the detriment of a variety of species desperately in need of the shields this law provides.

Prodded by Guardians’ BioBlitzes and additional actions by the group, the U.S. government:

• Issued a final recovery plan for the sperm whale
• Issued a final recovery plan for the fin whale
• Agreed to issue a recovery plan for the sei whale
• Issued final listing and critical habitat rules for 48 Kauai species
• Agreed to a recovery plan determination for the jaguarundi
• Agreed to a recovery plan determination for the thick-billed parrot
• Proposed the sand dune lizard for ESA listing
• Proposed the largetooth sawfish for ESA listing
• Added two Colorado plants, the skiff and Schmoll’s milkvetches, to the ESA candidate list
• Added the Jemez Mountains salamander to the ESA candidate list
• Added the Sprague’s pipit to the ESA candidate list
• Added the Wright’s marsh thistle to the ESA candidate list
• Issued a positive petition finding for the bumphead parrotfish

Working with other conservation groups, Guardians also compelled the U.S. government to:

• Propose the mountain plover for ESA listing (Biodiversity Conservation Alliance was partner)
• Add the Sonoran desert tortoise to the ESA candidate list (Western Watersheds Project was co-petitioner)
• Add the Gunnison sage-grouse to the ESA candidate list (a multitude of other organizations also involved)
• Add the Mono Basin sage-grouse to the ESA candidate list (other organizations were also involved)
• Add the greater sage-grouse to the ESA candidate list (other organizations were also involved)
• Add the Canada lynx in New Mexico to the ESA candidate list (other entities, especially the Western Environmental Law Center, were involved)
• Issue a positive petition finding for the Mexican wolf (The Rewilding Institute was co-petitioner)
• Agree to issue ESA listing determinations for 12 parrots (Friends of Animals was co-plaintiff)

Despite the urgent need for prompt action to address the extinction crisis, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been slow to add more species to the ESA list. There are now 255 species of plants and wildlife that are formal “candidates” awaiting federal listing. Many of these species have been on the waiting list for protection for a decade or more. Outside of Hawaii, Salazar has listed only 4 new U.S. species under the Act since taking office. At the current pace, it would take a century to get through the backlog of candidate species in the continental U.S.

WildEarth Guardians is a formal partner in the United Nation’s Year of Biodiversity (see here), in which “The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity.” For background information, contact Nicole Rosmarino at nrosmarino@wildearthguardians.org or 505-699-7404.