WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity today secured court-ordered deadlines from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for final endangered species protections for 10 species, critical habitat designation for three, and decisions about whether protections are warranted for two. The species live across the U.S., from the Southeast to Texas and New Mexico and the West Coast.
“We’re suffering an extinction crisis that threatens to undermine our way of life, so I’m relieved these 15 remarkable species will get the protections they so badly need,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. “From burly alligator snapping turtles to cute but ferocious martens, these are some of my favorite species and it would just be so tragically sad if we lost them.”
The alligator snapping turtle found across the Southeast, Suwanee snapping turtle which is a distinct species found in the Suwannee River in Florida and Georgia, Washington’s Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan, New Mexico’s least chipmunk and six species of Texas mussels will all receive final endangered species protections by the end of the year.
Humboldt martens in California and Oregon, a Tennessee fish called the Barrens topminnow, and the Pearl River map turtle, which lives in Mississippi and Louisiana, will all receive designations of protected critical habitat.
The Northwest’s tall western penstemon flower will get a protection decision by September 1, 2026 and Nevada’s Fish Lake Valley tui chub fish will get a protection decision by May 17, 2025.
Despite the accelerating pace of wildlife loss in North America and across the globe, the Service has been chronically slow at providing Endangered Species Act protections to imperiled species, averaging new protection for just 14 species per year over the last three years despite hundreds waiting for protection.
On April 17, 115 groups asked Congress to increase funding for endangered species threefold — to $857 million — including $70 million for listing species. While lack of funding is part of the problem, there’s also a lack of political will at the agency to carry out its regulatory duties required under the Endangered Species Act.
“If we’re going to save these 15 irreplaceable species and the rest of the natural world, the Fish and Wildlife Service needs a complete culture shift,” said Greenwald. “The agency’s mantra of working with partners and voluntary conservation is largely a failure that greenwashes industries that provide the barest of crumbs for wildlife habitat. The Service must implement the Endangered Species Act as worded.”
Species Background
Humboldt Marten: These super cute, super ferocious mammals have triangular ears and a bushy tail and are related to minks and otters. Once common in coastal forests in Northern California and Oregon, the animals were devastated by widespread trapping and logging. Today fewer than 400 of these fascinating carnivores remain in a handful of highly isolated fragments of the species’ historic habitat. The Service proposed designating more than 1.4 million acres of critical habitat in October 2021 but failed to finalize the designation within the required one-year deadline.
Alligator Snapping Turtle and Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle: Built like a tank and often covered in camouflaging algae, these prehistoric-looking freshwater turtles are known for their spiked shells, large claws and strong, beaked jaws. Alligator snappers spend much of their time underwater, luring prey with their worm-like tongues and occasionally surfacing to breathe. Both species of snapping turtle are threatened by trapping and habitat destruction. The Service proposed to list the Suwannee snapper as a threatened species in April 2021 and the more widespread alligator snapper in November, 2021, but failed to finalize protections within the required one-year deadline.
Mt. Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan: The smallest bird in the grouse family, white-tailed ptarmigans are one of the few animals that live on alpine mountaintops throughout their entire life. They’re adapted from head to toe to thrive in a frigid climate, with feathered, snowshoe-like talons, seasonally changing plumage and a remarkable ability to gain body mass throughout harsh winters. They’re threatened by climate change and disturbance from recreation and development. The Service proposed to list the birds as threatened in June 2021 but failed to finalize protection within the one-year deadline.
Peñasco least chipmunk: These small chipmunks are found only in the Sacramento and White mountains of southwestern New Mexico and are threatened by climate change and development. The Service proposed to protect the chipmunk as endangered with 6,574 acres of critical habitat but has failed to finalize this protection.
Barrens Topminnow: These small Tennessee fish have declined in the face of habitat destruction and invasive mosquito fish and are now only found in a couple streams. They no longer occur in the Barrens Topminnow National Wildlife Refuge. The Service listed them in 2019 but failed to designate critical habitat within one year as required by the Endangered Species Act.
Pearl River Map Turtle: Map turtles are often called “sawbacks” for the ridges along their backs that can form small spikes. Pearl River map turtles can live up to 30 years in the wild and are threatened by habitat loss and degradation from dams, floodplain clearing and river channelization, and trapping. The Service proposed to protect the turtle as threatened in November 2021 but failed to finalize protections.
Texas fatmucket, Guadalupe fatmucket, Texas fawnsfoot, Texas pimpleback, False spike and Guadalupe orb: These six freshwater mussels are found in the Brazos, Colorado, Trinity and Guadalupe river basins and are threatened by pollution and habitat loss and degradation. They were proposed for protection as threatened or endangered (depending on the species) with 1,977 river miles of critical habitat in August 2021. But as with the other species, the Service failed to finalize protection.
Tall Western Penstemon: This imperiled wildflower exists in just five known populations, narrowly distributed from southwestern Washington to northwestern Oregon. They are part of a genus of plants commonly known as beardtongues. Their vivid purple-blue flowers, perched high atop unusually long stems, make a distinctive and beautiful presence in the region’s rare, ecologically intact wet prairies.
Fish Lake Valley Tui Chub: Once found at several locations in Fish Lake Valley in Esmeralda County, Nevada, the tui chub now survives only in a single isolated spring at a privately owned ranch. Groundwater overpumping threatens to dry up their last stronghold.