(CN) — A stipulated settlement agreement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the federal government will force the feds to decide on federal protections for 10 species by the end of the year.
In addition, the court-ordered deadlines will force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide if two other animals are entitled to species protections and if three others are entitled to habitat protections. The Center and other environmental groups sued the feds in Arizona federal court in March 2023 in an effort to force the Biden administration to more quickly protect threatened species.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed the Fish and Wildlife Service has not acted quickly enough to provide Endangered Species Act protections to imperiled species, even as wildlife loss is accelerating in North America and across the world. Hundreds of species are awaiting protection — and yet over the last three years, the Service has averaged just 14 new species protections per year.
The settlement, filed in court on Thursday, comes after more than 100 wildlife groups last week asked Congress to spend $857 billion to fully fund endangered species protections. The Center says the listing program has been underfunded for decades and that there is also a lack of motivation at the FWS to carry out its regulatory duties.
“We’re suffering an extinction crisis that threatens to undermine our way of life, so I’m relieved these 15 remarkable species will get the protections they so badly need,” Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center, said in a press release. “From burly alligator snapping turtles to cute but ferocious martens, these are some of my favorite species and it would just be so tragically sad if we lost them.”
The agreement, signed by U.S. District Judge John Hinderaker, a Trump appointee, will give protected status to the alligator snapping turtle and the Suwannee snapping turtle, a distinct species of snapper found in the Suwannee River in Florida and Georgia.
Both snappers are threatened by trapping and habitat destruction. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the Suwannee snapper as a threatened species in April 2021 — along with the more widespread alligator snapper in November 2021 — but failed to finalize protections within the required one-year deadlines.
Along with the snapping turtles, the white-tailed ptarmigan, the Peñasco least chipmunk and six species of Texas mussels will receive federal protections by the end of the year.
The white-tailed ptarmigan, also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family, It is native to snowy mountaintops in Alaska and the mountainous regions of Canada and the western United States, where it is threatened by climate change and disturbances from recreation and development, according to the Center.
The Peñasco least chipmunk is native to the Sacramento and White mountains of southwestern New Mexico. Smaller than most chipmunks, the least chipmunk is an important seed dispenser and also plays an important role as a food source for predators and provides habitat for parasites. New Mexico has listed the chipmunk as endangered since 1983.
The Texas mussels to be protected are the Texas fatmucket, Guadalupe fatmucket, Texas fawnsfoot, Texas pimpleback, False spike and Guadalupe orb. These are freshwater mussels found in the Brazos, Colorado, Trinity and Guadalupe river basins and are threatened by pollution and habitat loss and degradation, according to the Center. As with the snapping turtles, it says the Service proposed to list these species as threatened but failed to finalize protection within the one-year deadline.
Along with the 10 species listed above, two other mussel species will also be considered for protections in the near future.
Three other species will also receive final designations to determine if they should receive critical habitat. Among them are the Humboldt martens in California and Oregon, the Barrens topminnow fish in Tennesseee and the Pearl River map turtle, which lives in Mississippi and Louisiana.
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