by Kevin Mooney
Feathers are flying over whether the federal government is
overprotecting a rare bird in Colorado, in what critics grouse is an
example of lawyers making millions while abusing the Endangered Species
Act.
Trial lawyers who collect taxpayer-funded fees under the law file so
many suits that they undermine local conservation efforts in Western
states, according to government officials, industry advocates, and legal
analysts familiar with the situation.
In Colorado, the situation prompted Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, to sue the Obama administration early last year.
Over 25 years, Colorado officials spent more than $40 million to
preserve the habitat of a paunchy, ground-dwelling, chickenlike bird
known as the Gunnison sage grouse.
Colorado officials worked in partnership with ranchers in Gunnison
County, who voluntarily entered into conservation easements on their
property that protected the bird while allowing for robust ranching
activities.
In the past few years, the Gunnison
sage grouse population not only has stabilized but increased in the part
of southwestern Colorado where they’re concentrated, local government figures show.
Even so, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saw fit to list the species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in November 2014.
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