For Immediate Release, October 18, 2018 Contact: Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org Analysis: Trump Administration Withholding Lifesaving Protection for 78 Species Feds Fall Behind on Addressing Backlog of Wildlife Needing Protection PORTLAND, Ore.— For the second year in a row, the Trump administration has fallen short in protecting species under the Endangered Species Act, ultimately putting dozens of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction. According to a new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to make protection decisions for 57 species or designate critical habitat for another 21 promised under a seven-year workplan developed by the agency in 2016.The agency is under the leadership of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. “Zinke and other Trump officials are preventing the Fish and Wildlife Service from doing critical work to protect species from extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center’s endangered species director. “The wolverine, lesser prairie chicken and Hermes copper butterfly are all species Trump and Zinke left high and dry.” The workplan was created to address a backlog of more than 500 imperiled species awaiting protection decisions. In fiscal year 2018, the workplan called for 82 separate decisions about listing species or designating critical habitat. Another 13 decisions were never completed in fiscal year 2017, for a total of 95 decisions. Instead the agency only managed to make 18 decisions in 2018, resulting in listing of only four species and proposed protection for only eight species. Another six species were denied protection, including one, the beaverpond marstonia, which had gone extinct waiting for protection. “The Trump administration’s anti-regulatory agenda is turning it into the extinction presidency,” said Greenwald. “The vast majority of the American public wants to see endangered species protected, but administration officials are flushing these imperiled plants and animals down the toilet for their patrons in the oil industry and other polluters.” Delays in protecting species have real consequences. At least 46 species having gone extinct waiting for protection since the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. During the Obama administration, a total of 357 species were protected for a rate of 37 per year. Likewise under the Clinton administration, a total of 523 species were protected, for a rate of 62 species per year. So far the Trump administration, which has protected just 14 species — all but one proposed under the previous administration — is shaping up to be even worse than the Bush administration, when only 62 species were protected. 95 Imperiled Species Covered by Fish and Wildlife’s Workplan Species Name Fiscal Year Scheduled Action Type Outcome Candidate Arkansas Mudalia 2018 12M Missing Ashy Darter 2018 12M Missing Atlantic Pigtoe 2018 12M PL, 4(d) Barrens Darter 2018 12M Missing Barrens Topminnow 2018 12M PL, 4(d) Bartram Stonecrop 2018 12M Missing Beardless Chinch Weed 2018 12M Missing Beaverpond Marstonia 2018 12M Negative, extinct Big Cypress Epidendrum 2018 12M Missing Black Rail 2018 12M PL, 4(d) Black-capped Petrel 2018 12M PL, 4(d) Blackfin Sucker 2017 and 2018 12M Negative Brook Floater 2018 12M Missing Cape Sable Orchid 2018 12M Missing Carolina Madtom 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Cedar Key Mole Skink 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Chihuahua Scurfpea 2018 12M Missing Clam-shell Orchid 2018 12M Missing Donrichardsonia macroneuron 2018 12M Missing Eastern Hellbender 2018 12M Missing Elk River Crayfish 2018 12M Missing False Spike 2018 12M Missing Florida Sandhill Crane 2018 12M Missing Franklin's Bumblebee 2018 12M Missing Joshua Tree 2018 12M Missing Lesser Prairie Chicken 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Longsolid 2018 12M Missing MacGillivray's Seaside Sparrow 2018 12M Missing Mohave Shoulderband Snail 2018 12M Negative Mountain Blue-eyed Grass 2018 12M Missing Neuse River Waterdog 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Ozark Pyrg 2018 12M Missing Panama City Crayfish 2018 12M PL Panamint Alligator Lizard 2018 12M Missing Peppered Chub 2018 12M Missing Purple Lilliput 2018 12M Missing Redlips Darter (broken out from ashy darter complex) 2018 12M Missing Round Hickorynut 2018 12M Missing San Joaquin Giant Flower-loving Fly 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Seaside Alder 2018 12M Missing Slenderclaw Crayfish 2018 12M PL, 4(d) Tinian Monarch 2017 and 2018 12M Missing Tippecanoe darter 2018 12M Missing Tricolor Blackbird 2018 12M Missing White-tailed Prairie Dog 2018 12M Negative Woodville Karst Cave Crayfish 2018 12M Negative Yellow Banded Bumblebee 2018 12M Missing Humboldt Marten 2018 12M remand PL, 4(d) Northern Spotted Owl 2017 and 2018 12M uplisting Missing Black Pine Snake 2018 FCH Missing Elfin Woods Warbler 2017 FCH Missing Kula Wahine Noho 2018 FCH Missing O`oko`Olau 2018 FCH Missing Spring Pygmy Sunfish 2017 and 2018 FCH Missing Uhi Uhi 2018 FCH Missing Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2017 FCH Missing Candy Darter 2018 Final Missing Mist Forestfly 2017 and 2018 Final Missing Trispot Darter 2018 Final Missing Western Glacier Stonefly 2017 and 2018 Final Missing American Wolverine 2018 FL Missing Louisiana Pine Snake 2018 FL FL, 4(d) San Fernando Valley Spineflower 2018 FL Negative Black Warrior Waterdog 2017 and 2018 FLFCH FLFCH Texas Hornshell 2017 and 2018 FLPCH FL Yellow Lance 2018 FLPCH FL Big Sandy Crayfish 2017 PCH Missing Florida Bonneted Bat 2017 PCH Missing Florida Bristle Fern 2018 PCH Missing Green Sea Turtle 2017 PCH Missing Guyandotte River Crayfish 2017 PCH Missing Miami Tiger Beetle 2017 PCH Missing Red Knot 2017 PCH Missing Sonoyta Mud Turtle 2018 PCH Missing Suwannee Moccasinshell 2018 PCH Missing Chapin Mesa Milkvetch 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Fremont County Rockcress 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Frisco Buckwheat 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Frisco Clover 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Hermes Coper 2017 and 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Island Marble 2017 and 2018 PLPCH PLPCH Yes Marrón Bacora 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Ostler's Peppergrass 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Red-crowned Parrot 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Sierra Nevada Red Fox 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Striped Newt 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Texas Fatmucket 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Texas Fawnsfoot 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Texas Pimpleback 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Wright's Marsh Thistle 2017 and 2018 PLPCH Missing Yes Georgetown Salamander 2017 rPCH Missing Narrow-headed Gartersnake 2017 rPCH Missing Northern Mexican Gartersnake 2017 rPCH Missing Salado Salamander 2017 rPCH Missing Slickspot Peppergrass 2017 rPCH Missing Key 12M 12-month finding determining if species warrants listing PL Proposed listing FL Final listing PCH Proposed critical habitat FCH Final critical habitat Candidate species A species that has been found to warrant protection, but is waitlisted 4(d) A rule defining prohibited activities for a threatened species