Endangered Species

The U.S. Forest Service has released a long-awaited management plan for Fossil Creek in central Arizona, a popular recreation site which is home to many rare and threatened species. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined the monarch butterfly merits protection under the Endangered Species Act, but it won’t be listed immediately. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Lees Ferry on the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam is a world-famous rainbow trout fishery. But in recent years a different nonnative fish, the brown trout, has started to grow in numbers. The brown trout is a predatory fish that gobbles up not only the rainbows but also endangered native species in the Grand Canyon. Now, state and federal wildlife agencies have come up with a plan to reduce their numbers. They’re paying people to go fishing. Starting today, anglers can earn 25 dollars a head for catching and harvesting brown trout. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Ken Hyde, chief of science at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about the new incentive program.

A nonprofit environmental group has negotiated a truce with federal agencies after a long-running lawsuit over the threatened Mexican Spotted Owl. WildEarth Guardians sued the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013, saying the agencies failed to monitor owl populations in Southwestern forests and assess the effects of thinning and burning. The new agreement promises to remedy that on all eleven national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians.