U.S. to Propose 382 Species for Protection List

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to propose granting federal protection to as many as 382 more species by 1996, potentially increasing the number of plants and animals designated as endangered or threatened by about 50%.

Federal wildlife officials say they believe the increase, reached in a settlement with environmental groups and an animal rights organization, would be the largest yet under the Endangered Species Act. About 740 species are now listed as endangered or threatened in the United States.

Most of the species to be proposed for protection are indigenous to the West. Under the agreement, more than 20 kinds of animals in California could be added to the federal endangered list, triggering more conflicts over development.

“This is the best news for endangered species in a very long time,” said Michael Sherwood, an attorney with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in San Francisco. “The pace of listing has been dangerously slow.”

Once an animal is listed as endangered or threatened, it becomes illegal to harm or harass it without authorization from the Fish and Wildlife Service. For owners of private lands, obtaining that authorization usually requires developing a conservation plan for the species’ long-term protection.

The species that will be proposed already are believed by the Fish and Wildlife Service to merit protection. But the agency, primarily because of limited money, has never formally proposed protecting them. Some species have become extinct while awaiting listing.

The proposal process requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain public comment and accumulate the most current scientific information about the species’ status. A decision on listing is supposed to be made a year after the proposal.

John Fitzgerald, director of Defenders of Wildlife, said the odds are 10 to 1 that all the 382 species will be listed as either endangered or threatened.

“These are species that everyone assumes will be listed,” he said.

The Fund for Animals, Defenders of Wildlife and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government earlier this year asking that 3,700 species be officially proposed for listing.

The settlement, filed in federal district court in Washington Tuesday, requires the government to monitor the status of more than 900 other species in addition to proposing the 382.

Fitzgerald said 90% of the species to be proposed are plants. On federal land, endangered plants cannot be destroyed without first consulting the Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the species’ continued survival is not jeopardized.

Private landowners can destroy such plants as long as their project has no federal government connection.

Among the California species that could be added to the endangered or threatened list are the short-nosed kangaroo rat, the San Joaquin Valley wood rat, the Southwestern pond turtle, the Alameda striped racer snake, the flat-tailed horned lizard and the Mono Lake brine shrimp.

Property rights activists complain that the Endangered Species Act, by listing such animals, impedes private landowners from developing their land and causes land values to drop.

But Defenders of Wildlife attorney Bill Snape said he does not believe the listings will have serious economic repercussions.

Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman David Klinger said the settlement will give the agency some flexibility in proposing species.