(Note: Somehow, another 'cry wolf!' pablum-dribbling whine from USFWS just doesn't raise my sympathies for one species of toad, when the entire resource-providing backbone of America is being carved out and served up on the 'junk science' platter of Gang Green and Company.

December 11, 2002

A Fish and Wildlife Service study found the Yosemite toad qualifies for a threatened or endangered listing under the Endangered Species Act, but FWS officials said on Tuesday the agency does not have the money or staff to seek protection for the amphibian.

The Yosemite toad has lost more than half of its population in some areas from habitat loss, drought and air pollution, according to the FWS study. But "the service is so backed up with other court-ordered actions ... that we don't have the staff or resources to complete the listing," said Steve Thompson, manager of the FWS California-Nevada office.

The Forest Service has said it will work with the FWS to protect the toad and increase its habitat, Thompson said. More than 90 percent of its habitat is in USFS land or Yosemite National Park. The FWS said it will review the toad's status next year.

Tuesday's decision is illegal and "a recipe for extinction" for the animal, said Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued to list the toad under the ESA (Don Thompson, AP/San Francisco Chronicle online, Dec. 10).

Drought shrinks endangered pronghorn population

Arizona's population of endangered Sonoran pronghorns is at about 25 animals, down from 99 in 2000 and 200 in the mid-1990s, the FWS said Tuesday. Wildlife officials blame the state's long-term drought for the decrease in antelope-like animals. "The drought just ravaged the natural forage last summer, and [the pronghorns] didn't recognize as food the hay and pellets that were put out," said FWS spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown (Mark Shaffer, Arizona Republic, Dec. 11). -- LM

http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/Backissues/121102/121102gw.htm