Gossip at the Watering Holes of the Vulnerable

President Obama is reversing Bush policy on endangered species by restoring the regulations that require U.S. agencies to consult with independent federal experts to determine if their projects have the potential to harm threatened and endangered species. President Bush had removed such restrictions, allowing agencies to implement programs without consulting either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), thereby recklessly endangering vulnerable species. Today President Obama is issuing a presidential memorandum, which will require departments to consult with these two agencies once again on matters that potentially impact fragile habitats and species. This action will put us back in the place we were before the Bush administration loosened these restrictions. The departments of the Interior and Commerce will be also looking at whether a new rule needs to be established which codifies the traditional practice of consultation under the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/washington-post-03-03-2009.html

The state of California reverses August 2008 stance on state of the Pacific fisher. The California Fish and Game Commission has designated this mammal as a candidate to be listed as a threatened or endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act. They are also reviewing the species to determine if full protection is needed. The Commission originally had followed a recommendation by the Department of Fish and Game to reject the petition to list the Pacific fisher. When a public-records act request from the Center for Biological Diversity showed that most of the department’s own biologists had in fact supported accepting the petition, the commission decided to revisit its ruling. The fisher may also end up as a candidate for federal protection. Although the Bush administration decided in 2004 that the Pacific fisher needed federal protection, it claimed there was a lack of resources to provide that protection. With the change in administration, it is likely that the fisher will fall under federal protection in the near future.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/pacific-fisher-03-05-2009.html
Editor of AGNADL