Lawsuit Filed to Protect Pacific Fishers
by EF!Humboldt ~ February 4th, 2010. Filed under: Education, News, clear-cutting, sierra pacific industries.
(press release excerpts in italics)
The Center for Biological Diversity is at it again, filing a lawsuit that challenges the ability of the timber industry to destroy the habitat of the rare Pacific Fisher - a relative of the mink and otter that has been decimated by historic fur trapping and logging of old-growth forests. Following a petition from the groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged in 2004 that the fisher warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act, but has yet to provide that protection, arguing that it lacks resources. The groups’ notice asserts that continued delay of protection for the fisher is illegal because the Service is failing to make sufficient progress listing species that are waiting for protection.
“The fisher and hundreds of other species have been waiting too long for protection,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The failure to protect the fisher is nothing but foot dragging.”