News From Judge Molloy’s Court on Wolf Litigation - 5/7

Two decisions from Judge Molloy today on the litigation brought by the coalition of conservation and animal rights groups against the federal government’s decision to delist the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf.

The first is Judge Molloy’s decision on a motion made by the federal government requesting an extension of two weeks to respond to wolf advocates’ request for an injunction :

Update 5/8:
Montana judge rejects bid to delay wolf lawsuit
Matthew Brown - AP

Bush issues final court-ordered plans for Columbia River salmon

Agencies issue plan to run Columbia dams, conserve salmon. By Jeff Bernard. Associated Press.

It is very expensive, but does not remove the major problem — the dams on the lower Snake River. It may or may not meet the demands of U.S. District Judge James Redden who has been very hostile to past Administration efforts to meet the standards of the Endangered Species Act on the impereled salmon runs.

Matters have been complicated this year by very hostile conditions in the Pacific ocean. There has been a collapse of the food chain, prompting an moratorium on commercial salmon fishing off the coast of California and Oregon (after a recent record salmon run in the Sacramento River last year).

Judge Orders Bush Administration to Decide Polar Bears’ Status by May 15

Judge Orders Bush Administration to Decide Polar Bears’ Status by May 15. VOA.

The Bush Administration was pressured into considering the polar bear for endangered species status, and their strategy has been to prolong the consideration while the bears decline, oil leases are let, and their own time in office runs out. A federal judge was wise to their strategy.

Polar Bears could halt Shell Arctic plan. By Nick Mathiason. The Observer.

Protection weighed for sage grouse in West’s energy areas

Protection weighed for sage grouse in West’s energy areas. By Scott Sonner. Associated Press.

Lawsuit on wolf delisting to be filed Monday

Wolf lawsuit on Monday. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.

Eric Keszler, who speaks for Wyoming Game and Fish, says the following in the article above: “Keszler said the current [Wyoming] population can withstand the recent wolf shootings in Sublette County. He pointed out that roughly 90 percent of Wyoming’s wolves live in the trophy game area, and that Wyoming’s wolf population has continued to grow despite losing between 60 and 80 wolves per year due in control actions resulting from livestock depredations.”

Kesler’s remarks are not true when we consider last year. In the past Wyoming’s wolf population outside Yellowstone Park grew despite fairly heavy “control” killings. Last year, however, the wolf population in Wyoming barely grew, just 7%, because official and other killings were so high.

The non-national Park Wyoming wolf population (official count) follows.

2003 82 wolves
2004 101 wolves
2005 134 wolves
2006 175 wolves
2007 188 wolves

Just as So. Calif. bighorn stage comeback, Bush Administration proposes cutting their critical habitat in half

Bighorns facing smaller habitat.  San Diego Union Tribune

Since ‘01, Guarding Species Is Harder. Endangered Listings Drop Under Bush

Since ‘01, Guarding Species Is Harder. Endangered Listings Drop Under Bush. By Juliet Eilperin. Washington Post Staff Writer.

The Bush Administration has not taken the initiative to list a single species. Two have gone extinct waiting during its “watch.” As far as not having enough resources to do the job or handle the petitions, it is a case of feigned constraint. The Administration asks for a pittance for the USFWS. While Congress increases the President’s request, the President’s budget request almost always sets the range.

For example, if the President asks 30-million, Congress may give 40-million; but if the President had asked 175-million, even a budget-cutting Congress might give 130-million dollars.

Almost no one in this Administration gives damn about endangered species, or just plain fish and wildlife.

Federal judge orders return of ESA protection to a “distinct population segement” of bald eagles in Arizona

The biggest significance of this story is that the federal judge is not buying the “Kempthorne doctrine” that the term “distinct population segment” of the ESA means almost nothing.

Federal District Judge Mary Murguia thinks it does, and she reversed the FWS’s 2006 bald eagle delisting decision as applies to desert-nesting bald eagles, calling it ”arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law.” When an agency loses a case for this stated reason, it is a major legal rejection because judges defer to “agency expertise” when the issue is at all close. The agency did what did, it appears, because they “got their marching orders” from Washington.

Judge Orders Renewed Protection for Desert Bald Eagle. Environment News Service.