Billings, Mont. , US officials said Friday that they would make it easier for scientists to move plants and animals out of their historic ranges as a last resort to save species threatened by climate change.
Rehabilitation of species struggling due to climate change has been done on a limited basis to date, including in Hawaii, where researchers are racing to relocate seabirds to new islands to protect them from rising sea waters.
Changes to federal rules published Friday by the Biden administration would allow similar transfers for some of the most threatened plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.
It also allows for relocation when a species is being displaced by non-native plants or wildlife. Officials plan to introduce Guam kingfishers to Palmyra Atoll, south of Hawaii, this summer after brown tree snakes accidentally introduced to Guam around 1950 decimated their population. The birds are extinct in the wild but kept in zoos.
The introduction of species to new areas was long considered taboo because of their potential to disrupt native ecosystems and crowd out local flora and fauna. The practice is gaining acceptance among many scientists and government officials as climate change alters habitats around the world.
Federal officials said the effects of climate change weren’t fully felt when they adopted previous rules preventing the relocation of endangered species. As global warming accelerates, habitat changes “are forcing some wildlife into new areas to survive, while driving other species closer to extinction,” Interior Secretary Deb Holland said in a statement.
He added that allowing the transfer would strengthen conservation efforts and help protect the species for generations to come.
Republicans in western states – where the gray wolf was reintroduced two decades ago due to strong local objections – opposed the proposal. Officials in Montana, New Mexico and Arizona warned that the relocation could lead to ecological destruction because “invasive species” are being intentionally brought in.
Jack O’Brien, a spokesman for Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, said state officials would review the changes, but federal officials expressed dismay at the announcement going into the holiday weekend.
Examples of ecological disasters caused by introduced species abound – from Asian carp spreading through rivers and streams across the Americas, to Europe destroying crops and exterminating songbirds.
Other state wildlife officials have been supportive of the change and, together with outside scientists, have suggested species that could benefit. These include the major deer in southern Florida, the desert fawn in Nevada and California, and the St. Croix ground lizard in the Virgin Islands.
Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity said he worried the rule could be abused to allow habitat destruction to make way for development. His group has fought plans for a Nevada lithium mine where an endangered desert wildflower is found. The developer has proposed transplanting Tiehm’s grain and growing new plants elsewhere.
“Tiham’s grain situation raises fears of a mining company deliberately destroying habitat for an endangered species and then attempting to create new habitat elsewhere as compensation,” Donnelly said. “It is troubling that there is no explicit ban on such an arrangement in this new rule.”
The new species resettlement rule follows recent moves by the Biden administration to reverse major changes to the endangered species program during the Trump administration. Industry groups lobbied for those first changes, but they were heavily criticized by environmentalists.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said last week that it would reinstate a decades-old rule that mandated broad protections for new species classified as threatened. Officials also said they would no longer consider economic impacts when deciding whether animals and plants needed protection.
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