Center for Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, April 17, 2019

Contact: Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Lawsuit Seeks Endangered Species Protection for 24 Species Trump Administration Left Behind

WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity today sued the Trump administration and newly confirmed U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt for failing to make protection decisions for 24 species of animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act.

The list of wildlife left without protection includes the elfin-woods warbler, Franklin’s bumblebee and tricolored blackbird. They are among hundreds of species awaiting decisions about whether to be protected under the Endangered Species Act or to receive protected critical habitat.

A 2016 work plan developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is updated annually, called for decisions on all 24 species by the end of fiscal year 2018. But Bernhardt and the Trump administration are preventing the agency from doing its job of protecting at-risk species.

“The refusal to protect these 24 imperiled species offers 24 more reasons why David Bernhardt will be a terrible Interior secretary,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center’s endangered species director. “Bernhardt and the Trump administration’s highest priorities are corporate profits. They’re not interested in protecting wildlife like the Franklin’s bumblebee and others that are on the brink of extinction.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service has long struggled to provide timely protection to species.  The entire process of listing species and designating critical habitat is supposed to take two to three years. But on average it has taken the Service 12 years, and in many cases decades, to protect species. At least 47 species have gone extinct waiting for protection. 

Delays in protection of species have been extensive under Bernhardt, first when he was the top Interior lawyer under the George W. Bush administration and then with the Trump administration as Interior’s deputy secretary.

The Clinton administration, for example, put an average of 65 species on the endangered list each year, while the Bush administration only listed 62 species total over the course of eight years. With 16 species listed so far, the Trump administration is heading toward a similarly poor performance, despite a backlog of more than 500 species waiting for protection decisions.

“If we’re going to save species from disappearing forever, we have to act quickly to give them the legal protection they need,” said Greenwald. “The Trump administration is completely out of step with the American public, which overwhelmingly supports protecting species that are at risk of extinction. David Bernhardt needs to let the Fish and Wildlife Service do its job.”

The agency developed the workplan to address more than 500 species awaiting 12-month findings, which is how determinations of whether protection is warranted are made.

Each year the agency also creates a workload scheduling additional findings that need to be made, including final listings and designation of critical habitat. All the findings included in today’s notice were part of the 2016 work plan or the workloads for fiscal years 2017 and 2018, but were not made as scheduled.  

Species Included in Today’s Lawsuit

Species Name

Scientific

Action Type

Fiscal Year Scheduled

Range

Beardless chinch weed

Pectis imberbis

12-month

FY18

AZ

Bartram stonecrop

Graptopetalum bartramii

12-month

FY18

AZ

Round hickorynut

Obovaria subrotunda

12-month

FY18

AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MS, OH, PA, TN, WV, Canada

Tricolored blackbird

Agelaius tricolor

12-month

FY18

CA, OR, WA, NV

Panamint alligator lizard

Elgaria panamintina

12-month

FY18

CA

Seaside alder

Alnus maritima

12-month

FY18

DE, GA, MD, OK

Brook floater

Alasmidonta varicosa

12-month

FY18

CT, DC, GA, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT, WV, Canada

Purple lilliput

Toxolasma lividus

12-month

FY19

AL, AR, IL, MI, MO, IN, TN, VA

Pink pigtoe

Pleurobema rubrum

12-month

FY18

AL, AR, KY, LA, MS, NE, OH, OK, TN, VA

Longsolid

Fusconaia subrotunda

12-month

FY18

AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, NC, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV

Clam-shell orchid

Encyclia cochleata var. triandra

12-month

FY18

FL

Cape Sable orchid

Oncidium undulatum

12-month

FY18

FL

Big Cypress epidendrum

Epidendrum strobiliferum

12-month

FY18

FL

Elk River crayfish

Cambarus elkensis

12-month

FY18

WV

Elfin-woods warbler

Setophaga angelae

Critical Habitat

FY17 Workload

PR

Black pine snake

Pituophis melanoleucus lodingi

Critical Habitat

FY18 Workload

MS, LA, AL

Western glacier stonefly

Zapada glacier

Critical Habitat

FY17 Workload

MT, WY

Meltwater lednian stonefly

Lednia tumana

Critical Habitat

FY17 Workload

MT, WY

Miami tiger beetle

Cicindelidia floridana

Critical Habitat

FY17 Workload

FL

Suwannee moccasinshell

Medionidus walkeri

Critical Habitat

FY18 Workload

FL

Florida bristle fern

Trichomanes punctatum ssp. Floridanum

Critical Habitat

FY18 Workload

FL

Slickspot peppergrass 

Lepidium papilliferum

Critical Habitat

FY17 Workload

ID

Franklin's bumblebee

Bombus franklini

12-month

FY18

OR

Yellow-banded bumblebee

Bombus terricola

12-month

FY18

CT, IL, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SD, TN, VA, VT, WV, WI, Canada

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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