In October of that year, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that 26 species of the snails and slugs might warrant protection. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to move forward on protections as it should have, in December 2009 we filed a notice of intent to sue to stop the delay.įinally, as part of a landmark victory for 757 species in July 2011, we reached a settlement with the feds that requiring initial listing decisions for all 32 mollusks. To make sure the Pacific Northwest isn’t robbed of 32 of its rarest mollusks, the Center petitioned to list these species under the Endangered Species Act in March 2008. But while 22 of the 32 imperiled mollusks are included in either the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management’s Special Status Species Program, this program provides no tangible protections for either the mollusks or their habitat. Happily, after a lawsuit by the Center and allies, that program was reinstated in 2011. Long protected under the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s Survey and Manage Program, that program was suspended by the Bush administration, leaving crucial mollusk habitat unsurveyed and unprotected from ground-disturbing activities. Yet the destruction of the Pacific Northwest’s waterways and woodlands continues, and despite these mollusks’ imperilment, none of them are listed on state or federal endangered species lists. Seven of the 32 species are known from only one or two sites, and nearly half the mollusks occur at 10 or fewer sites, making recovery from habitat loss difficult or even impossible for some species. Augmenting these dangers are the species’ extremely limited distributions, as well as life-history characteristics that make them especially vulnerable to dying out, such as low reproductive rates. Seventeen aquatic species and 15 terrestrial species are gravely endangered by a long list of threats including logging, grazing, wildfire, dams, pollution and climate change. Unfortunately, at least 32 mollusk species occurring in western Washington, Oregon and Northern California are in danger of extinction. Mollusks are also important prey for a wide variety of animals, from mammals to birds to snakes to fish, and their sensitivity to environmental pollution makes them excellent indicators of overall ecosystem health. ![]() Crucial to the integrity of Pacific Northwest ecosystems, they’re expert recyclers of nutrients in soil and water, improving water quality in springs and rivers and enriching soils in old-growth forests. ![]() ![]() With names like “knobby rams-horn,” “masked duskysnail” and “Hoko vertigo,” Pacific Northwest mollusks may have an amusing image, but they’re also some of the most intriguing invertebrates in the world.
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