For Immediate Release, March 13, 2012 Contact: Jay Lininger,
(928) 853-9929 Analysis: Voluntary State Plans Will Not Save
Rare Dunes Sagebrush Lizard; Endangered Species Act Protections
Are Needed ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Center for Biological
Diversity submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service today demonstrating that a conservation plan developed
by a coalition of Texas groups and agencies won’t ensure enough
benefits for the rare dunes sagebrush lizard to avoid the need
to protect the lizard under the Endangered Species Act. “In the
absence of Endangered Species Act protection, there is no
certainty this Texas plan will ever be implemented or
effective,” said Jay Lininger, an ecologist with the Center for
Biological Diversity. “Since the state of Texas paid absolutely
zero attention to this disappearing lizard until it was proposed
for legal protection, we have real questions about what will
happen once the threat of legal protections goes away.” The
Center’s comments analyzed the plan under t