SLO Commissioner Ray Powell announce that on March 25th, his office enrolled an additional 150,000 acres in a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA). This brings the total enrolled acreage with the New Mexico State Land Office to 404,000 acres in the Lesser Prairie Chicken Area. Link to the letter.
In addition, effective May 12, 2014, the USFWS filed a final rule determining that the Lesser Prairie Chicken is a ‘threatened’ species. This is a link to the full 99 page rule for your reading pleasure. Using its authority under Rule 4(d), the agency decided that CCAA efforts under the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) were appropriate for management of the species. However, note Director Dan Ashe’s statement, “Working through the WAFWA range-wide conservation plan, the states remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species – more than has ever been done before – and participating landowners and developers are not impacted with additional regulatory requirements.” From a legal perspective, this means that operators who are not participating in the WAFWA CCAA scheme might not be “protected” and will have to do additional conservation efforts for the species.
However, on April 10, 2014, the Centers for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and Defenders of Wildlife filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue with the Department of Interior over violations of Sections 4 and 7 of the Endangered Species Act. They are effectively stating that enrollment and payment in any CCAAs should not be considered a valid exception to the Endangered Species Act. The outcome of this case could have significant impacts on both the Chicken and the Lizard CCAs and future listing decisions. Note that the Centers for Biological Diversity is the NGO that entered in the settlement agreement with the present Administration to force listing decisions for over 250 species by 2016. The Oklahoma Attorney General has filed suit on April 1, 2014 against the USFWS for entering into the settlement with the NGO.
So the net effect of the State Land Office listing is as follows:
1. Operators with leases prior to May 12, 2014 in the area enrolled by the Commissioner had to have enrolled their respective acreage with Center for Excellence for Hazardous Material Management by that date.
2. Acreage leased after May 12, 2014 may be enrolled and the Commissioner, while he cannot place conditions on the leases, will strongly encourage this ‘voluntary’ participation. As listed in the SLO letter, some measures of the CCAA include:
a. Exit ramps for open water sources
b. Minimizing surface disturbances
c. Avoiding Dunes Sagebrush habitat
d. Burying power lines within two miles of LPC lek sites active at least once in the past five years
e. Burying power lines within one mile of historic LPC lek sites.
