Local GovernmentSKR

1995 Petition to Delist (Full Text) | 2002 Perkin's Petition to Delist (Full Text) 

Stephens' Kangaroo rat 

Second petition to delist SKR accepted;
90-day period stretches to 7 years

Another petition to delist Southern California's Stephens kangaroo rat as an endangered species has been accepted by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  This second petition follows a 1995 petition filed by Riverside County Farm Bureau.

 The Stephens' kangaroo rat is a small, ground-dwelling mammal found in California's western Riverside County and in San Diego County.  It's listing during the 1980s building boom stalled development until a habitat conservation plan was worked out.  Farm Bureau has remained critical of that plan.

 Under the Endangered Species Act, USFWS now has 90 days to determine whether this new petition has merit.

 However, USFWS still has not made the required 90-day finding on the previous petition submitted by Farm Bureau in 1995, stretching the Endangered Species Act's 90-day response period to seven years.

 Acknowledging receipt of a new petition, USFWS noted that it is obligated, "to the maximum extent practicable," to respond within 90 days.  The USFWS acceptance of the new petition reaffirmed that it has not completed review of the Farm Bureau's 1995 petition.

 This new petition was submitted by Robert Eli Perkins, the former executive manager of the Riverside County Farm Bureau.  It incorporates the full text of the 1995 Farm Bureau petition.

 Perkins' petition echoed an observation by the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency, that said "We urge you to expedite your review of the petition in light of the significant scientific information submitted therewith and in light of the Stephens Kangaroo Rat ('SKR') habitat conservation plan that we have implemented for Western Riverside County, which indicates that the protections of the Endangered Species Act are no longer necessary for the SKR."

 The USFWS acceptance letter raised new questions about the response time under the Endangered Species Act's requirement for a 90-day response time.  Riverside County Farm Bureau's petition was submitted on October 31, 1995, and still awaits the 90-day finding.  This new petition was submitted on February 22, 2002, and received a USFWS acknowledgment letter dated August 6, 2002.  In both cases, the 90-day period has long expired, and there's nothing in the law that sets a maximum response time.

 A group of congressmen supported Riverside County Farm Bureau's 1995 petition without results.  After Farm Bureau originally submitted its petition in April 1995, USFWS apparently lost supporting documents.  On October 31, 1995, the petition was again delivered to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this time to Director Molly Beattie with a cover letter, asking for confirmation and timely response.  That cover letter was signed by seven members of Congress, Ken Calvert, Don Young, Sonny Bono, Richard Pombo, Ron Packard, Jerry Lewis and Jay Kim.  The Service acknowledged receipt of the material but didn't produce the 90-day finding.

Two years later USFWS told Farm Bureau that it had assigned the petition the lowest of its three priorities for processing.  USFWS said it would attempt to make the finding in 1998.

"The ESA makes no distinction between petitions to add or remove species," said Perkins.  "It's unconscionable that the Service has not processed this petition in compliance with federal law."

Farm Bureau's petition argued that the information used to list the Stephens' kangaroo rat in 1987 was substantially inaccurate.  Analyzing the thousands of pages of research and reports obtained from USFWS files, Farm Bureau concluded that the threats to the SKR's survival were overestimated by roughly a factor of ten, while the available habitat was underestimated also by roughly a factor of ten.  "SKR is not now and never has been in any danger of extinction," said Perkins.

Perkins' 2002 petition added the argument that "habitat conservation measures by Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency have acquired and preserved extensive amounts of habitat."

The Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency collected more than $30 million in developer fees to acquire permanent habitat for SKR.  Riverside County is now developing a 153,000-acre multiple species habitat conservation plan that would include the SKR habitat.

The 1995 Farm Bureau petition was researched and written by Dennis Hollingsworth, who served as Farm Bureau's natural resource director from 1993 until he was elected to the Assembly in 2000.  Assemblyman Hollingsworth is now a candidate for the Senate.

USFWS said the Riverside County Farm Bureau petition will be treated as the primary petition, and Perkins' 2002 petition will be treated as the subsequent petition and also as a comment on the 1995 petition. 

Farm Bureau is a private, nonprofit association of farmers and ranchers.

Perkins is now executive director of Monterey County Farm Bureau.