Forest Guardians • Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
November 20, 2006
Contact Information
Federal Safety Net Sought for Imperiled Mountain Plover
Groups File Suit to Obtain Endangered Species Act Protection for Declining Bird
Denver, CO — Forest Guardians and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed suit in federal court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for refusing to list the mountain plover under the Endangered Species Act. Just when the mountain plover was finally on track for listing, the Fish and Wildlife Service pulled a sudden reversal—removing its proposed rule to list the species on September 9, 2003.
Forest Guardians and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance charge that government’s decision to deny protection to the mountain plover is based on interference from political appointees within the Fish and Wildlife Service. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate Service higher-ups rejected advice and biological data provided by their own career scientists that supported mountain plover listing (available on the web at http://www.fguardians.org/support_docs/factsheet_moutain-plover-political-interference_11-20-06.pdf). Political interference in listing is illegal, given the Endangered Species Act’s requirement that listing decisions be solely based on biological information.
“The mountain plover case reflects a pattern of denying Endangered Species protection for purely political reasons,” stated Dr. Lauren McCain, Deserts and Grasslands Program Director for Forest Guardians in Denver. “We’ve seen this with many other species, including the Gunnison’s prairie dog. Corporate lobbyists are currently dictating Endangered Species policy, not sound science.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service designated this imperiled grassland bird a candidate for listing as Threatened in 1982. For over 20 years the species languished in the purgatory of Endangered Species Act candidacy. Biological data demonstrate the species has not made a recovery and continues to trend toward decline. Threats to the plover include urban sprawl, agriculture, escalating oil and gas development, and harm to prairie dogs, which provide important plover breeding habitat.
Rampant oil and gas extraction across the west is destroying wildlife habitat nearly everywhere, including the mountain plover’s. What were once key habitat areas for the bird are now laced with drill pads, rigs, and new roads; this is especially true in Wyoming, Montana, northeastern Colorado, and Utah.
“The last mountain plover population in Utah went extinct recently in the midst of intense oil and gas development, proving that this rare bird warrants the protection of the Endangered Species Act,” observed Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Wyoming-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “And elsewhere in its range, from the Powder River Basin to the Red Desert, key mountain plover habitats are increasingly being targeted for heavy-impact oil and gas projects.”
There is also concern about the loss of habitat due to agriculture and development that has been particularly dramatic in California. Scientists believe over 90 percent of the birds winter in California. The state’s plover population once concentrated in the Central Valley, but destruction of natural habitat forced the bird out. Despite some remnant populations, wintering mountain plovers now cluster in the Imperial Valley and are totally dependent on an artificial habitat created by irrigated alfalfa fields.
Habitat loss is also a key factor in the mountain plover’s breeding range. The range spans along the western Great Plains concentrating in the shortgrass prairies of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The breeding range in the U.S. was once expansive, including larger areas of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The bird is considered extinct in North and South Dakota and critically imperiled in Nebraska and Kansas. The loss of prairie dog colonies, a preferred habitat of the mountain plovers, has been tied to plover declines.
Conversion of native grassland to cropland has also forced the plover to nest in agricultural fields, leaving nests vulnerable to destruction by machinery. Some Colorado and Nebraska farmers participate in a voluntary program, where biologists check fields and flag nests to enable farmers to avoid them when they plow. The program is funded by state wildlife agencies and administered by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. Some believe the mountain plover was taken out of Endangered Species listing consideration because of pressure by agricultural industry groups fearing that farmers would be punished for harming the birds.
“Mechanisms in the Endangered Species Act protect landowners from being penalized when they help conserve species,” added McCain of Forest Guardians. “We support increased incentives to encourage farmers to take steps to help conserve plovers.”
Despite persistent attempts to block endangered species listings by industry representatives and their friends in Washington, the Endangered Species Act remains extremely popular with the American public. The November 7 election demonstrated this once again. Voters ousted Montana’s Senator Conrad Burns and California’s Congressman Richard Pombo, who both made persistent attempts to gut the Act. The election results show that Americans are ready to punish elected officials who attempt to weaken their cherished Endangered Species law.
For more information, photos, and the complaint visit the Forest Guardians website http://www.fguardians.org/library/paper.asp?nMode=1&nLibraryID=422 or contact Lauren McCain.
Dr. Lauren McCain, Deserts and Grasslands Program Director, Forest Guardians (303) 573-4898
Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (307) 742-7978
