AUSTIN (KXAN)—The legal battle over the conservation status of the golden-cheeked warbler marches on, with the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Public Policy Foundation urging the U.S. Department of the Interior to remove the songbird from the Endangered Species Act. It’s a debate that started ten years ago, when the TPPF first lobbied for the bird’s delisting.
The warbler is a native Texan songbird, making its home in the Ashe juniper trees that grow mainly in Central Texas. In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a report recommending that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior downgrade its status from endangered to threatened.
MORE CONTEXT: Golden-cheeked Warbler’s endangered status subject of legal battle
Currently, the golden-cheeked warbler is considered endangered by both the federal government and the Texas government. As a threatened species, the bird would still have protections against being killed, harmed or captured. But the TXGLO and TPPF say this still leaves costly compliance measures in place.
A letter from the TPPF claims the warbler’s status has stymied land use throughout the state for over thirty years. Under federal law, land developers must apply for a permit through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop in an endangered species’ habitat, and developing in a confirmed warbler habitat carries a fee of $5,500 per acre…