The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this week, while the Senate voted to end debate and move forward with the legislation on Thursday. The legislation includes dozens of public land use provisions as legislative riders unrelated to the overall purpose of the bill. [Update: Senate approved the legislation on Friday.  The bill now waits for President Obama’s signature.]

The $585 billion dollar bill’s primary purpose is to direct spending on defense, but key members of the House Natural Resource Committee and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee were able to attach roughly 70 land use provisions. The suite of legislation is the first large land use package since 2009 and contains provisions that protect hundreds of thousands of acres of public land, allow development on other public lands, and change regulations on resource permitting on public land. Highlights of the legislative riders are summarized below.

Public Land Protection

Several provisions in the package will combine to designate a total of about 250,000 acres of wilderness in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington. Language is also included to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of land near Glacier National Park in Montana from future oil and gas development. Other provisions expand over a dozen national parks and improve public access to parks and wildlife refuges

Public Land Development

In exchange for the protected land, around 100,000 acres of public land would be transferred for private development including copper mines in Arizona and Nevada, and 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest of Alaska that will be mostly used for logging.

Public Land Use Regulations

Other provisions affect how permitting of grazing and oil and gas development in public lands is performed. Language is included that will expedite both processes through exceptions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The lands package is not without controversy. Lawmakers and interest groups are split about what the bill will mean for their constituents and members. Outdoor recreation advocates generally applaud the conservation of natural areas, but are wary over certain restrictions to public access for new wilderness areas in the bill. The wilderness and park expansion language was well received within the conservation community, but many are troubled by the mine development, logging, and grazing provisions. Some environmental groups are particularly troubled by the grazing provisions which could imperil sage grouse recovery. Nevertheless, the bill is expected to be signed by the president this week.

Sources:

Environment and Energy News (December 8, 2014 & December 11, 2014)

Note: this article was updated on Friday, December 12 at 10:15am

A map detailing the journey of a young scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) swimming between coastal and offshore waters in the Gulf of California may expose a gap in current efforts to protect the endangered species, according to a new online study published in the journal Animal Biotelemetry.

Scalloped hammerheads are endangered with some populations around the world suffering a 50 to 90 percent decline in fewer than 35 years; and the populations living in the Gulf of California seem to be no exception. “In Mexico in the 80s, the sea of Cortes was one of the best places to see these beautiful and majestic animals but at present it’s hard to see even a few,” said Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla, a researcher from Pelagios Kakunja, Mexico and one of the study’s authors, in a press release.

In order to understand juvenile shark behavior, Hoyos-Padilla and a team of researchers baited and captured one male and two female juvenile sharks in the Gulf of California. The researchers surgically implanted a tracking device at the base of each shark’s pelvic fin. Every 30 seconds, the device recorded the depth, sea temperature, and light level of the shark’s surrounding environment. The tag also had a reward notice attached to it, so when local fishermen caught one of the female sharks north of La Paz Bay nearly a year later they knew who to contact. The researchers retrieved the tracking device, downloaded the data, and mapped the shark’s movements throughout the gulf.

Over the course of 10.5 months, the young, three-foot-long, female hammerhead swam over 2,000 miles. Initially, the shark stuck to warm shallow waters along the coast, but eventually swam to offshore habitat within the Gulf of California. By day, the female shark probably swam around offshore islands and underwater mountains called seamounts with schools of other juvenile and adult hammerheads. At night, it would swim away to hunt for prey such as squid and fish at depths of up to 880 feet. “This is the first time we have an idea of their behavior at this stage,” said Hoyos-Padilla.

Understanding where hammerheads swim helps scientists and wildlife managers identify key habitat areas and determine where to focus their efforts. Mexico prohibits commercial fishing from large vessels within 50 nautical miles of the coast, which should help protect sharks in near-shore, nursery areas; but James Ketchum, another of the study’s authors, thinks that may not be enough. “Because of their dependence on both coastal and offshore waters during their early life-stages, we think that they may be more susceptible to fisheries than previously thought,” said Ketchum in the press release. “Current protective measures in Mexico may unfortunately be insufficient.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) found the wolverine (Gulo gulo), and 13 other species, to be of special concern during a meeting last month. COSEWIC, an independent group of government and non-government experts, lists a species as special concern when a combination of biological factors and identified threats indicate that the species may become threatened or endangered in the near future. The wolverine, which is sensitive to human disturbance, is experiencing declines in its southern range due to habitat fragmentation from increased industrial development.

Although COSEWIC has listed the wolverine as a species of special concern, the species is not automatically listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). The Minister of the Environment must bring the species before the cabinet for consideration for federal listing under SARA. The government can decide to not list the species, and has denied 30 recommended species listings since 2004. Environment Canada is asking hunters and trappers associations in communities throughout Nunavut to comment on the proposed federal listing of wolverines by January 15, 2015, to help inform the cabinet’s decision.

COSEWIC also found 14 species to be endangered and six to be threatened. However it is uncertain how quickly the Minister of the Environment will bring these species to the cabinet for potential federal listing. Over 100 species that have been reviewed by COSEWIC have not yet been brought to the cabinet. Delaying to list a species may create more problems for the species’ recovery as some recovery actions such as the designation of critical habitat cannot occur until a species is federally listed.

Sources: CBC News (December 2, 2014), Globe and Mail (December 1, 2014), and Nunatsiaq Online (December 2, 2014)

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced last week its proposed critical habitat designation for the Arctic subpopulation of Ringed Seals (Phoca hispida hispida). The estimated 350,000 square mile designation would be the largest ever for an endangered or threatened species. Most of the critical habitat would be in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi seas off of Alaska’s coastline.

The expansive proposal encompasses such a large area because of the effect that warming oceans have on sea ice that ringed seals completely rely on for every aspect of their lives. According to NMFS, ringed seals “use sea ice as a [place] for resting, whelping (birthing), nursing, and molting” and “do not normally come ashore.” Any change in the amount or pattern of sea ice formation will have a magnified effect on the population.

NMFS originally listed the Artic seal as threatened in late 2012, but delayed designating critical habitat due to a lack of data.

Ringed seals are the smallest seal species in the Arctic and are distinguished from other seals by silver rings on their backs and sides. The Arctic subpopulation can be found in many Alaskan seas and in the Artic Basin wherever sea ice is present.

Sources: Environment and Energy News (December 2, 2014), Federal Register (December 3, 2014)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently proposed listing the African lion (Panthera leo leo) — a species found only in Africa — as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Loss of habitat as well as access to prey such as zebras and wildebeest due to overhunting along with an increase in human-lion conflicts threaten current lion populations. If added, the African lion will join more than 600 foreign species that are not native to the United States but are protected by U.S. law.

Wildlife conservation in the U.S. did not always include foreign species. In fact, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 only protected U.S. wildlife. Then, in 1969, Congress amended the act to include species in danger of going extinct worldwide. The amendment would prohibit individuals from importing and selling listed foreign species within the U.S. At the time, the U.S. was seeing a lot of export of alligator and import of gorilla parts and products, said Janine Van Norman, chief of the Branch of Foreign Species in the FWS’s Endangered Species Program. Demand for harvest and trade of these species and others brought to light the extent to which people could harm wildlife populations. “Congress didn’t want to see U.S. citizens contributing to the global demise of species worldwide,” Van Norman said.

On June 2, 1970, FWS posted the first list of foreign species to be protected — a total of 226 species including the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis), Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus), Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii), and New Zealand bushwren (Xenicus longipes). Today, the ESA protects 625 foreign species. Because these species live in other countries, the U.S. cannot directly manage their habitats like it can with domestic endangered species. Instead, the U.S. protects foreign wildlife by regulating commerce and trade. Among other things, the ESA outlaws import, export, possession, transport, and sales of listed foreign species, except by permit.

These regulations are especially helpful for species such as the southern white rhinoceros that’s plagued by poachers and wildlife traffickers. “Consumerism can drive species towards extinction,” said Van Norman. “That is why it is important to protect [endangered species] and enforce laws that protect them.” For example, global demands for ground rhino horn — an ingredient in some folk remedies — created a market for rhino poachers. Prior to September 2013, the southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum ssp simum) was the only species of rhinoceros not protected under the ESA, and traffickers were able to import and export (with restrictions) white rhino products. Because the horns of various species are hard to distinguish without genetic testing, poachers were able to mislabel horns taken from protected species and smuggle them into the U.S. under the guise of white rhino trade. By prohibiting sales of the white rhino and its parts under the ESA, FWS succeeded in protecting all wild rhino populations.

In addition, the ESA does more than enforce trade regulations and monitor imports and exports of foreign species. According to Van Norman, listing an endangered or threatened species can call attention to the species and help justify spending on further research efforts. The ESA can also help conservation efforts. For example, the FWS established a Giant Panda import policy in 1995, which requires U.S. zoos with pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) to give a certain amount of their profits back for in situ panda conservation in China. “Some people say we should only take care of wildlife in our backyard,” said Van Norman. “But ours is a bigger backyard than they are talking about.”