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Message: Quick Easy Way to comment to the Department of the Interior online

Yes - except the file attached to that link doesn't have all the pages of the court decision.

Apparently we have the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to thank for getting the pygmy owl delisted as an endangered species.  Here is a timeline of the process:

  • 1997 - Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) lists pygmy owl as endangered, saying Arizona population is drastically reduced from 1800s/1900s
  • 1999 - Rule issued designating critical habitat (Ironwood Forest National Monument / ironwood trees)
  • 2000 - NAHB challenges both designations
  • 2001 - District Court dismisses NAHB claim; NAHB appeals
  • 2003 - Appeals Court finds FWS listing of pygmy owl as endangered was 'arbitrary and capricious'
    • Total population of species in Mexico and US must be considered, not just US population
    • Current data indicates pygmy owl has never been in danger of extinction
  • 2006 - FWS delists pygmy owl as endangered
  • 2007 - Defenders of Wildlife (DOW) challenges delisting, asserting 2002 study indicated only 18 pygmy owls in AZ
  • 2009 - Appeals Court dismisses DOW challenge; finds 2002 study never existed

I list all that to show how ridiculous our system is.  After twelve years of wrangling and posturing and lawyers getting rich and lies being told, we come right back to where things were in 1997.  And the pygmy owls were oblivious to, and benefitted zero from, the whole process.

The case is Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Case Number 07-15854.

Now we have to work on getting Ironwood Forest National Forest delisted also.

 

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