A Second Chance for Midwest Forests
Posted January 16, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
NRDC and our partner organizations have settled our lawsuit against the Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to exclude 13,000 acres of critical habitat for the Hines's Emerald Dragonfly from the National Forests in Michigan and Missouri.
The exclusions, which threatened to become a dangerous national precedent, were premised on the assertion that if habitat protections were extended to national forest land the U.S. Forest Service would be less willing to cooperate with its sister agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, in protecting dragonflies.
Under the settlement agreement, which still has to be approved by the court, the government has agreed to go back to the drawing board and reconsider its national forest exclusions, while keeping the habitat protections dragonflies enjoy on other lands in place. The Fish and Wildlife Service will seek public comment on the exclusions in April.
