For Immediate Release
Contacts: David Gaillard, Sara Folger, Predator Conservation Alliance, 406-587-3389
Mike Senatore, Defenders of Wildlife, 202-682-9400
January 11, 2000
GROUPS FILE NOTICE AGAINST DELAY IN LYNX PROTECTIONS
Ten conservation groups filed a 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday for its failure to meet a deadline to list the lynx for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The notice means that the groups can file a lawsuit after 60 days, if a decision is still not made by that time. A spokesman from the Service’s Denver office said they expect to make a decision in 3-4 weeks.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its proposed rule to list the lynx as "Threatened" throughout the contiguous United States on July 8, 1998, which began a 12-month period to make a final determination. The Service obtained a six-month extension on that ruling last summer, due to a rarely used clause in the Endangered Species Act, extending the deadline to January 8, 2000.
"It took two court rulings to get the listing proposed, and now even the recent six-month extension is not sufficient? How much longer will the imperiled lynx be left out in the cold?" asked David Gaillard of Predator Conservation Alliance, a co-signatore of the notice.
Efforts by conservation groups to gain ESA protections for lynx began in 1991, and FWS has had since 1994 to make a defensible ruling on the current petition to protect lynx under the ESA.
"The Service has pushed the concept of "foot-dragging" to new limits," said Sara Folger, also of the Predator Conservation Alliance. "Meanwhile, every day brings more people and their machines into the lynx's last remaining forest habitat," she added.
lynx | forest
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