Post by Sharon Faulkner on Apr 24, 2006 17:49:44 GMT -5
Public can help update endangered list
By James W. Brosnan
Scripps Howard News Service
April 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - It's time to count those Houston toads, golden-cheeked warblers, leopard darters, Ozark big-eared bats, Pecos bluntnose shiners and 20 other government-protected species trying to survive in the Southwest.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it is opening a 90-day public comment period on whether it has properly classified those species, which now fall under either the endangered or threatened classification.
The Endangered Species Act requires the service to review listed species every five years. This review covers 18 animal and seven plant species in all or parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. The jaguar and the Apache trout, the state fish of Arizona, are the best known of the 25.
Other animal species to be reviewed include the Government Canyon bat cave spider, the Cokendolpher Cave harvestman, helotes mold beetle, the desert pupfish, the Sonora tiger salamander, three varieties of meshweavers (spiders) and two varieties of ground beetles.
Plant species in the review are the Cochise pincushion cactus, Peebles Navajo cactus, siler pincushion cactus, slender rush-pea, black lace cactus, Todsen's pennyroyal and the Sacramento prickly poppy.
The service looks for any new scientific information, conservation measures or threats - such as a trade in the species on the black market - that could affect the classification.
If a change is warranted, the service would do that in a separate classification procedure. Removal from the Endangered Species List is "seldom an outcome" of the review, said service spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown. Critics of the law complain that species are rarely removed from the list. There are 1,300 plant or animal species listed as endangered or threatened in the United States.
TO BE HEARD: Information on where to send comments can found on pages 20,714-20,716 of Friday's Federal Register, accessible by using the "browse" tab at www.gopaccess.gov/fr/
By James W. Brosnan
Scripps Howard News Service
April 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - It's time to count those Houston toads, golden-cheeked warblers, leopard darters, Ozark big-eared bats, Pecos bluntnose shiners and 20 other government-protected species trying to survive in the Southwest.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it is opening a 90-day public comment period on whether it has properly classified those species, which now fall under either the endangered or threatened classification.
The Endangered Species Act requires the service to review listed species every five years. This review covers 18 animal and seven plant species in all or parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. The jaguar and the Apache trout, the state fish of Arizona, are the best known of the 25.
Other animal species to be reviewed include the Government Canyon bat cave spider, the Cokendolpher Cave harvestman, helotes mold beetle, the desert pupfish, the Sonora tiger salamander, three varieties of meshweavers (spiders) and two varieties of ground beetles.
Plant species in the review are the Cochise pincushion cactus, Peebles Navajo cactus, siler pincushion cactus, slender rush-pea, black lace cactus, Todsen's pennyroyal and the Sacramento prickly poppy.
The service looks for any new scientific information, conservation measures or threats - such as a trade in the species on the black market - that could affect the classification.
If a change is warranted, the service would do that in a separate classification procedure. Removal from the Endangered Species List is "seldom an outcome" of the review, said service spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown. Critics of the law complain that species are rarely removed from the list. There are 1,300 plant or animal species listed as endangered or threatened in the United States.
TO BE HEARD: Information on where to send comments can found on pages 20,714-20,716 of Friday's Federal Register, accessible by using the "browse" tab at www.gopaccess.gov/fr/