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02-21-2004, 09:06 AM
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Environmentalists sue over habitat for insect
BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
February 17, 2004
A slender insect with oversize metallic-green bug eyes has put Michigan at the center of a conflict over how best to protect endangered species.
A coalition of environmental groups recently sued the federal government to establish protected habitat zones for the Hine's emerald dragonfly -- which only lives in four states, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin. It has been found in three Michigan counties: Mackinac, Cheboygan and Presque Isle.
But federal regulators say a torrent of such lawsuits across the country has taken away money and manpower that could have been better spent protecting rare plants and animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the federal agencies overseeing the Endangered Species program,is scrambling to comply with 38 court orders requiring critical habitat designations, battling 34 lawsuits on the same issue, and bracing for more after being notified of 34 suits on the verge of being filed.
The Michigan lawsuit is part of the nationwide onslaught by environmental groups. They are trying to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to comply with the law, which says that in most cases it must designate habitat zones for species within a year after they are listed as endangered or threatened.
"Species with critical habitat are less likely to decline and twice as likely to be recovering as those without," said Daniel Patterson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the Michigan suit.
In the past, the Fish and Wildlife Service has carefully chosen which species get critical habitat. The flood of recent litigation "is preventing the Fish and Wildlife Service from protecting new species and reducing its ability to recover plants and animals already listed as threatened or endangered," Craig Manson, assistant U.S. interior secretary for fish and wildlife, said during congressional testimony last year. "Imagine an emergency room where lawsuits force the doctors to treat sprained ankles while patients with heart attacks expire in the waiting room."
About 80 percent of the money budgeted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species protection next year is for establishing critical habitat designations for endangered species -- many of them forced by court orders in cases like Michigan's.
The Williamston-based Michigan Nature Association owns an Alpena-area sanctuary that contains the rare type of wetland habitat suitable for the Hine's emerald dragonfly. It is one of the groups filing the Michigan suit.
"It is very political, but it is the administration's fault that there is not enough money to do both listing and critical habitat," said Jeremy Emmi, MNA's director. "What we're asking is that they work on these habitat plans at a reasonable rate."
HABITAT ZONES
AREN'T A REFUGE
Federal designation of "critical habitat" zones for endangered plants and animals sounds more impressive than it is.
It requires federal agencies to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if a federal project -- like a highway -- will affect the habitat of an endangered or threatened species.
It requires nothing of state and local governments, or of private landowners who encroach on such habitat.
"It does not create a refuge, although that's what a lot of people think," said Georgia Parham, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In fact, simply the designation of a species as "endangered" provides more protection than habitat designation. That's a primary reason that for years the Fish and Wildlife Service has concentrated primarily on listing new endangered plants and animals rather than identifying critical habitat for species already on the lists.
Despite a law requiring -- in most cases -- critical habitat designation within a year of being listed as endangered or threatened, the Fish and Wildlife Service routinely has not done so.
In Michigan, 14 animals and eight plants are listed as endangered. Only one -- the shoreline-loving piping plover -- has officially designated critical habitat.
Contact HUGH McDIARMID JR. at 248-351-3295 or mcdiarmid@freepress.com.
Environmentalists sue over habitat for insect
BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
February 17, 2004
A slender insect with oversize metallic-green bug eyes has put Michigan at the center of a conflict over how best to protect endangered species.
A coalition of environmental groups recently sued the federal government to establish protected habitat zones for the Hine's emerald dragonfly -- which only lives in four states, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin. It has been found in three Michigan counties: Mackinac, Cheboygan and Presque Isle.
But federal regulators say a torrent of such lawsuits across the country has taken away money and manpower that could have been better spent protecting rare plants and animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the federal agencies overseeing the Endangered Species program,is scrambling to comply with 38 court orders requiring critical habitat designations, battling 34 lawsuits on the same issue, and bracing for more after being notified of 34 suits on the verge of being filed.
The Michigan lawsuit is part of the nationwide onslaught by environmental groups. They are trying to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to comply with the law, which says that in most cases it must designate habitat zones for species within a year after they are listed as endangered or threatened.
"Species with critical habitat are less likely to decline and twice as likely to be recovering as those without," said Daniel Patterson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the Michigan suit.
In the past, the Fish and Wildlife Service has carefully chosen which species get critical habitat. The flood of recent litigation "is preventing the Fish and Wildlife Service from protecting new species and reducing its ability to recover plants and animals already listed as threatened or endangered," Craig Manson, assistant U.S. interior secretary for fish and wildlife, said during congressional testimony last year. "Imagine an emergency room where lawsuits force the doctors to treat sprained ankles while patients with heart attacks expire in the waiting room."
About 80 percent of the money budgeted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species protection next year is for establishing critical habitat designations for endangered species -- many of them forced by court orders in cases like Michigan's.
The Williamston-based Michigan Nature Association owns an Alpena-area sanctuary that contains the rare type of wetland habitat suitable for the Hine's emerald dragonfly. It is one of the groups filing the Michigan suit.
"It is very political, but it is the administration's fault that there is not enough money to do both listing and critical habitat," said Jeremy Emmi, MNA's director. "What we're asking is that they work on these habitat plans at a reasonable rate."
HABITAT ZONES
AREN'T A REFUGE
Federal designation of "critical habitat" zones for endangered plants and animals sounds more impressive than it is.
It requires federal agencies to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if a federal project -- like a highway -- will affect the habitat of an endangered or threatened species.
It requires nothing of state and local governments, or of private landowners who encroach on such habitat.
"It does not create a refuge, although that's what a lot of people think," said Georgia Parham, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In fact, simply the designation of a species as "endangered" provides more protection than habitat designation. That's a primary reason that for years the Fish and Wildlife Service has concentrated primarily on listing new endangered plants and animals rather than identifying critical habitat for species already on the lists.
Despite a law requiring -- in most cases -- critical habitat designation within a year of being listed as endangered or threatened, the Fish and Wildlife Service routinely has not done so.
In Michigan, 14 animals and eight plants are listed as endangered. Only one -- the shoreline-loving piping plover -- has officially designated critical habitat.
Contact HUGH McDIARMID JR. at 248-351-3295 or mcdiarmid@freepress.com.