Environmental groups to challenge FWS’s lesser prairie chicken ruling

April 11, 2014
Three environmental organizations notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service that they plan to sue over the US Department of the Interior agency’s recent designation of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened—but not endangered—species.

Three environmental organizations notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service that they plan to sue over the US Department of the Interior agency’s recent designation of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened—but not endangered—species (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2013). While the Mar. 27 final rule fell short of the endangered status, it disappointed Midcontinent oil and gas producers and others involved in a five-state environmental impact mitigation effort to make any federal listing unnecessary.

FWS’s first-time use of Section 4(d) of the federal Endangered Species Act to create exemptions so participants to join state-organized or other voluntary conservation plans is unacceptable, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and WildEarth Guardians jointly said on Apr. 10.

They said FWS endorsed an agreement that would let oil and gas producers in five Midcontinent states kill just under half of the bird’s remaining population over 10 years. The groups also criticized the animal’s ESA designation as threatened instead of endangered, which would have triggered mandatory conservation measures.

“This decision is a recipe for further declines of a rare and beautiful bird already teetering on the brink of extinction,” said Jason Rylander, a Defenders of Wildlife senior attorney.

“[FWS] has adopted unprecedented and sweeping loopholes that seriously undermine their ability to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of new and inadequate conservation programs, increasing the likelihood of further loss of prairie chickens and further habitat destruction,” he declared.

“Drought and habitat destruction are devastating the small remaining population of this magnificent grassland bird,” said Jay Lininger, a Center for Biological Diversity senior scientist. “The unenforceable state-level plan and voluntary measures are too little, too late, and will not get traction fast enough to prevent extinction.”

Erik Molvar, a Wildlife Biologist with WildEarth Guardians wildlife biologist, said, “In 1905, one market hunter shipped 20,000 lesser prairie-chickens out of a single county in Texas. In 2013, only 17,616 were found across the species’ entire five-state range, down from 34,440 just the year before, and counts appear to be even lower this spring.”

He said, “Clearly, the local efforts aren’t enough to recover the bird and protect its most sensitive habitats. Compelling a full-scale ‘endangered species’ listing would close the loopholes and inject some much-needed backbone into conservation efforts.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].