Hmm...Who ever wrote this article obviously doesn't have a full understanding of the differences of being listed under the ESA and being listed as a candidate species.

Here is a quote from the USFWS on what the Candidate Conservation Program entails, "Working in partnership with
public and private landowners, the Candidate Conservation Program
assesses species and develops and facilitates the use of voluntary
conservation tools for collaborative conservation of candidate and
other species-at-risk and their habitats, so that these species do not
need the protection of the Endangered Species Act". Notice the key word VOLUNTARY. I don't necessarily disagree with the program. I think most of us want species to stay off the ESA unless they DESERVE listing. I can't fathom the BLM, Dept. of Energy, and the Dept. of Interior radically changing how they manage our arid sagelands in response to candidate listing of Greater Sage-Grouse.This would require a radical shift in how we view energy, national security, and the management of OUR public lands. The only thing that WOULD OF REQUIRED this radical change would have been granting Greater Sage-Grouse Threatened or Endangered species protection under the ESA.

Anyone who thinks that protection levels received by Candidate species and species listed under ESA are the same, just go to Kansas or Texas where you can still legally hunt Lesser Prairie-Chicken which are coincidentally a Candidate species.

I've included links to the USFWS candidate and ESA webpages if you are looking for more info.

http://www.fws.gov/Endangered/candidates/index.html

http://www.fws.gov/Endangered/whatwedo.html

Off my soapbox.

Cheers,

Tyler


Tyler L. Hicks


Ph.D. Student
Washington State University Vancouver

E-mail: tyler_hicks at wsu.edu
Web Page: http://thingswithwings.org

"We were certainly uncertain. At least, I'm pretty sure I am." - Modest Mouse



From: lpatters at ix.netcom.com
To: tyler_hicks at wsu.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] FW: Greater Sage-Grouse decision from Dept. of the Interior
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 13:38:59 -0800
CC: tweeters at u.washington.edu

Here is another fresh story on this. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700014291/Split-decision-on-sage-grouse-may-restrict-public-lands.html
Larry SchwittersIssaquah


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