Endangered Species Law & Policy

Earlier this week, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) issued a notice in the Federal Register that it was reopening the comment period on five proposed rules for four plant species.  Specifically, the proposed rules include the following: (1) listing Guadalupe fescue (Festuca ligulata) as an endangered species; (2) designating Guadalupe fescue critical habitat; (3) reclassifying Tobusch fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus brevihamatus ssp. tobuschii) from endangered to threatened; (4) reclassifying Kuenzler hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var. kuenzleri) from endangered to threatened; and (5) removing gypsum wild-buckwheat (Eriogonum gypsophilum) from the list of endangered and threatened plants.  According to the notice issued by the Service, the comment period is being reopened for 30 days "to give all interested parties further opportunity to comment on the proposed rules."  The reopened comment period will end on July 13, 2017.