(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has announced proposed rules that remove the category of “special concern” species from its rule on threatened and endangered species. Species on the “special concern” list include bald eagles, peregrine falcons, southern flying squirrels, smooth green snakes and a number of butterflies. The move came as part of DNR’s adherence to the governor’s executive order to simplify administrative rules across agencies.
Tammie Krausman, the department’s public information officer, said the decision to remove the category allows the department’s administrative rules to follow the relevant chapter of Iowa statute. Krausman said in an email this will make the administrative rules “consistent with” the statute that “explicitly addresses that DNR responsibilities are to identify those species that are endangered or threatened in the state.”
“The ‘special concern’ classification is not identified in that law,” Krausman said. This is not the first notice DNR has put out about its efforts to refine its administrative code. In fact, all state agencies have been completing the same work following an executive order, known as Executive Order 10, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2023.
The executive order created a moratorium on administrative rulemaking and ordered agencies to complete a “comprehensive review” of all existing administrative rules. Reynolds, in the release about the order, said it was a “commonsense approach that gets government out of the way and leads to a more robust economy in every community.”…