Wisconsin State proposes taking 16 species off protected list, adding 8 ( Such as Canada horse-balm, pygmy snaketails and Blanding's turtles are about to get the boot.) – via Herp Digest

By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 4, 2012

Canada horse-balm, pygmy snaketails and Blanding's turtles are about to get the boot. Kirtland's warbler, fawnsfoot mussel and beach-dune tiger beetle could soon get their ticket punched.

Four decades after the Wisconsin Legislature created a list of its endangered and threatened species, flora and fauna continue to move on and off the list. The proposal is to subtract 16 plants and animals and add eight animals. Jumping on or dropping out are several critters that fly, swim, creep or slither, as well as plants and flowers most people probably wouldn't think twice about driving over with their riding lawnmower.

It takes awhile to change the list, and stakeholders get a chance to weigh in on just what is endangered or threatened in Wisconsin. The Department of Natural Resources is seeking public comments about the potential economic impact of the latest proposed listing and delistings; the deadline is Oct. 24 for written comments.

There are 239 species on Wisconsin's protected lists ranging from the northern cricket frog, piping plover and American marten to the Pecatonica River mayfly, queen snake and northern wild monkshood. No need to look those up - respectively, they're an amphibian, bird, mammal, insect, reptile and a flowering plant in the buttercup family.

While there are plenty of successes for endangered species that bounced back once on the list - the wolf for one, the bald eagle for another - not all have happy endings.

Are they even here?

Barn owls, Bewick's wrens and snowy egrets are proposed to get bumped off the list because few, if any, are still in Wisconsin. And there are only two native sites for the Canada horse-balm, a medicinal herb in the mint family. Findings were recorded in 1865 and 1940, so experts figured there's no point keeping it on the list because it's probably not here.

One other plant recommended for delisting - hemlock parsley, recorded in the 1800s by famous Wisconsin naturalist Increase Lapham - also hasn't been seen and probably isn't here.

"We have success stories where either the populations are expanding or responding well to restoration efforts," said Terrell Hyde, a biologist in the DNR's Endangered Resources Program. "And then we have species like the Bewick's wren where we find out that they never really established populations in the state."

As much of Wisconsin's native prairies and savannas were bulldozed to make way for communities and subdivisions, many of the native grasses and plants disappeared. But through prairie restoration efforts some have rebounded, such as the American fever-few, prairie Indian plantain, yellow gentian and yellow giant hyssop.

"A lot of these plants have very specific microhabitats or they may be on the edge of their range here in Wisconsin," said Kelly Kearns, a DNR botanist. "So to have lost one of these species is not necessarily that surprising. A huge percent of our landscape has been transformed from what it originally was. Even in forests there's been logging or grazing, which has a significant impact on the flora."

The Butler's garter snake, a small reptile that has stalled some real estate projects in southeastern Wisconsin, is recommended for delisting because new genetic analysis found that there are more than originally believed. And when biologists looked for the Blanding's turtle, they discovered large stable populations widely distributed around the state.

Ornithologist Noel Cut right, founder of the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory, doesn't have a problem with delisting the barn owl, Bewick's wren and snowy egret. Since the Kirtland's warbler is already on the federal endangered species list, it makes sense to add it to Wisconsin's list, especially since the yellow-breasted songbird has been found breeding here, Cutright said.

And black terns also are proposed for gaining endangered species status because of dwindling numbers. If the black tern gets the green light, it would bring the number of terns to four on Wisconsin's list.

"If you knew where to go you could find" black terns, said Cutright, who lives near Newberg in Ozaukee County. "I had them breeding within a mile of where I live, but now I would have to go to maybe Horicon to find them in breeding numbers."

List offers a boost

Tod Highsmith, a member of the Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association, has never seen the elusive ottoe skipper butterfly. There are only a few places in the state to see it. But landing on the endangered species list might give the ottoe skipper a chance to rebound.

"It's always nice when the little fluttery things get attention as well as the big furry things," Highsmith said.

Though nine plant species are recommended to be taken off the list, none are proposed for addition. Kearns said it's not that no additional plant species need protection in Wisconsin, it's because there is not enough staff or funding to determine which plant species in the state should be put on the protected list.

Plus, folks don't seem to get as jazzed up about grasses and flowers as they do wolves and eagles.

"Plants don't usually drive the same passion as megafauna. People would just as soon mow it as look at it," said Justin Ellis, treasurer of the Botanical Club of Wisconsin.

How to comment

Comments about the economic impact of adding and subtracting from the state endangered and threatened species list may be sent to: DNRBureauofEndangeredResources@Wisconsin.gov or Wisconsin DNR-Bureau of Endangered Resources, E/T EIA Solicitation, PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707. Comments must be postmarked no later than Oct. 24.