FWS flubs legal notice, leaving orchid unprotected

A rare flower that's been waiting for federal protection since 1999 will wait a little longer as the Fish and Wildlife Service failed last year to post a classified ad about adding the white fringeless orchid to the threatened species list. At issue: A provision of the Endangered Species Act -- which hasn't been updated since 1988 -- requires the service to "publish a summary of the proposed regulation in a newspaper of general circulation in each area of the United States in which the species is believed to occur." The agency failed to meet that requirement for the orchid, a spokesman confirmed. As a result, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced today the opening of a second 60-day comment period on the proposal to protect the flower, which is also known as the monkey-face orchid...more