Fish and Wildlife lists lesser prairie-chicken as ‘threatened’
March 27, 2014 | 05:51 PM
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced the final listing of the lesser prairie-chicken as “threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, as well as a final special rule under section 4(d) of the ESA that the agency, a division of the Interior Department, will limit regulatory impacts on landowners and businesses from this listing.
Under the law, a “threatened” listing means the species is likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future; it is a step below “endangered” under the ESA and allows for more flexibility in how the act’s protections are implemented.
“In recognition of the significant and ongoing efforts of states and landowners to conserve the lesser prairie-chicken, this unprecedented use of a special 4(d) rule will allow the five range states to continue to manage conservation efforts for the species and avoid further regulation of activities such as oil and gas development and utility line maintenance that are covered under the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ (WAFWA) range-wide conservation plan,” the agency said.
“This range-wide conservation plan was developed by state wildlife agency experts in 2013 with input from a wide variety of stakeholders. The special rule also establishes that conservation practices carried out through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative and through ongoing normal agricultural practices on existing cultivated land are all in compliance with the ESA and not subject to further regulation,” the agency added.
Despite the special rule, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association expressed disappointment.
“The listing will cost more for local businesses than the proposed voluntary Range-Wide Conservation Plan, without any guarantee of better success,” NRECA said in a news release.
“The FWS listing effectively pre-empts the voluntary plan, which was developed collaboratively by government agencies and private organizations, including electric cooperatives, in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Kansas,” NRECA said. “Co-ops actively participated in the effort to create the plan, which includes commitments of more than $21 million for mitigation on more than 3.6 million acres to conserve the prairie chicken.”
“The listing will impose heavy burdens on local cooperatives at a time when many local economies are still struggling and will likely prove ineffectual,” said NRECA CEO Jo Ann Emerson. “This decision to list the lesser prairie chicken also wastes an opportunity to try an innovative, collaborative approach to species conservation that many local stakeholders have developed.”
The Environmental Defense Fund said, “It's a sad day when a species has to get listed. The bright spot is that the service has opened the door to innovative approaches for species conservation, as demonstrated by its commitment to range-wide planning. By sharing the responsibility for species protection with the states and private landowners, the service has increased the potential for recovery of the lesser prairie-chicken. This is a big evolution in how the act gets implemented.”
"We believe more can, and should, be done to engage private landowners,” EDF continued. “I am hopeful that through modern species conservation measures like habitat exchanges currently under consideration with the service, we can meet the challenge of feeding and fueling a growing population without harming the planet in the process.”
