Sage Grouse Debate Prompts Scrutiny of Far-Reaching Federal Species Law

WASHINGTON — The federal government listed Johnston’s Frankenia as an endangered species in 1984 insisting the special protection was needed because there were only 1,500 of the Texas shrubs left on the planet.

But the government made a mistake; there are at least nine million of the plants living a healthy existence throughout the state and in northern Mexico, yet the shrub remains on the federal Endangered Species List as a protected plant because the de-listing efforts that started a decade ago have become too cumbersome to complete.

Now as debate heats up on Capitol Hill over the proposed listing of the Sage Grouse as an endangered species, a key concern of Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton is that it may never be de-listed, even if the population recovers.

Read more at the Colorado Observer Read More......

GT: OWEB weighs local conservation grants

Bennett Hall of the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that, "A state agency will take comments on two grant requests to help fund conservation projects in the Corvallis area at a pair of public hearings this week." [That would be tomorrow, Thursday, January 31st from 10am-Noon at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library]. The state agency is Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.

• Benton County is asking for $41,300 for an easement to protect habitat for an endangered butterfly
• The Greenbelt Land Trust is asking for $940,000 to complete the purchase of Bald Hill Farm.

Read more: Corvallis Gazette-Times Read More......

Huffman: Wind, timber and hypocrisy in the Pacific Northwest

DC CALLER, 3/9/2012 by Jim Huffman, Law Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School

[Excerpts] [...] In 2009 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the national death toll from wind turbines at 440,000 birds that year alone. ✧ That seems like a lot of birds, particularly for those of us in the Pacific Northwest, where a once-vibrant timber economy has been devastated in a failing effort to save the spotted owl. Read more at DC Caller...

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Benton County Draft Prairie Habitat Plan

OREGON REPUBLICAN BLOG, 6/20/2009 by Jerry J. Jackson, Sr. - "It is time to be very aware of the Power our County is trying to Obtain!" Read more at the Oregon Republican Blog... Read More......