USFWS Denies ESA Protection to Pika

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently posted on its website its decision denying listing the pika, a relative of rabbits that resembles a mouse, as protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Had it done so, the pika would have been the first species in the continental United States listed as a result of global warming.

The pika is an alpine species that lives on high, Rocky Mountain slopes in the western U.S.. Exposure to temperatures above 78 degrees can be lethal for the cold-natured species. So, as global warming increases, the lower mountain altitudes get warmer—and less habitable—for the pika, which must continue to move up-slope to survive. The pika’s situation is not unlike species trapped on an island with the water slowly rising to envelop it. This results in fragmented populations, since pika on one mountain or area may be cut off from other groups. This in turn results in less biodiversity within the pika population and increases the chances that the pika will go extinct when faced with future environmental stresses. The problems peculiar to this species prompted petitions to and increased pressure on the USFWS by environmental groups to list the pika under the ESA.

However, FWS rejected the proposed listing, determining that while some pika populations were declining others were not. FWS also noted that the pika population is widespread enough over a range of habitat that increased warming would not threaten the longterm survival of the species. FWS estimates that temperatures will increase by about 5.4 degrees over the next century, leading to increased declines in the foreseeable future for pika populations in lower altitudes while survival rates in populations in higher altitudes are expected to be somewhat better. Still, those higher-altitude populations are expected to survive under FWS’s analysis.

Environmental groups who petitioned the listing were naturally disappointed with the result and have called it a political decision that ignores the law and the dire circumstances facing the pika. However, others praise the decision for not using the ESA as a surrogate means for addressing the causes and effects of global warming.

To an extent, this fight over listing the pika echoes proposals to list the polar bear, whose habitat is similarly threatened by climate change and whose listing has been similarly fought on the basis that the ESA should not be used as a backdoor means of addressing global warming impacts. The polar bear, however, was ultimately deemed “threatened” and granted protected status in late 2008--along with new regulations that prevent the listing from blocking projects that contribute to global warming. The new Obama administration and his appointment, Ken Salazar, have so far refused to rescind the rule, which is now being challenged in court.

Jeremey Dobbins, Legal Intern