I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3920
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to establish special require-
ments for determining whether the black-tailed prairie dog is an endan-
gered species or threatened species.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 2002
Mr. THUNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to establish
special requirements for determining whether the black-
tailed prairie dog is an endangered species or threatened
species.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rancher Preservation
Act’’.
SEC. 2. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING BLACK-
TAILED PRAIRIE DOG.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 13 of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING BLACK-TAILED
PRAIRIE DOG
‘‘SEC. 13. (a) USE OF BEST SCIENTIFIC AND COM-
MERCIAL DATA AVAILABLE.—In any case in which the
Secretary is required by this Act to use the best scientific
and commercial data available with respect to determining
whether 
the 
black-tailed 
prairie 
dog 
(Cynomys
ludovicianus) is an endangered species or a threatened
species, the Secretary—
‘‘(1) in evaluating comparable data, shall give
greater weight to scientific or commercial data that
are empirical or have been field-tested or peer-re-
viewed; and
‘‘(2) shall include, in data used with respect to
that species, data regarding population numbers of
the species.
‘‘(b) FIELD DATA.—
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may not
determine under section 4 that the black-tailed prai-
rie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) is an endangered
species or a threatened species unless the determina-
tion is supported by data obtained by observation of
the species in the field.
‘‘(2) DATA
FROM
LANDOWNERS.—The Sec-
retary shall—
‘‘(A) accept and acknowledge receipt of
data regarding the status of that species that is
collected by an owner of land through observa-
tion of the species on the land; and
‘‘(B) include the data in the rulemaking
record compiled for any determination that the
species is an endangered species or a threatened
species.
‘‘(c) INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC REVIEW REQUIRE-
MENTS.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:
‘‘(A) ACTION.—The term ‘action’ means—
‘‘(i) the determination that the black-
tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
is an endangered species or a threatened
species under section 4(a); and
‘‘(ii) the determination under section
4(a) that the black-tailed prairie dog
should be removed from any list published
under section 4(c)(1).
‘‘(B) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—The term
‘qualified individual’ means an individual with
expertise in the biological sciences—
‘‘(i) who through publication of peer-
reviewed scientific literature or other
means, has demonstrated scientific exper-
tise on the black-tailed prairie dog or a
similar species or other scientific expertise
relevant to the decision of the Secretary
under section 4(a) or (f);
‘‘(ii) who does not have, or represent
any person with, a conflict of interest with
respect to the determination that is the
subject of the review;
‘‘(iii) who is not a participant in any
petition or proposed or final determination
before the Secretary; and
‘‘(iv) who has no direct financial in-
terest, and is not employed by any person
with a direct financial interest, in opposing
the action under consideration.
‘‘(2) LIST OF INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC RE-
VIEWERS.—The Secretary shall solicit recommenda-
tions from the National Academy of Sciences and
develop and maintain a list of qualified reviewers to
participate in independent scientific review of ac-
tions.
‘‘(3) APPOINTMENT
OF
INDEPENDENT
SCI-
ENTIFIC REVIEWERS.—(A) Before any action shall
become final, the Secretary shall appoint randomly,
from among the list prepared in accordance with
this section, 3 qualified individuals who shall review
and report to the Secretary on the scientific infor-
mation and analyses on which the proposed action is
based.
‘‘(B) The selection and activities of the review-
ers selected pursuant to this section shall not be
subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5
U.S.C. App.).
‘‘(C) Reviewers shall be compensated for con-
ducting the independent review.
‘‘(4) OPINION
OF
PEER
REVIEWERS.—Inde-
pendent reviewers shall provide the Secretary, within
3 months, their opinion regarding all relevant sci-
entific information and assumptions relating to the
taxonomy, population models, and supportive biologi-
cal and ecological information for the black-tailed
prairie dog.
‘‘(5) FINAL DETERMINATION.—If the referees
have made a recommendation on a proposed action,
the Secretary shall evaluate and consider the infor-
mation that results from the independent scientific
review and include in the final determination—
‘‘(A) a summary of the results of the inde-
pendent scientific review; and
‘‘(B) in a case in which the recommenda-
tion of a majority of the referees who conducted
the independent scientific review is not followed,
an explanation as to why the recommendation
was not followed.
‘‘(6) PUBLIC NOTICE.—The report of the peer
reviewers shall be included in the official record of
the proposed action and shall be available for public
review prior to the close of the comment period on
the proposed action.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions in the first section of such Act is amended by strik-
ing the item relating to section 13 and inserting the fol-
lowing:
‘‘Sec. 13. Special requirements regarding black-tailed prairie dog.’’.
Æ