US reaches accord on endangered species - NYT
Date: 31-Aug-01
Country: USA
In exchange, a coalition of environmental groups agreed not to demand the government's immediate compliance with court orders affecting a few other species, the report said.
The arrangement meant that the government, which had been directed to designate habitats for newly listed endangered species at the center of lawsuits, could divert the money to saving these 29 plant and animal species from disease, predators and bulldozers, the newspaper said.
The report said that last November, the agency said it had lost control of the protection process because it was overwhelmed by court orders.
According to the report, the animals that the wildlife service agreed to protect include the Chiricahua leopard frog and the Mississippi gopher frog, which once ranged across the Deep South but now exist in just one pond in Harrison County, Miss. Another animal on the list is the pygmy rabbit, the smallest in the United States, the newspaper said.
The federal government listed 1,244 endangered species as of the end of last year. From 1996 to 2000, the list grew by about 50 species a year and the last time the wildlife service added a species without a court order was on Dec. 26, listing nine species of invertebrates in Bexar County, Texas.
According to the report, since President Bush took office in January, only one species, the milk vetch plant, has been listed, and that was under a court order.
The wildlife service said a formal settlement document must still be written and approved by the Departments of Interior and Justice before it is presented to courts with jurisdiction over the cases, according to the newspaper.
The groups involved in the settlement were the Center for Biological Diversity, the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and the California Native Plant Society, the Times reported.