County wins lesser praire chicken lawsuit

MANAGING EDITOR

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Roosevelt County won its lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a U.S. District Court judge declaring Tuesday that the decision to place the lesser prairie chicken on the threatened species list be vacated.

Roosevelt County joined the Permian Basin Petroleum Association based out of west Texas and Chaves, Lea and Eddy counties in filing the lawsuit last year, saying the FWS listing the prairie chicken as threatened “went too far.”

“They (FWS) didn’t even follow their own rules for evaluating conservation efforts, which requires a two-part analysis,” Hamilton said, in reference to the lawsuit’s argument against the FWS.

Former Roosevelt County Commissioner Kendell Buzard, who has sat on boards and attended meetings regarding the LPC issue, said last year that the county went above and beyond to protect the species and that the county “should be the ones responsible for protecting our local species.”

According to Curry County Commissioner Wendell Bostwick, it would be premature for area residents to get their hopes up.

“Everybody is jumping up and clapping their hands, but it’s not over yet,” Bostwick said. “For one, we don’t know how they are going to apply the ruling, and FWS could just restart the whole process, or it (the ruling) could be appealed and go to another court. I hope we’ve won, but I’m not satisfied we have yet.”

Curry County has its own lawsuit regarding the listing of the bird filed in Oklahoma City.

The county is joined in its lawsuit by 17 other entities, including Quay County and the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, according to Bostwick, who said Curry County is suing for the same reason as Roosevelt County.

“We’re suing, because they did not go through the proper processes they (FWS) should have gone through (in listing the bird),” he said. “At least, we have one federal judge on our side, and that’s better than we’ve had in the past.”

Roosevelt County Manager Amber Hamilton said the FWS has 60 days to appeal the court’s decision, which is a strong possibility, but she is choosing to embrace the good news until further notice.

“We’re going choose to celebrate this positive news that gives hope to our residents in this matter,” Hamilton said. “They certainly have 60 days to file their appeal, and only time will tell as to their actions and intentions. We will definitely refer to our legal counsel with that (an appeal) and will proceed as needed based on their legal actions.”

Hamilton noted that the bird’s population has risen 25 percent in population according to recent surveys.

Buzard is also choosing cautious optimism.

“I hope that sets the precedence, and that we can move forward a little,’ he said. “I always felt strongly we had a good chance to win this. Otherwise, I would not have encouraged the county to pursue this in the first place.

“I’ve learned to not hold my breath. But no matter how you look at it, it’s good news.”