Are the Feds Living Up to their Responsibilities Under ESA?

On Wednesday, committee members heard a report on endangered species in Idaho by a panel headed up by Nate Fisher, Idaho Office of Species Conservation. Fisher voiced the Governor’s frustration that while Idaho citizens have been willing to roll up their sleeves and work to save species, the Federal government has failed to live up to the provisions of the Endangered Species Act and to its commitments to Idaho citizens. We need to be concerned about what is in the best interests of Idaho.

Slick spot peppergrass is found in two counties in Idaho. Fisher outlined the history of the process starting in 2003 with the use of Candidate Conservation Agreements (CCA) which were meant to protect the plant so that listing would not be needed. The use of CCAs was so successful that USFWS withdrew the proposal to list slick spot peppergrass in 2004 which lead to additional lawsuits. The Obama administration has repudiated the agreements and proposed listing-invalidating the collaboration which led to CCAs. That’s why the governor has proposed filing a lawsuit to protect a state’s right to develop CCAs. If the feds can unilaterally say no after having agreed, this is a disincentive to citizens working with the feds to protect candidate species.

Fisher says the same scenario exists with sage grouse. Idaho has 13 local working groups involved in sage grouse restoration. In 2005, a sage grouse listing was not warranted. In 2010, a judge has remanded the issue back to the USFWS which could continue its stance that a listing is not warranted, determine that sage grouse not be listed because of its low priority, list it in its full range across 11 western states or list it in certain parts of the range. Whatever decision is made, there will be more lawsuits and less incentive to work with the Federal government on solutions that benefit the species.

Critical habitat for bull trout is again an issue with a 2010 proposal to declare 22,000 miles of streams and 533,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs as critical habitat after a decision to declare a smaller amount of critical habitat was remanded to the agency for another review and public input process. Almost half the stream miles and lake and reservoir acres are in Idaho alone.
The process to delist wolves started in 2005 and has been interrupted several times by lawsuits. In 2009, the wolf was delisted in Idaho and Montana. Hunting seasons were set despite a pending lawsuit to list the wolves as endangered. The oral arguments will take place in February, 2010. Idaho’s hunting season is still open in some areas until March 31.
Clive Strong of the Attorney General’s office also reported on the status of salmon litigation which has been on for over a decade. The Obama administration has made some changes to the 2008 biological opinion—adding an adaptive management contingent and triggers that would require a study of dam breaching. Congress would, however, still have to vote to breach any of the four Lower Snake River dams because they were authorized by Congress in the first place. A decision on the lawsuit in Judge Redden’s court could come this spring or summer.