The FWS should exempt normal agriculture and ranching activities in Central Texas from restrictions developed to protect warbler habitat. Listing the jaguar as an endangered species in the United States is not appropriate, as it has long since vanished from this cou ntry. The Department of Interior, with leadership from your office, should initiate a thorough review of The Fish and Wildlife Service 's overall approach to implementing The Endangered Species Act in Texas. I have therefore instructed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to cease work on warbler critical habitat designation. Regrowth cedar that has invaded cleared fields is also not habitat, and can be cleared without concern.
Most warblers live on rocky slopes.
I thought we'd outlawed Communism at home and fought it abroad precisely to prevent governmental officials from promulgating directives like these. If the federal government wants more than that, then it has to pay for it. The FWS should reimburse Trotter as custodian of the endangered species on his land or pay him fair-market value for the property before taking it for a public refuge. Congress, however, is reluctant to spend this money because unspent funds go back into general revenues. Last year, for example, less than one-fourth of the money available was appropriated to buy land for the National Park and National Wildlife Refuge systems.