Feds Say Utah Wildflowers Nearly Extinct, but Not Endangered
Monday, August 11, 2014
SALT LAKE CITY – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reversed its earlier decision to pursue Endangered Species Act protection for two nearly extinct wildflower species that grow in parts of Utah and Colorado.
Instead, the agency says it has finalized a voluntary conservation agreement with county, state and other federal agencies to protect the Graham's and White River beardtongues.
Lori Ann Burd, endangered species campaign director at the Center for Biological Diversity, isn't convinced the action will do enough to protect the flowers and ensure a recovery plan.
"The Endangered Species Act is 99 percent effective at preventing extinction,” she points out. “But a species must be listed under the act in order for the act's protections to work."
Burd says grazing animals and oil and gas development are among the factors that have led to the decline of the beardtongues.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says the conservation agreement sufficiently addresses these threats, so they no longer meet the definition of a threatened or endangered species.
Beardtongues are found only in oil shale outcroppings in northeastern Utah's energy-rich Uinta Basin and an area of northwestern Colorado.
Burd says the Fish and Wildlife Services' own research shows the flowers can be protected with little effect on oil and gas development in the region.
"Fish and Wildlife Service did an economic analysis, where it found there would be no significant economic impacts as a result of listing these species,” she says. “So really, this is just dirty politics for dirty oil shale."
Burd adds that her organization and other conservation groups may sue the Fish and Wildlife Service to try to get stronger protections for the wildflowers.
get more stories like this via email
Social Issues
By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News …
Environment
By Naoki Nitta for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public Ne…
Social Issues
Concerns about potential voter intimidation have spurred several states to consider banning firearms at polling sites but so far, New Hampshire is …
Social Issues
Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has released 57 "interim charges," the topics he wants Senate committees to study in preparation for the 89th …
Social Issues
Minnesota's largest school district is at the center of a budget controversy tied to the recent wave of school board candidates fighting diversity pro…
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a measure which would force employers to properly classify certain trade union workers and others as employees rat…