Speak your mind at caribou hearings

BONNERS FERRY — Public hearings will be held June 25 in Bonner County and June 26 in Boundary County on a proposed amendment to the Endangered Species Act listing of the southern Selkirk Mountains population of woodland caribou.

A May 2012 petition by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a California-based law organization that specializes in representing private enterprise against federal regulators challenged the Endangered Species Act listing of the Southern Selkirk population of Woodland Caribou on behalf of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association and Bonner County.

The petition challenged the ESA listing on the grounds that the 2008 5-year review by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the southern Selkirk Mountains population did not meet the ESA guidelines for a “Distinct Population Segment” or DPS.

ESA guidelines require a DPS study to take into account an entire species or sub-species, and the review referenced only the southern Selkirk population in relation to the “mountain ecotype” of Woodland Caribou.

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