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Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Game and Fish seeks input on 2025 wildlife conservation plan
May 30—BISMARCK — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is taking public comment on the revision of its 2015 State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), a process it is required to undertake every 10 years as part of an effort to conserve wildlife and habitats across the state. According to Patrick Isakson, conservation supervisor for Game and Fish in Bismarck, the department developed its first SWAP document in 2005 to shed light on at-risk and potential at-risk species in North Dakota. While SWAP includes a "handful" of game species, including sharp-tailed grouse, canvasback, lesser scaup and northern pintail, "the vast majority are those nongame species that we don't hunt or fish in the state," Isakson said. That includes grassland birds, shorebirds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, insects, freshwater mussels, mammals, reptiles and amphibians that may be under threat. The ultimate goal of the plan is to prevent species from being listed for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. "The State Wildlife Action Plan is really a guiding document for our agency and our partners to identify the threats and conservation actions for at-risk species and their habitats," Isakson said. Bruce Kreft, chief of the Game and Fish Department's Conservation and Communications Division, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides states with money to address rare and declining species, but state agencies in turn must develop a plan to address the species listed in the document. Kreft talked about the required SWAP update on Tuesday, April 22, during the Game and Fish Department's spring Advisory Board meeting. Game and Fish is mandated to hold the meetings twice a year in each of the state's eight advisory board districts, and the meeting for District 7 was livestreamed from Game and Fish headquarters in Bismarck. The FWS recently announced it is distributing more than $55 million to state fish and wildlife agencies through its State Wildlife Grant Program. North Dakota is receiving $552,727 for 2025, according to the FWS. "The State Wildlife Grant Program supports conservation actions aimed at avoiding new federal listings of threatened and endangered species, recovering those species already listed and ensuring healthy populations of each state's top-priority fish and wildlife species for future generations," Paul Souza, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement. "We are pleased to be working with these partners to protect America's natural resources and wild places." That's where the State Wildlife Action Plan comes into play, Isakson of Game and Fish said. "One of the benefits of the state putting together a State Wildlife Action Plan is then, it's eligible for State Wildlife Grant money" from the FWS, Isakson said. "So, in order for us to spend that money on our species of greatest conservation need, we need to have the State Wildlife Action Plan in place to identify what we're going to do with it." That allocation has ranged from about $450,000 to $550,000 annually over the last decade or so, he said. "It's been a real stable funding source for our nongame species and one that really has done a lot of work in our state and furthered our information and knowledge," Isakson said. "We leverage (funding) with partner dollars, university dollars, NGO (nongovernmental organization) dollars and do research and habitat conservation with it." Examples, he says, include a freshwater mussel study being conducted with Valley City State University, reptile and amphibian surveys underway with a researcher at North Dakota State University and looking at grassland bird habitat and how it relates to some of the at-risk species in the SWAP document. "We've been fortunate over the last decade or so to add some expertise in both terrestrial insects and aquatic insects, so we really lean heavily into this plan on what effects those threats out there have on our invertebrate community," Isakson said. "So, there are a lot of new insects both aquatic and terrestrial, that are in our (updated) plan. "That's where a lot of the species that we see being potentially listed and petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act are going — to those invertebrates." As part of its first two State Wildlife Action Plans in 2005 and 2015, Game and Fish ranked "Species of Conservation Priority," Isakson says. Under the SWAP draft now up for public review, species are identified as "Species of Greatest Conservation Need" and "Species of Greatest Information Need," Isakson says. "We don't rank them out anymore," he said. "We just have species that we have an idea of what the threats and actions are that we need to conserve them. And then those Species of Greatest Information Need are those that we really need to do some more investigating on. We have an idea that maybe there's some threats out there or their populations may be declining, but we need to lean into some of the research to identify those." The 2025 SWAP draft includes 134 species of Greatest Conservation Need and 98 Species of Greatest Information Need in North Dakota, Isakson said. The first SWAP in 2005 identified about 100 species of concern, a number that increased to 115 species in the 2015 SWAP update, Kreft said during the April Advisory Board livestream. "So, we're seeing that increase in the number of species that are rare and declining either regionally — throughout different states — or within the states," Kreft said. The 152-page SWAP draft has eight elements, he said, including abundance, distribution, some of the threats and potential actions. While the list of at-risk species has grown, species occasionally come off the list, as well, Isakson said. The river otter and the American marten, both of which were listed in the 2015 plan, are two examples, he said; the bald eagle also was removed from the list. "Ultimately, we found out enough information to feel like they're not really at risk in our state," Isakson said. In revising the 2025 SWAP as required, Game and Fish last September hosted a "SWAP Summit," which included about 60 members from the public and various conservation partners. North Dakota's SWAP is a collaborative effort between Game and Fish staff, species experts, partner conservation groups, and state, federal and local agencies. "That's the second time we brought all of our partners and stakeholders together," Isakson said. "We gave them an update on some of our thoughts from our internal work and then broke them out into groups based on the habitats they were interested in — or that they had experience in — and really dove into what those threats are." Habitat loss is a concern, Isakson says; what benefits game species also benefits nongame species. "That is the beauty of our plan, being habitat-based and habitat conservation-based, is if you keep it 'green side up,' if you keep the grass out there and keep the trees out there, it benefits all species in the state," Isakson said. "Both hunted (species) and those nongame species that we talk about more readily in this plan. "Our plan focuses a lot on conserving native habitat — the native grass that's out there — and in some cases trying to rebuild some of that habitat." Getting people to recognize the importance of all wildlife — and not just species targeted by hunters and anglers — can be a challenge, Isakson concedes. "We always have work to do when it comes to talking about the importance of all wildlife in the state," he said. "The department is in charge of managing all wildlife in the state. A lot of people think about those game species and those species that they catch out there, but we've done work over the years to try and educate the public on the importance of all species and their habitats — and that is part of our plan here." Game and Fish will take comments on the 2025 SWAP draft through June 30. After that, the department will develop a final draft for the Fish and Wildlife Service to approve. "Once it's signed off on, we're good to go for another 10 years," Isakson said. * To comment: A draft of the 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan update is available on the Game and Fish website at Public comments are accepted through June 30.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Wildlife are in crisis': Arkansas expert opines on proposed change to Endangered Species Act
The Ozark hellbender is one of 40 endangered species tracked by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in the state. The hellbender is a large aquatic salamander found in cool, clear streams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. (Photo by Jill Utrup/ and Wildlife Service) A proposed change to the federal Endangered Species Act would send Arkansas preservation efforts backwards amid an ongoing crisis, one state wildlife expert said. Terri Lane, director of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, said a recently proposed rule from President Donald Trump's administration 'removes an important level of protections, paving the way for increased habitat destruction.' The rule, which is open for public comment through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until May 19, would rescind the regulatory definition of 'harm' in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which has provided a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats. The current definition of harm under the federal law includes habitat modification, and the proposed rule would remove that protection. According to information posted by the Federal Register, 'harm' runs contrary to the best meaning of the statutory term 'take.' Nationally, environmentalists have said the proposed rule would gut habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission tracks the state's nearly 40 endangered species, including the hellbender — the largest salamander in North America — a number of fish, birds, bats and mollusks. An alligator and one beetle also make the list. AGFC's Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan, which is required of the state agency as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's State Wildlife Grant program, identifies nearly 380 species of greatest conservation need in Arkansas. The plan was last updated in 2015, and its nearly 1,700 pages provides extensive detail on the state's ecoregions, habitats, and the projected effects of climate change. Nick Goforth, wildlife diversity program coordinator for AGFC, said, regardless of any changes to the Endangered Species Act, 'we will continue to work collaboratively and consult with the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] to do what's best for Arkansas' wildlife and native habitats.' Goforth said the agency is aware of the proposed changes to the federal law, but officials are still assessing how it would affect Arkansas' endangered species and their role in implementing the Endangered Species Act. 'Wildlife are in crisis,' said Lane, who has led the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, a decades-old independent watchdog organization, for the last two years. 'They depend on a network of quality habitat to survive. In the short term, this rule change moves us backward in the fight to save already vulnerable species from further decline or extinction.' Lane emphasized the importance of biodiversity, and said that complex interactions keep ecosystems healthy. 'The ecosystems upon which all life depends, including our own,' she said. Looking further ahead, Lane said long-term effects would include a shift from collaborative efforts to solely the private sector. She predicted the rule change would increase the wildlife and biodiversity crisis, thus requiring more efforts, funding and regulatory protections in the future. 'Rule changes like this, particularly at a time when the agencies tasked with wildlife recovery are experiencing dramatic cuts to their budgets and workforce, mean that our grassroots efforts must increase,' Lane said. 'The private and nonprofit sector must step in and fill the gaps, working with broad coalitions, sounding the alarm and finding solutions where species are being impacted.' Trump, who recently celebrated the 100-day mark of his second term, has made scathing cuts to environmental programs nationwide. In Little Rock, AmeriCorps staff lost their funding; along the Buffalo National River, a visitor center closed in February after a wave of firings; and in Fayetteville, a major solar project at the University of Arkansas is stuck in limbo. Slashes to programs championed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are expected to have an adverse effect on Arkansas food banks and farmers alike as they lose a major funding source for protein. Currently, however, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund seems unaffected. AGFC has received a number of these grants over the years, specifically for habitat preservation for the state's endangered species. Last June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the state with a $2.2 million grant to protect the yellowcheek darter, a small freshwater fish, and other species. The AGFC and The Nature Conservancy — a national environmental group with offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville — provided matching funds and increased the total investment to nearly $3.1 million. In Arkansas, allocations from the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund have been used to purchase more than 10,000 acres for the conservation of a variety of species. In 2020, more than 1,100 acres at the Beryl Anthony Lower Ouachita Wildlife Management Area were purchased for conservation of the red-cockaded woodpecker. AGFC also offers conservation incentive programs to private landowners, but spokesperson Keith Stephens said they were more geared toward game animals than endangered species. In a statement, Goforth said the state agency supports federal changes that aim to streamline the process of protecting endangered species. 'While the AGFC values the [Endangered Species Act] and the protections and benefits it offers, we are in support of any favorable reforms that would aim to address the challenges in its implementation and would work to streamline consultations and other processes, while both ensuring that its goals and objectives can be met more efficiently and effectively and also maintaining the existing protections for those listed species and their habitats, which are essential to their continued existence and recovery,' Goforth said. Several organizations in Arkansas focus on the livelihood of the state's endangered species, including the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. Data gathered during on-the-ground field surveys to locate and evaluate endangered species help identify ecologically significant land most in need of protection, according to its website. Spokesperson Danyelle McNeill deferred all questions about how the proposed rule may affect Arkansas animals to federal agencies. Answering for Director Jennifer Ballard, McNeill said the commission's scope of services has currently not changed. Taylor Pool, acting assistant regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's southwest regional office, did not reply to specific questions about the proposed rule change. 'At this time, we have nothing for you,' Pool said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
