Final recovery plan approved for mussel
An endangered mussel in Arkansas now has a final recovery plan.
The Neosho mucket mussel has historically been found in streams in the Illinois, Neosho and Verdigris river basins covering in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 2013, a critical habitat designation for the Neosho mucket mussel and the Rabbitsfoot mussel stirred political debate over federal authority to protect species on vast amounts of private land in north Arkansas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ultimately decreased the amount of land designated.
The Neosho mucket mussel received designation only in Northwest Arkansas, along the Illinois River in the westernmost portion of the Washington County-Benton County border.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a draft recovery plan for the Neosho mucket mussel in August.
The approved plan calls for reducing sediment and chemical contaminants in streams, encouraging voluntary soil and water improvement projects, and possibly capturing the mussels and reintroducing them into their historical range.
Agency proposes beetle 'downlisting'
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed "downlisting" a beetle now found in Arkansas that has been labeled "endangered" for 30 years.
The American burying beetle, a large, black and orange beetle, was listed as endangered in 1989 after it was found in only two states (Oklahoma and Rhode Island), down from its historical range of 35 states and three Canadian provinces.
This week, the service announced it had found more American burying beetle populations in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. Reintroduced populations also were found on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts and southern Missouri. It's now recommending the beetle be considered "threatened."
The change would limit its Endangered Species Act protections to only beetles in need of recovery, according to the service.
The proposal is in response to a 2015 petition to delist the beetle altogether.
"Our analysis of the best available information indicates the primary known threats to the beetle are increasing temperatures due to climate change and ongoing land use changes in parts of the range," the service stated in its news release Wednesday. "Although threats to the species have been reduced, and the species no longer meets the definition of endangered, it meets the definition of threatened because of these continuing threats to the beetle and its habitat."
Collaboration with states, zoos, federal agencies, private landowners and others helped restore the beetle, the service said.
Metro on 05/05/2019