Law changes could affect local fauna
Courtesy / Nature Conservancy
The American burying beetle may not get the same attention the polar bear does, but it plays a crucial role in the breakdown of decomposing animals.
Without this specific type of beetle, which is endangered in Oklahoma, local scientists say that the number of carcasses would begin to pile up, which would be a huge problem.
Under the Bush administration’s proposed new regulations, government scientists would not be consulted if there is no foreseeable harm to threatened and endangered species when governmental entities authorize highways, dams, subdivisions and other projects.
The proposal has drawn criticism among Democrats and environmental groups who argue that it weakens the Endangered Species Act.
Chris Paolino, spokesman for the Department of the Interior, said that every agency employs its own biologists and that scientific reviews will not be completely removed.
Paolino said the proposed regulations were sparked when the polar bear was announced as a threatened species in May due to melting sea ice.
The new regulations are an attempt to protect the polar bear while limiting any harm done to the American economy, according to the DOI’s Web site.
The state of Alaska has sued the federal government, stating that listing the polar bear as a threatened species would harm oil and gas exploration, fishing, and tourism.
Paolino said that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made his intentions clear that “the Endangered Species Act should not be a back door in regulating the global climate change.”
Under the new regulations, Paolino said there would have to be scientific proof that a project would harm an individual species. Car emissions would not provide that proof, he said.
In the case of the American burying beetle, which is one of 19 animals and plants in Oklahoma that are either threatened or endangered, a direct cause would be disturbing the soil where they bury carcasses and lay their eggs.
Fish and wildlife biologist Ken Collins of Oklahoma Ecological Services said he and his staff spend a considerable amount of time on the American burying beetle because most development projects involve moving dirt.
“Just about every project that has a potential to move dirt has the potential to impact a beetle,” he said.
The regulation changes would also include a 60-day timeline when government scientists are consulted.
“It had been getting extremely backlogged,” Paolino said.
Steve Hensley, refuge manager at the Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge in Vian, said the new regulations will make it harder to protect the species, but make economic development easier.
“This administration is not known for its environmental concern,” Hensley said.
Scientists protect beetles by luring them out of a disturbance area with dead organisms, known as carrion, that they feed on.
“They’ll relocate on their own,” Collins said. “Typically what we use is rotten chicken parts.”
The beetles are about an inch and a half long and can travel more than half a mile in a night.
Collins sees some good aspects to the regulations. Project “no-brainers” that obviously have only a beneficial effect would no longer require a consultation, which would free up biologists to create more recovery plans to conserve species over the long haul, he said.
Fish and wildlife biologist Hayley Dikeman said the American burying beetle has vanished from more than 90 percent of its historic range in the United States and southeast portions of Canada.
Threatened and endangered species in Oklahoma
Animals
Gray bat 
Indiana bat
Ozark big-eared bat
American burying beetle
Ozark cavefish
Whooping crane
Eskimo curlew
Leopard darter
Neosho Madtom
Winged Mapleleaf
Scaleshell mussel
Piping plover
Ouachita rock pocketbook
Arkansas River shiner
Least tern
Black-capped vireo
Gray wolf
Red-cockaded woodpecker
Plants
Eastern prairie fringed orchid
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