releases: http://tipton.house.gov/press-release/tipton-takes-fish-and-wildlife-task-over-greater-sage-grouse
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| http://tipton.house.gov/press-release/tipton-takes-fish-and-wildlife-task-over-greater-sage-grouse | Tipton Takes Fish and Wildlife to Task over Greater Sage Grouse | 2014-10-16 | 2014 | 2014-10 | Republican | House | CO | Scott Tipton | T000470 | tipton.house.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Scott Tipton (R-CO) and a number of his Western colleagues blasted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for shirking sound science and transparency as the agency rushes to meet a self-imposed, superficial listing deadline that could jeopardize the wellbeing of the Greater Sage Grouse. In a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Tipton and his colleagues wrote: “We write to express concerns with the lack of transparency of your Department’s evaluation and use of ‘best available scientific and commercial data’ and lack of coordination with and assurances to affected states and other stakeholders relating to their extensive ongoing conservation efforts to avoid a listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of the Greater Sage Grouse. “With less than a year to go before the Department’s self-imposed September 2015 settlement deadline to determine whether to list the Greater Sage Grouse under the ESA, it appears that the Department is blatantly ignoring or downplaying significant flaws and gaps in its own sage grouse data and science, and failing to incorporate recent data that suggests sage grouse populations are stable and not declining. This undermines the Obama Administration’s pledge to ‘ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.’ “We are also concerned that, at the same time, the Department has set in motion a process to mandate, through revisions to 98 resource management plans, mitigation requirements which have not been deemed necessary or helpful to sage grouse that would devastate state and local economies and severely impact private property owners’ activities in portions of eleven western states. It is much more important that best available science and data, rather than mega-settlement deadlines negotiated behind closed-doors, guide this important ESA issue.” The letter raises concerns over an upcoming workshop between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on October 22-23 in Fort Collins to “collect information from scientific experts” on various questions regarding genetic differences of sage grouse. “Without question, the American public deserves and expects the Department and FWS to foster an open and transparent process on how it receives, evaluates and incorporates sage grouse data, and determines what is or isn’t “best available,” as ESA requires. Reversing itself in 2010, the FWS found that listing several populations of sage grouse found in portions of eleven states ‘may be warranted,’ allegedly due to population declines. However, rather than focus on actual sage grouse population data, the workshop apparently will consist of discussions of mere “individual opinions” and queries of individual professional experience and opinion rather than sound science regarding sage grouse genetics, according to the invitation… “In addition, the FWS recently confirmed that the few invited must meet rigid, somewhat exclusionary criteria to participate at the Fort Collins October workshop. As a result, participants will be comprised almost entirely of federal employees, federal grantees, or individuals who helped draft, were connected with, or have some interest in either the NTT or the COT reports or with FWS’ research… “Adding insult to injury, the public would not be allowed to observe or obtain any information relating to this ‘workshop’ until well after the BLM and U.S. Forest Service finalize their resource management plan revisions and the FWS finalizes its listing decision. This runs counter to data transparency and ensuring use of best science that would benefit both the Greater Sage Grouse and millions of people in the affected area.” The letter also asks Jewell to respond to 17 questions about the workshop’s function, structure and intent with regard to the overall listing decision for the Greater Sage Grouse. View the full letter pdf HERE. Tipton has been a vocal advocate in Congress for scientifically supported locally-tailored species preservation efforts like those currently underway in Colorado. Such efforts have the flexibility to account for the specific ecological and geographic conditions of a region; ensuring more effective, targeted species preservation can take place. A broad federal ESA listing would disrupt these efforts in favor of a less-effective, one-size-fits all approach that would implement the same restrictions and requirements over a range of 186 million acres in eleven western states regardless of the local topographic and ecological conditions. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |