Petition seeks to ‘de-list’ the Southwestern willow flycatcher as an Endangered Species

abortion arial,sans-serif;”>New biological evidence confirms that the Southwestern willow flycatcher is not a distinct, imperiled “subspecies” — but, rather, part of a thriving bird species found throughout North and South America. Therefore, it does not belong on the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) list.

So argues a formal petition lodged today, asking that the Southwestern willow flycatcher be removed from the ESA list. Filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the petition was submitted by Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) along with the Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy, and Reliability (CESAR); the California Building Industry Association; the BILD Foundation; California Cattlemen’s Association; New Mexico Business Coalition; New Mexico Cattle Grower’s Association; New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau; and New Mexico Wool Growers.

The Southwestern willow flycatcher is a small bird found near rivers, streams, and other wetlands in the American Southwest. It was added to the ESA, as “endangered,” in 1995, based on the contention that it was an imperiled “subspecies” — i.e., that it was distinct in a biologically and legally significant sense from other birds in the larger family of flycatchers, a species that is found throughout North and South America and is not endangered or threatened.

However, as the delisting petition notes, a new study by Robert Zink (Ph.D., UC Berkeley), a professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences, confirms that the Southwestern willow flycatcher is not a subspecies, and is not eligible for listing under the ESA. The study concludes that the Southwestern willow flycatcher does not exhibit ecological distinctiveness, but is part of the larger, healthy willow flycatcher species.

Statement by PLF’s Tony Francois

“The Southwestern willow flycatcher was placed on the ESA list based on the view that it was a genetically distinct subspecies,” said PLF Senior Staff Attorney Tony Francois. “Today’s best available scientific evidence says otherwise. The conclusion that it was a subspecies rested on minute differences that were reported in feather coloring. But the specimens that were examined, from museums, were aged and degraded even at the time. And the studies used instruments and techniques that are now obsolete. In contrast, modern methods of scientific research in wildlife genetics and biology now show that there is no such subspecies. The Southwestern willow flycatcher is simply a normal regional variation within the healthy species of willow flycatchers that is found throughout the continent.

“The best available scientific data also now show that even if they were a subspecies, the willow flycatchers in the southwestern United States are not endangered,” Francois continued. “Research since the 1995 listing shows that they are more numerous and widespread than was assumed then. They also co-exist well with livestock grazing and with tamarisk trees in streamside willow habitats, both of which were assumed to be problems for willow flycatchers 20 years ago.”

Unjustified ESA listings waste scarce environmental resources — and burden the economy without good reason

“This petition asks regulators to follow the law, and withdraw an ESA listing that fails the test of sound, up-to-date science,” said Francois. “Government shouldn’t be wasting scarce environmental resources on regulations for species that don’t need ESA protection. And officials shouldn’t be imposing extra regulatory costs on businesses, property owners and the economy, when there’s no scientific justification for doing so.”

The FWS has confirmed that Southwestern willow flycatcher regulations will impose up to $620 million in economic harm over the next 25 years. “Critical habitat” designations — which trigger land use restrictions — include areas in the California counties of Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura; the southern Nevada counties of Clark, Lincoln, and Nye; the southern Utah counties of Kane, San Juan, and Washington; the southern Colorado counties of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, and La Plata; the Arizona counties of Apache, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, and Yavapai; and the New Mexico counties of Catron, Grant, Hidalgo, Mora, Rio Arriba, Socorro, Taos, and Valencia.

The petition filed today is titled, “Petition to Remove the ‘Southwestern’ Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii ‘extimus’) (SWWF) From the List of Endangered Species Under the United States Endangered Species Act Due to Significant New Data that Demonstrates Original Data Error.” More information, including the petition, is available at: www.pacificlegal.org.

Flycatcher in flight: sandiegobirding.com

About CESAR
CESAR (the Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability) is a California nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is to bring scientific rigor to environmental regulatory decisions, and to ensure consistent application of environmental statutes throughout all industries and sectors. CESAR believes this will generate additional support for environmental statutes, because regulatory actions will be transparent and supported by science.

About Pacific Legal Foundation
Donor-supported Pacific Legal Foundation (www.pacificlegal.org) is the leading legal watchdog organization that litigates for limited government, property rights, and a balanced approach to environmental regulations, in courts across the country. Among its noteworthy species-regulation cases, PLF won the court ruling that removed the bald eagle from the federal ESA list.