U.S. flooded with endangered species requests

When WildEarth Guardians filed two petitions in the space of a month to list 681 species under the Endangered Species Act, it came as a shock to biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Organizations normally seek protection for just one animal or plant at a time. The Center for Native Ecosystems, another group active in petitioning under the Endangered Species Act, has filed requests involving 27 species over the last 10 years. So the filing of nearly 700 offerings at once struck federal officials as excessive. The Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to make and publish specific findings for petitioned species within 90 days, to the extent practicable. "This was not envisioned by the [act] and it's not helpful to us at all because it takes an enormous amount of resources to look at this," said Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ann Carlson. "Very few of those [in the petition] need our help, and it's taking away from the species that do need our help." "It's a big deal, a very big deal for us," said Ms. Carlson, who was in charge of conducting administrative reviews on 206 of the species filed in July 2007 with the agency's Mountain-Prairie regional office in Denver. Petitions on behalf of 475 other species had been filed a month earlier with the Southwest regional office in New Mexico. The agency in August approved 29 of the 206 species for further comment and review, which ultimately could result in threatened or endangered listings. The 475-species petition is still under review...WashingtonTimes