Crosstown, Mich. (AP) — The Biden administration plans to propose agenda changes Wednesday to encourage voluntary conservation projects on private lands, in part by protecting landowners from fines if their actions kill or harm a small number of species.
Legislation proposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service outlines measures to mitigate illegal damages under the Endangered Species Act. The Associated Press obtained details of the offer prior to publication.
To qualify, landowners must implement measures that benefit declining species, including pollinators such as bumblebees and monarch butterflies.
As climate change, urbanization and other trends threaten many animals and plants, it's about making landowners allies, not enemies. According to the United Nations, up to 1 million species could become extinct worldwide, most of them within the next few decades.
Officials told the AP that protection is needed on both private and public lands to prevent such losses.
US Interior Minister Deb Holland said in an interview. "We strongly believe that it is a way to protect the common people." He added in a statement that the partnership "puts us on a path to continued recovery and recovery."
The proposed legislation includes a section of federal law that generally provides exemptions for harm to endangered or threatened species. It allows for "sampling", the killing of individual plants or animals for scientific purposes, or the preservation of species by means such as the creation of new populations.
Legal activities such as logging, mining, and oil and gas exploration are unintended consequences of such damage.
Killing or harming listed species under these conditions requires authorization of mitigation programs and general protection of the species.
"These are valuable and popular tools, but they are often limited," said Jonathan Wood, vice president of the Center for Real Estate and Environmental Research, which supports the free market approach. environmental awareness.
The proposed new law aims to make it easier to enter into such agreements and encourage more landowners to participate.
It combines two types of protection agreements into one. It also allows landowners to stop their conservation efforts, such as cutting down trees that allow forest species such as birds or bats to thrive.
Another provision allows harm to be inflicted on persons who are not listed as at risk or in danger, but may be in the future. The landowner immediately takes protective measures, but may not harm or kill any animal or plant unless their species is identified. There is no need for legal protection as this can help them recover properly.
"We expect these improvements will allow more individuals and businesses to participate in these voluntary programs, leading to better overall conservation outcomes," the Fish and Wildlife Service said in a regulatory filing.
Environmental law experts say the strategy is worth a try, but success is uncertain, especially since it opens the door to more "accidental" deaths and allows homeowners to abandon their efforts to protect nature.
"It's not a risk-free law," said Pat Parenteau, a law professor at the Vermont School and Graduate School of Law. "It may not work to the benefit of the species."
Most endangered species live on private land, so the government has no choice but to seek voluntary cooperation, agree to release and ensure landowners can manage their property, said Dan Rolfe, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. Portland, Oregon
But the treaty, which doesn't require permanent protection, "sends a message to non-federal landowners that ultimately it's not your responsibility to protect wildlife," Rolfe said. "They say that if we are lucky, we will find somewhere outside your country. And that may or may not be true."
Wildlife advocates have criticized the use of conservation agreements for issues such as Arctic grayling, a fish that is struggling to survive in parts of Montana.
Last week, lawyers sued the government, claiming it had failed to address a decade ago's decline in fish from the Great Hall River and its tributaries, a water source for shady habitat and agriculture.
The agreement is not binding and has not gone through a public process that requires expert input, said Christine Ackland, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.
"The idea is very good. public and private agencies and the federal government are coming together and agreeing to take specific actions to help the species," Ackland said. "Any . . . custody agreement would be subject to these pitfalls."
The Fish and Wildlife Service has set a public comment period from February 9 to April 10. No date has been set for a final decision on the proposed rule.
The Service requested comments on whether the proposed changes would save time and money. How to influence the defense; How much private land can qualify? and the potential for additional license applications.
"The upcoming legislation is important to get non-federal landowners involved, to bring working landscapes into this partnership, to pass the Endangered Species Act," Fish and Wildlife Director Martha Williams told the AP Wildlife Service.
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