Public comment sought on endangered status of lizard

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it has reopened a public comment period on the 1993 proposed rule to list the flat-tailed horned lizard as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Public hearings have been scheduled to provide opportunities for the fish and wildlife service to receive oral and written comments from the public on the proposed rule.

Hearings are scheduled as follows:

  • March 23, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m, UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center, 75-080 Frank Sinatra Drive, Palm Desert, Calif.

  • March 24, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Radisson Hotel, 1501 South Redondo Center Drive in Yuma.

An advance copy of the notice is available electronically at www.federalregister.gov; however, the official notice was posted Tuesday, at www.regulations.gov, along with copies of the 1993 proposed rule and the 2003 Rangewide Management Strategy.

In addition to commenting at one of the hearings, interested parties may submit comments and information electronically to www.regulations.gov, or by U.S. mail or hand delivery to:

Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R8-ES-2009-0019; Division of Policy and Directives Management, U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222, Arlington, VA 22203.

Comments and information on the proposed listing of the flat-tailed horned lizard will be accepted from March 2-April 27, 2010.

The 2003 withdrawal was challenged, and after another round of public comment and analysis of information, the fish and wildlife service withdrew the proposed rule on June 28, 2006.

Following another challenge against the withdrawal of the proposed rule, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued an order on Nov. 3, 2009, for the service to reinstate the 1993 proposed rule.

A flat-tailed horned lizard conservation agreement has been in place since 1997. Federal and state agencies that are signatories to the conservation agreement have been implementing a rangewide management strategy to aid in conservation of the species.

Throughout the years of legal challenges efforts have continued to implement the rangewide management strategy.

The flat-tailed horned lizard is also a covered species under the Coachella Valley multiple species habitat conservation plan.

Information regarding previous federal actions for this species can be found at http://ecos.fws.gov.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.