[Dialogue] Bush Administration Attempts to Undermine Wildlife Conservation on Public Lands:

[Harry Wainwright]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2008 3:07 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Lisa Belenky, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 385-5694
Josh Pollock, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546-0214 x 1

 

Bush Administration Attempts to Undermine Wildlife Conservation on Public
Lands:
Sweeping Policy Changes Proposed Behind Closed Doors

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - June 4 - Acting behind closed doors, the Bush
administration is rewriting a key policy manual for management of
endangered, threatened, and other special-status species found on federal
lands that would eliminate key protections currently given to the most
at-risk wildlife and plants. 

Among the sweeping changes proposed to the Bureau of Land Management Special
Status Species Manual are new policy directives that would undermine
protections for endangered and threatened plants, limit efforts to protect
those species officially awaiting protection under the Endangered Species
Act, allow the Bureau of Land Management to sell or trade public lands
designated as critical habitat, and eliminate some protections for
state-protected species found on federal lands.

"These changes are a cynical attempt to undermine conservation on our public
lands," said Lisa Belenky, staff attorney with the Center for Biological
Diversity. "Last month the Bush administration claimed it would not push
through last-minute regulatory changes without full public review, but at
the same time they were working behind the scenes to erode protections for
imperiled species on public lands through changes in the management manual."


The policy changes would eliminate the requirement that the Bureau of Land
Management treat all species identified as threatened or endangered by the
states as BLM "sensitive species," which are managed for conservation. In
western states with large areas of federal public lands, this change could
significantly undermine state conservation efforts.

"The Bush administration's short-sighted proposal would eliminate the BLM's
guidelines to conserve at-risk species on public lands at the very time when
proactive management is most likely to be effective - before they decline to
the point that they need to be listed under the Endangered Species Act,"
said Josh Pollock, interim executive director at the Center for Native
Ecosystems. "Failing to conserve state-recognized species undoes the good
work the states have started."

For endangered and threatened plants protected under the Endangered Species
Act, the Bureau would look only at impacts that were harmful at the
"population level" under the proposed policy changes, contradicting the Fish
and Wildlife Service's practice of looking at all impacts to listed plant
species.

"How is the BLM going to fulfill its responsibility to not push already
endangered species further toward extinction?" said Josh Pollock. "BLM needs
to focus on recovering these species rather than trying to get around its
current obligations to conserve them."

The changes would drastically reduce oversight of Bureau of Land Management
projects that impact species proposed for Endangered Species Act listing by
raising the bar for review by the Fish and Wildlife Service. For candidate
species, those species that the Fish and Wildlife Service has found warrant
listing but has not yet protected, the changes would entirely eliminate all
review by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Eliminating review of Bureau
projects would make it far more difficult for the Fish and Wildlife Service
to keep track of new impacts to candidate species on public lands, result in
far less protection, and could push candidate species closer to extinction
while waiting to gain protections under the Act.

The proposed changes would also allow some industry applicants for use of
federal lands to prepare their own environmental analyses and conduct
informal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service in lieu of the
Bureau of Land Management staff, thus eliminating a critical layer of
independent oversight of industry activities on public land.

"This is part of the Bush administration's drive to privatize public land
management and promote industrial exploitation of public lands resources for
the profit of a few," said Lisa Belenky. "These changes would direct BLM
staff to limit conservation efforts on public lands rather than ensure that
wildlife and rare plants are conserved for future generations."

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