WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) with Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and U.S. Congressman Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) today wrote U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Martha Williams urging the agency to abandon its problematic and broad use of distinct population segments in Endangered Species Act listings. 

By artificially separating wildlife populations, the agency has wasted limited conservation resources and made it nearly impossible to delist recovered species. For example, the lower-48 grizzly bear listing, in Idaho and throughout the West, has had deadly ramifications due to increased bear encounters. Other problematic listings include: bull trout, Canada lynx, North American wolverine, and gray wolf. 

“These legally and biologically flawed listings are not harmless. They impose unnecessary restrictions and administrative requirements, not only for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but also for federal land management agencies, states, and a wide swath of private enterprise and citizens. These listings have also provided fertile ground for procedural lawsuits that not only fail to produce conservation benefits, but divert limited federal resources to pay millions of dollars to plaintiff organization attorneys under the ESA’s citizen suit provisions,” wrote the Senators.

The full letter is available here.

###