[MCN] Lynx: Daines, Tester got this one very wrong

[Matthew Koehler]

Hello Missoula,

Please keep in mind that the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation, Boone and Crockett Club and the Montana Wildlife Federation all
supported this "ginned-up charade to relax environmental protections for
endangered species as a favor to the timber industry."


SNIPS: "The so-called controversy was always a ginned-up charade to relax
environmental protections for endangered species as a favor to the timber
industry,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center.
“Sadly the Forest Service was complicit in this effort to weaken endangered
species protections. The completed assessment shows what a total
nothing-burger this whole issue always was.”

“The Trump administration seems to be deliberately dragging this out to
push an agenda for weakening the Endangered Species Act,” said Greenwald.
“Senator Tester’s and Senator Daines’ cynical legislation wouldn’t solve
anything at all in Montana, but it would harm countless animals elsewhere,
and that’s exactly what the Trump administration wants.”


On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 12:54 PM, Lance Olsen via Missoula-Community-News <
missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:

> For Immediate Release, December 4, 2017
>
> Contact: Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@
> biologicaldiversity.org
>
> *Completion of Northern Rockies Lynx Analysis Discredits Montana Senators'
> Rationale for Weakening Endangered Species Act  *
>
> WASHINGTON— A document
> <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Canada_lynx/pdfs/Lynx_CH_Consultation_Nrt_Rockies.pdf> recently
> obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity shows that an analysis of
> the U.S. Forest Service’s management of Canada lynx critical habitat in the
> northern Rockies was completed in a timely manner in mid-October,
> undermining the pretext for legislation aiming to weaken the Endangered
> Species Act.
>
> Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced a
> bill, S. 605
> <https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/605>, to
> cripple the Endangered Species Act nationwide, citing delays by the Forest
> Service in a routine review required by the Act. But the timely completion
> of the lynx analysis debunks the claims about delays that underpin S. 605,
> and in fact shows the Endangered Species Act is working exactly as intended.
>
> “The so-called controversy was always a ginned-up charade to relax
> environmental protections for endangered species as a favor to the timber
> industry,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center.
> “Sadly the Forest Service was complicit in this effort to weaken endangered
> species protections. The completed assessment shows what a total
> nothing-burger this whole issue always was.”
>
> The analysis in question was completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
> Service in less than four months. In contrast, the actual request from the
> U.S. Forest Service seeking the analysis from the Fish and Wildlife Service
> took twice as long to complete. The delays by the Forest Service provided
> the political fodder for Montana’s senators to argue for sweeping changes
> to the Endangered Species Act.
>
> For decades the Fish and Wildlife Service has required land-management
> agencies to reassess their actions if a new species is listed as threatened
> or endangered or if critical habitat is designated on these lands. The
> reassessments normally take a few weeks to a few months to complete.
>
> Despite the routine nature of these consultations, the Forest Service
> refused to assess the impacts of its actions on Canada lynx after critical
> habitat was designated in 2014, losing multiple court cases, including a
> failed Supreme Court appeal in October 2016. With no recourse available
> save a congressional bailout, the Forest Service continued dragging its
> feet in 2017.
>
> “The Trump administration seems to be deliberately dragging this out to
> push an agenda for weakening the Endangered Species Act,” said Greenwald.
> “Senator Tester’s and Senator Daines’ cynical legislation wouldn’t solve
> anything at all in Montana, but it would harm countless animals elsewhere,
> and that’s exactly what the Trump administration wants.”
>
>
> *The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation
> organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists
> dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.*
>
> =================================================
> “Although we are only at an early stage in the projected trends of global
> warming,
> ecological responses to recent climate change are already clearly visible.”
>
> Walther et al. Ecological responses to recent climate change.
> Nature, March 28, 2002
>
> ==================================
> "A surprising result is the high proportion of species responding to
> recent, relatively
> mild climate change (global average warming of 0.6 C)."
>
> Camille Parmesan. Ecological and Evolutionary Responses to Recent Climate
> Change.
> Annual Review of Ecology Evolution & Systematics  2006
>
>
> -----------------
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