Shawn Pagan alerted me to this press release from the Partnership for the West detailing the final verdict of the USDA whether to list the Sage Grouse on the Endangered Species List (ESA) or not. Here's what Jim Sims, Executive Vice President of Partnership for the West, had to say about it:
quote:The U.S. Interior Department tonight announced its final decision not to list the Greater Sage-grouse as an endangered or threatened species. This an extraordinary win for the West -- especially given the fact that, over the past 10 years, 90 percent of all such petitions were granted some form of listing following a positive 90-day review Fish & Wildlife Service finding.
In other words, the West beat 10-1 odds in winning this battle.
A statement by Partnership Chair and State Representative Diane Hoppe follows.
Congratulations to all members, stakeholders and allies who worked so hard in this fight. This is one for the history books!
Here's the full Press Release from the Partnership for the West.
quote:SAGE GROUSE COALITION REACTS TO SAGE GROUSE DECISION Western Coalition Challenges Activist Groups To "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is"
Phoenix, AZ (January 7, 2005) - Following the federal government's final decision not to list the Greater Sage-grouse as an endangered species, the Chair of the Partnership for the West grassroots alliance issued this challenge to activist groups seeking the listing: start spending money on sage-grouse conservation efforts rather than on lawyers and lawsuits.
"We challenge those activist groups that pushed this petition to put their money where their mouth is and start funding actual conservation efforts instead of funding lawyers and lawsuits," said Diane Hoppe, Chair of the Partnership and a Colorado State Representative. "Federal agencies, State agencies, counties, municipalities, conservation groups and many private sector stakeholders are together spending tens of millions of dollars to help conserve sage-grouse and its habitat. What are some of these so-called environmental groups bringing to the conservation table? Little beyond a never-ending stream of destructive and costly lawsuits.
"These lawsuits end up hurting wildlife because they drown wildlife biologists and conservation officials in paperwork, drain dollars away from actual conservation efforts, and scare folks away from the conservation table," Hoppe added. "It's time these activists chose conservation rather than conflict."
Hoppe praised the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Interior Department for its decision not the list the grouse. "This decision is a victory of science over politics," she said. "The field biologists did their work and came to a science-based conclusion that the bird was not on the verge of extinction. Now it's up to all of us to work together in the West to ensure that this bird does not get into serious trouble in the future."
Hoppe also praised several Members of Congress, especially U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Reps. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) and Jim Matheson (D-UT), for helping to lead the effort to convince the federal government that state and local stakeholders were in the best position to lead sage-grouse conservation efforts.
Hoppe added: "This is an especially big win for Western landowners and farmers and ranchers. The overwhelming majority of landowners are more than willing to pitch in and help conserve this species on their land, but they rightfully fear standing in front of the loaded and cocked double-barreled shotgun that is the flawed Endangered Species Act.
"It's time to update and modernize this law so that local folks who live on the land are given incentives to protect species, rather than encouraged to "shoot, shovel and shut up" when a species wanders across their land," Hoppe said.
Jim Sims, Executive Vice President of the Partnership, said: "It is my hope that those who are truly interested in seeing this species survive and flourish will come to the table and help hammer out common sense conservation efforts.
"The sad news is that those pushed this listing petition forced the wasteful spending of millions of taxpayers' dollars at the federal and state levels that could otherwise have been spent helping sage-grouse and preserving their habitat.
"The good news is that there are many public interest groups who truly care about the future of this species and who are already engaged in constructive efforts to enhance conservation efforts at the local level. We applaud their efforts and we look forward to working with them," Sims said.
And for more information on this, here's the press release from the House Resources Committee itself:
quote:No Listing Decision for Sage-grouse Good News for Species Recovery
San Diego, CA - House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) applauded the finding of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service today that the Greater Sage-grouse should not be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
"When it comes to species recovery, the worst thing a true conservationist can hear is, 'I'm from the federal government and I am here to help.' The Endangered Species Act has compiled a 99 percent rate of failure in species recovery. It is ironic, but the finding against listing the Sage-grouse is great news for those interested in actually recovering this species. Private conservation and recovery efforts work, the ESA does not."
It is a fact. The Endangered Species Act has only recovered twelve of the roughly 1300 species it has listed in its thirty year history, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That amounts to a less than one percent rate of success for species recovery.
"Private cooperative conservation efforts to aid the Sage-grouse have already proven effective and are clearly the best way to save endangered species. Allowing these efforts to continue will ensure healthy, vibrant populations in the future. Heavy-handed ESA edicts from the federal government have only locked up millions of acres and have done nothing to recover species. We should not be adding any species to this failed program until Congress updates it to make it work."
Chairman Pombo joined the Western Governors Association in San Diego today for a summit on ideas to update and modernize the ESA, where the Sage-grouse decision is being discussed.
"As the Western governors know all too well, the current Act is an obstacle to cooperative agreements and stifles innovative methods of recovering species," Pombo continued. "The fate of species and the noble intent of this law have suffered at the hands of Washington's inability to update and strengthen the Act. We will advance our goal of fixing this broken law with the summit discussions this weekend. It is not a question of if we should improve this law, it is a question of how."
"As chairman of the committee entrusted with primary jurisdiction over the ESA, I can say with great optimism that as Congress returns for the 109th session, I plan to build on successful stories such as the Sage-grouse to help strengthen and update the Endangered Species Act."
This is huge news! As I've posted here before, if the sage grouse would have been listed on the ESA, it could have become the primary weapon for Enviros to shut down OHV access in over a dozen states and on millions of acres of public land.
