DENVER—Federal officials will reconsider whether a bird that breeds on the plains of Colorado and neighboring states and summers in California should be protected.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement announced Friday to review the mountain plover’s status and decide by July 31, 2010, whether it should be added to the endangered species list.
The agreement settles a lawsuit by two environmental groups that claimed a 2003 finding that the bird isn’t in danger of going extinct was politically motivated.
WildEarth Guardians and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said in their 2006 lawsuit that Fish and Wildlife had prepared a rule to declare the mountain plover endangered and then abruptly decided against protecting the bird in September 2003.
At the time, federal officials said surveys showed the mountain plover’s numbers weren’t declining. Proponents of listing the bird disagreed.
“The mountain plover is an American bird deep in trouble mostly due to development of the areas it needs to live,” said Robin Cooley, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented the environmental groups.
Lauren McCain of WildEarth Guardians said the bird’s numbers have declined over 93 percent of its historic range. She said environmentalists are optimistic about the mountain plover’s fate because Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has called birds the bellwether of the environment’s health.
Wildlife officials estimate there are from 5,000 to 11,000 plovers left. They used to be widely distributed across the Great Plains, from Canada to Texas. Environmental groups contend they are now scarce in Nebraska and Kansas and perhaps nonexistent in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Most of the birds spend the winter in the Imperial and San Joaquin valleys of California.
McCain said conversion of land to agriculture threatens the mountain plover throughout its range. Other dangers include urban sprawl, oil and gas drilling and threats to prairie dogs, whose burrows provide shelter.
State wildlife officials say Colorado is the primary breeding ground for the mountain plover, which, despite its name, prefers short-grass prairies. The light brown bird averages 8 inches in length and looks similar to a killdeer.
Last week, Fish and Wildlife settled a lawsuit over protection of the Gunnison sage grouse by agreeing to take another look at whether the bird should be designated as endangered. The chicken-like bird with spiky tail feathers is found primarily in southwest Colorado. It is among the species getting a second chance at protection in the wake of a federal report that found improper political meddling in endangered species rulings.
The report last year by the inspector general for the Interior Department found that Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other Bush administration officials interfered with federal biologists’ decision-making for multiple species.
