New Agreement Will Speed Protection Decisions for 10 Species
Good news for species from fish to fishers: The Center reached a settlement with the Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday requiring the agency to speed protection decisions for 10 at-risk animals and plants.
Over the next five years, the Service must decide whether these species will receive Endangered Species Act protection by the following dates: alligator snapping turtles (2020), Barrens topminnows (2017), California spotted owls (2019), beaverpond marstonia (2017), Canoe Creek pigtoes (2020), cobblestone tiger beetles (2019), foothill yellow-legged frogs (2020), monarch butterflies (2019), Northern Rockies fishers (2017) and Virgin River spinedace (2021).
Under the Center's 757 species agreement with the Service, we can choose 10 additional species per year for expedited protection decisions. So far 147 species have gained final protection and 35 have been proposed for safeguards.
Read more in The Mercury News.