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Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Feds Deny Request To Protect Southwestern Species
By Susan Montoya Bryan
Associated Press
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled Tuesday that hundreds of plants and animals highlighted in a petition by environmentalists do not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act despite claims the species are on the brink of extinction.
The petition, filed by WildEarth Guardians in June 2007, sought protection for 475 species across the Southwest, including a mayfly once found in New Mexico and Arizona and a Texas aster that hasn't been seen for decades.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said the petition did not include enough information to consider endangered species protections for 270 species.
"The petition only included taxonomic data and no information regarding threats or any analysis of why they should be listed," spokesman Jose Viramontes said.
However, he said there was sufficient information on the other species and they are scheduled to be considered within the coming year.
WildEarth Guardians blasted Tuesday's finding, saying the petition provided evidence the species are rare and in need of help as climate change, habitat destruction, exotic weeds and other threats continue to mount.
"These are clearly imperiled species. We can point to plants and animals that any reasonable person would conclude that they are in real trouble," said Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians.
"For the service to have slammed the door in their faces is really alarming because they're supposed to be safeguarding this nation's wildlife, not refusing it passage on the ark that the Endangered Species Act provides," she said.
Rosmarino called Tuesday's finding another "midnight giveaway" by the Bush administration as it prepares to leave office. She said the administration, which has not listed a U.S. species in two years, has "an absolutely abysmal listing record."
Viramontes argued that the Fish and Wildlife Service takes its responsibility seriously and that more petitions for listing species are being filed each year. He said WildEarth Guardians' petition was the largest the Southwest region had ever received.
"We're starting to see more of these larger petitions and that is a significant workload for our biologists," he said. "They take that charge very seriously but it is a workload issue."
The species in the petition are found mostly in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma.
Among those that will not be considered for protection is fallceon eatoni, a mayfly once found in New Mexico and Arizona. WildEarth Guardians' petition said the mayfly was last collected in Arizona's Gila County in 2005 and before then had not been seen since 1934.
In West Texas, the petition said it has been three decades since Watson's false clappia, a member of the aster family, was last collected.
Rosmarino said WildEarth Guardians would continue pushing for protections for species listed in the petition. The group also awaits a finding on a separate mass petition that names 206 species from the mountain prairie region, which includes eight states along the Rocky Mountains.
Copyright ©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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