Federal wildlife officials announced Tuesday they'll spend a year studying whether more than two-dozen kinds of western slugs and snails need protection under the Endangered Species Act. Rob Manning reports.
The 26 species include the Columbia dusky snail, the evening fieldslug and three kinds of pebblesnail from Klamath Falls.
Forest-Burns: "I mean the diminutive pebblesnail? I love 'em."
Ann Forest-Burns represents the timber industry group American Forest Resource Council. She says she's glad the US Fish and Wildlife Service is settling the question of whether the rare snails and slugs warrant protection. But Forest Burns is worried about possible effects on logging if forest-dependent snails are labeled "threatened."
Forest-Burns: "Everything deserves to have its place. The problem is when we don't know what to do about its place and how to help it."
The decision responds to litigation from the Center for Biological Diversity. The environmental group sued the federal government to force a look at hundreds of potentially threatened species.
I'm Rob Manning reporting.
On the web:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Q&A (includes photos):
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/PDFs/Q&A--29%20Mollusks--90-day-final%20FINAL.pdf
Species to be considered for federal protection:
North-central WA: Chelan mountainsnail, Masked duskysnail
Western WA and Western OR: Evening fieldslug, Hoko vertigo snail, Keeled jumping-slug, Puget Oregonian snail
Columbia Gorge area: Basalt juga snail, Columbia duskysnail, Columbia Oregonian snail, Dalles sideband snail
Southern OR/Northern CA: Diminutive pebblesnail, Nerite pebblesnail, Tall pebblesnail, Big Bar hesperian snail, Canary duskysnail, Cinnamon juga snail, Goose Valley pebblesnail, Hat Creek pebblesnail, Knobby rams-horn snail, Nugget pebblesnail, Potem Creek pebblesnail, Shasta chaparral snail, Shasta hesperian snail, Shasta pebblesnail, Shasta sideband snail, Tehama chaparral snail
Copyright 2011 Oregon Public Broadcasting
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