Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Obama Administration is potentially tinkering with a key Endangered Species wildlife provision,,,,,,, ""Significant Portion Of iIs Range" (SPOIR),,,,,, which specifies that if a species is at risk of extinction in any significant portion of its historical range, it shall be protected"..........Center for Biological Divversity is seeking to keep the Administration from weakening this provision,,,,,,,,If it was to be watered down to be defined asa Species current day significant portion of its range versus a species historical significant portion of its range,,,,,, a very bad day for "Wild America" and our ability to protect and restore the endangered among us





Don't Let Obama Shut

 Out Endangered

Species

cactus ferruginous pygmy owl










Right now, the Obama administration
 is acceptin comments on a draft policy
 interpreting the phrase
 "significant portion of its range" (SPOIR),
 whichspecifies that if a species is at risk
 of extinctionin any significant portion of
 range, it shall be protected.

This provision has played a key role in

 the recovery of the bald eagle, grizzly
 bear and many other iconic wildlife
species, ensuring that animals and plants
 receive protection before they're past the
 point ofsaving by providing protection to
species in important parts of their home ranges.

The draft policy would limit species protection

 in two ways. First, it proposes that a portion of
 range would only be considered significant if loss
 of the species from that portion would threaten the
 species as a whole. This amounts to a regulatory
 sleight-of-hand that would effectively eliminate the
 SPOIR provision by making it largely synonymous
 with a species being at risk in all of its range.

Second, the policy says historic range will not be

 considered when determining whether a species
 is endangered in a significant portion of range.
In effect, this calls for turning a blind eye to past
losses of species, providing a perverse incentive
 to delay determinations of species' status, so that
 they may go extinct in various portions of their range,
 which would then, in turn, no longer be considered for
protection.

Please tell the Obama administration to scrap this

disastrous policy proposal and develop one that
 will truly protect species when they are at risk in a
significant portions of their range.




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