For Immediate Release, October 12, 2017
Contact: Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org
Analysis: Trump Administration Drops Ball on Protecting Imperiled Animals
22 Species Get No Endangered Species Act Decision, 29 Denied Protection, 20 Denied Protected Critical Habitat
WASHINGTON— Research by the Center for Biological Diversity shows that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to make decisions concerning protection of 22 species under the Endangered Species Act, pushing the lesser prairie chicken, Hermes copper butterfly and others closer to extinction.
The Fish and Wildlife Service also failed to provide critical habitat for 20 already-listed endangered species, including the yellow-billed cuckoo and green sea turtle. Another 29 species, the Pacific walrus and black-backed woodpecker among them, were denied protection altogether.
“We give the Trump administration and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke a failing grade on protecting the nation’s endangered species,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. “The Fish and Wildlife Service made an honest attempt to prioritize species protections with extensive input from state wildlife agencies. But the agency wasn’t able to get the job done for these imperiled animals because of opposition from the Trump administration.”
The decisions were supposed to have been made in fiscal year 2017, which ended Sept. 30, according to a workplan developed by the Fish and Wildlife Service to address a backlog of more than 500 plants and animals awaiting endangered species protections.
Under the workplan, as well as court orders in some cases, the agency was supposed to make protection decisions for 61 species and designate critical habitat for 20 other species. Instead agency staffers made decisions for 39 species, only protecting 8, and designated critical habitat for just one species.
“The Trump administration’s failure to implement the Endangered Species Act is pushing dozens of species closer to extinction,” said Greenwald. “The administration is totally out of step with the vast majority of Americans who back strong protections for wildlife. Trump officials are very clearly putting profits for polluting corporations above the needs of both people and wildlife.”
For those species that did get decisions in line with the workplan, the majority were denied protection, including many that are severely imperiled. Of the 39 species for which decisions were issued, just 8 received final protection and two were proposed for protection. The other 29 were all denied. This includes the Pacific walrus, which is threatened by loss of summer sea ice caused by climate change and which was found to warrant protection by the Obama administration in 2011; the Florida Keys mole skink, which is extremely rare and rapidly losing habitat to sea-level rise, again caused by climate change; and the Northern Rocky Mountains fisher, a relative of the mink and otter that is threatened by fur trapping and logging of its habitat.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Table 1. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped the ball on making protection decisions for these 22 species.
Species Name |
Action Type |
Range |
Atlantic pigtoe |
12-month listing determination |
GA, NC, SC, VA |
beaver pond marstonia |
12-month listing determination |
GA |
blackfin sucker |
12-month listing determination |
KY, TN |
Carolina madtom |
12-month listing determination |
NC |
Cedar Key mole skink |
12-month listing determination |
FL |
Hermes copper butterfly |
Candidate species awaiting a proposed rule |
CA |
island marble butterfly |
Candidate species awaiting a proposed rule |
WA |
lesser prairie-chicken |
Discretionary Status Review |
CO, KS, NM, OK, TX |
Mohave shoulderband |
12-month listing determination |
CA |
Neuse River waterdog |
12-month listing determination |
NC |
northern spotted owl |
12-month determination for uplisting to endangered |
CA, OR, WA |
Panama City crayfish |
12-month listing determination |
FL |
San Joaquin Valley giant flower-loving fly |
12-month listing determination |
CA |
Tinian monarch |
12-month listing determination |
MP |
white-tailed prarie dog |
12-month listing determination |
CO, MT, UT, WY |
Wright's marsh thistle |
Proposed Listing Determination |
NM |
Louisiana pinesnake |
Final Listing |
LA |
black warrior waterdog |
Final Listing |
AL |
western glacier stonefly |
Final Listing |
MT |
mist forestfly |
Final Listing |
MT |
San Fernando Valley chorizanthe |
Final Listing |
CA |
Texas hornshell |
Final Listing |
TX |
Table 2. These 29 species were denied protection by the Trump administration.
Species Name |
Range |
Barbour's map turtle |
AL, FL, GA |
Bicknell's thrush |
CT, DE, GA, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT, Canada |
bifid duct pyrg |
NV, UT |
Big Blue Springs cave crayfish |
FL |
black-backed woodpecker (Black Hills population) |
SD, WY |
black-backed woodpecker (Oregon Cascades-California population) |
CA, ND, OR |
Blue Point pyrg |
NV |
boreal toad (Eastern population) |
CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, WY |
bridled darter |
GA, TN |
Butterfield pyrg |
NV |
Colorado tiger beetle |
CO |
Corn Creek pyrg |
NV |
fisher (Northern Rocky Mountains population) |
MT, ID, (WY - accidental) |
flag pyrg |
NV |
Florida Keys mole skink |
FL |
grated tryonia |
NV |
Hardy pyrg |
NV |
holiday darter |
AL, GA, TN |
Hubb’s pyrg |
NV |
Kirtland's snake |
IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, PA, TN |
Lake Valley pyrg |
NV |
Moapa pebblesnail |
NV |
Moapa Valley pyrg |
NV |
Pacific walrus |
AK |
Pahranagat pebblesnail |
NV |
San Felipe gambusia |
TX |
Spring Mountains pyrg |
NV |
White River Valley pyrg |
NV |
Kenk's amphipod |
DC |
Table 3. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to designate critical habitat for the following 20 species.
Species Name |
Action Type |
Range |
spring pygmy sunfish |
Final critical habitat |
AL |
yellow-billed cuckoo (Western U.S. DPS) |
Final critical habitat |
AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY |
elfin woods warbler |
Final critical habitat |
Puerto Rico |
black pine snake |
Final critical habitat |
AL, MS |
Miami tiger beetle |
Proposed critical habitat |
FL |
Florida bristle fern |
Proposed critical habitat |
FL |
Florida bonneted bat |
Proposed critical habitat |
FL |
green sea turtle (North Atlantic DPS) |
Proposed critical habitat |
|
green sea turtle (Central West Pacific DPS) |
Proposed critical habitat |
|
green sea turtle (South Atlantic DPS) |
Proposed critical habitat |
|
green sea turtle (Central North Pacific DPS) |
Proposed critical habitat |
|
green sea turtle (Central South Pacific DPS) |
Proposed critical habitat |
|
Big Sandy crayfish |
Proposed critical habitat |
KY, VA, WV |
rufa red knot |
Proposed critical habitat |
AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MS, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, RI, SC, SD, TX, VA, WV, WI |
Guyandotte River crayfish |
Proposed critical habitat |
WV |
narrow-headed gartersnake |
Revised proposed critical habitat |
AZ, NM, Mexico |
Georgetown salamander |
Revised proposed critical habitat |
TX |
Salado salamander |
Revised proposed critical habitat |
TX |
Northern Mexican gartersnake |
Revised proposed critical habitat |
AZ, NM, Mexico |
slickspot peppergrass |
Revised proposed critical habitat |
ID |
|