01/12/07 Slickspot won`t make the list

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has withdrawn the listing of slickspot peppergrass as an endangered species in Idaho. Governor Butch Otter and the entire Idaho Congressional delegation say credit for the non-listing goes to the state and private landowners who got involved in the conservation effort. OTTER "We added the state lands as population count to that and then the ranchers on their private land also gave environmental easements for the protection of the species. When we were allowed to count the population of plant on all the land instead of just the federal land they found that we really didn't have the low population count that they thought." Otter, a longtime critic of federal regulations, says the peppergrass case is one that should be repeated. OTTER "With these environmental easements that landowners are willing to go with we could probably keep from listing either as endangered or threatened or perhaps remove more of them from the list." Senator Larry Craig says the collaborative effort in Idaho is an example of how the Endangered Species Act should work. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott