For Immediate Release, October 30, 2007 Contacts: Noah Greenwald, Center for
Biological Diversity, (503) 283-5474 Steve Paulson, Friends of the
Clearwater, (208) 476-7688, suemagoo@orofino-id.com O. Lynne Nelson, Friends
of the Clearwater, (509) 335-0789 Will Boyd, Palouse Audubon, (208) 882-9755
foc@friendsoftheclearwater.org Rare Three-Foot Long, Spitting Earthworm
Denied Legal Protection; Conservation Groups to File Suit Spokane, Wash.—
In response to a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the
giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) does not warrant protection
as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, the Center for
Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon, Friends of
the Clearwater, and individuals Steve Paulson and Lynne Nelson have formally
notified the agency that they will sue to ensure the vanishing giant
earthworm receives the protection it deserves. On October 9, 2007, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife released a 90-day finding denying that the groups’
petition contained enough information to warrant any protection for the giant
Palouse earthworm. Steve Paulson, a board member of Friends of the
Clearwater, said: “This is absurd! This is the same agency that told me
that our petition contained more data on this earthworm than any other
source. They are playing political games at the giant Palouse earthworm’s
expense, and we are spitting mad.” “The giant Palouse earthworm is
extremely rare and faces substantial risk of extinction,” said Noah
Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Denial of protection for the earthworm is all too typical of the Bush
administration, which has protected the fewest number of species under the
Endangered Species Act of any administration since the law was passed.” To
date, the Bush administration has only protected 58 species, compared to 522
under Clinton and 231 under the first Bush president. The negative finding
was released nine months late by the agency, and only after the groups and
individuals who wrote the petition filed a notice of their intent to sue to
force the decision. The petition was filed in August of 2006. In 1897, the
giant Palouse earthworm was described as “very abundant.” Today, however,
sightings of the species are few and far between. The only recent confirmed
worm sighting was made on May 27, 2005 by a University of Idaho researcher.
Before that, the giant worm had not been spotted in 17 years, since 1988.
Surveys at 46 Palouse sites in 2002 failed to document one individual giant
earthworm. But despite the animal’s rarity, there is still hope that with
protection under the Endangered Species Act it can be saved. “The giant
Palouse earthworm, and the Palouse habitats that it depends, are on the edge
of extinction and will be lost forever if we don’t act soon,” said
Paulson. “The earthworm needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act
to survive.” The giant Palouse earthworm belongs to a group of earthworms,
called Anecic, which are the largest and longest-lived earthworms. The giant
Palouse earthworm was reported to attain a length of three feet, to have a
peculiar flowery smell (Driloleirus is Latin for “lily-like worm”), and
to be cream-colored or pinkish-white. It lived in permanent burrows as deep
as 15 feet and has been reported to spit at attackers and move quickly
through the soil to escape predators. “This worm is the stuff that legends
and fairytales are made of. A pity we’re losing it,” said Paulson. The
species lives in the increasingly rare native habitats of the Palouse region
of southeastern Washington and west-central Idaho. These habitats have been
decimated by a combination of agricultural and suburban development, invasive
species, disease, and pesticide pollution. Today, less than one percent of
native Palouse prairie remains, endangering the earthworm and many other
species. Scientists consider the Palouse prairie to be one of the most
imperiled ecosystems in the United States. “The native Palouse ecosystem is
precious. It represents beauty, heritage, wildlife habitat, drinking water
and a clean, simple quality of life; yet this ecosystem is one of the rarest
on earth. Listing the giant Palouse earthworm may be the only salvation for
the Palouse prairie,” said O. Lynne Nelson, who helped write the petition
to protect the worm. “If there is one point that I think people should
know, beyond the fact that the administration is genuinely hostile to
protecting our wildlife and wild lands, it is that the agency is creating an
expensive situation for the people who value these native wildlife and
ecosystems, and an expensive situation for the creatures themselves.
Extinction is forever and we have no time to spare,” added Paulson. More
information about the giant Palouse earthworm can be found at Palouse Prairie
Foundation [1]
[1] http://palouseprairie.org/invertebrates/palouseworm.html
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