The Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached a settlement yesterday that puts the Rota bridled white-eye\u2014a forest-dwelling bird found only on the island of Rota in the CNMI\u2014a crucial step closer to protection for its essential recovery habitat. <\/p>\n
In the agreement, the Service conceded that its failure to map out and protect the white-eye\u2019s critical habitat at the time it listed the species as endangered in January 2004 violated the Endangered Species Act. The Service agreed to come out with a proposed critical habitat designated by Sept. 7, 2005, and a final designated decision by Sept. 7, 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a shame that the Service refused to do anything to protect the white-eye\u2019s essential recovery habitat for over 20 years, while the bird\u2019s number declined by 90 percent,\u201d said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cWe hope that it\u2019s not too late to save the white-eye and that, with the Service\u2019s admission\u2026that it violated the law, other imperiled species will not suffer the same fate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conservation groups petitioned the Department of the Interior to put the white-eye on the endangered list in 1980. The department agreed that the species was declining and, in 1982, with 10,763 birds left in the wild, identified the white-eye as a candidate for listing. The species continued to decline unprotected for over two decades until Earthjustice and the Center secured a series of court orders forcing the Bush administration finally to list it as an endangered species in January 2004. By this time, the wild population had declined to just 1,092 birds.<\/p>\n
Earthjustice said that in the final listing rule, the administration identified habitat loss and degradation as primary causes of the species\u2019 dramatic decline, yet refused to designate critical habitat. On May 20, 2004, Earthjustice, representing the Center for Biological Diversity, filed suit against the Bush administration to force it to obey the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case vividly illustrates Congress\u2019s wisdom when it empowered citizens to sue the Service for failing to comply with the Endangered Species Act,\u201d said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represented the Center. \u201cEven though the Service knew that its refusal to protect the white-eye\u2019s essential recovery habitat was illegal, it would have gotten away with it, had concerned citizens not stepped forward to uphold the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCritical habitat\u201d consists of those areas that must be managed to ensure the species recovers. Federal agencies may not carry out, fund, or approve any actions that destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. Since the restrictions are directed solely at federal agencies, designation generally has little direct effect on private landowners. However, critical habitat also performs an important educational role, informing the public and local governments about areas essential to species recovery.<\/p>\n
Data submitted to Congress by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that species with critical habitat are twice as like to be improving as species without it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached a settlement yesterday that puts the Rota bridled white-eye\u2014a forest-dwelling bird found only on the island of Rota in the CNMI\u2014a crucial step closer to protection for its essential recovery habitat. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}