2023 Nebraska Revised Statutes › Chapter 37 - Game and Parks › 37-806 - Endangered or threatened species; how determined; commission; powers and duties; unlawful acts; exceptions; local law, regulation, or ordinance; effect.

37-806.
Endangered or threatened species; how determined; commission; powers and duties; unlawful acts; exceptions; local law, regulation, or ordinance; effect.
(1) Any species of wildlife or wild plants determined to be an endangered species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act shall be an endangered species under the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act, and any species of wildlife or wild plants determined to be a threatened species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act shall be a threatened species under the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act. The commission may determine that any such threatened species is an endangered species throughout all or any portion of the range of such species within this state.
(2) In addition to the species determined to be endangered or threatened pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, the commission shall by regulation determine whether any species of wildlife or wild plants normally occurring within this state is an endangered or threatened species as a result of any of the following factors:
(a) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;
(b) Overutilization for commercial, sporting, scientific, educational, or other purposes;
(c) Disease or predation;
(d) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or
(e) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence within this state.
(3)(a) The commission shall make determinations required by subsection (2) of this section on the basis of the best scientific, commercial, and other data available to the commission.
(b) Except with respect to species of wildlife or wild plants determined to be endangered or threatened species under subsection (1) of this section, the commission may not add a species to nor remove a species from any list published pursuant to subsection (5) of this section unless the commission has first:
(i) Provided public notice of such proposed action by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in that portion of the subject species' range in which it is endangered or threatened or, if the subject species' range extends over more than five counties, in a newspaper of statewide circulation distributed in the county;
(ii) Provided notice of such proposed action to and allowed comment from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environment and Energy, and the Department of Natural Resources;
(iii) Provided notice of such proposed action to and allowed comment from each natural resources district and public power district located in that portion of the subject species' range in which it is endangered or threatened;
(iv) Notified the Governor of any state sharing a common border with this state, in which the subject species is known to occur, that such action is being proposed;
(v) Allowed at least sixty days following publication for comment from the public and other interested parties;
(vi) Held at least one public hearing on such proposed action in each game and parks commissioner district of the subject species' range in which it is endangered or threatened;
(vii) Submitted the scientific, commercial, and other data which is the basis of the proposed action to scientists or experts outside and independent of the commission for peer review of the data and conclusions. If the commission submits the data to a state or federal fish and wildlife agency for peer review, the commission shall also submit the data to scientists or experts not affiliated with such an agency for review. For purposes of this section, state fish and wildlife agency does not include a postsecondary educational institution; and
(viii) For species proposed to be added under this subsection but not for species proposed to be removed under this subsection, developed an outline of the potential impacts, requirements, or regulations that may be placed on private landowners, or other persons who hold state-recognized property rights on behalf of themselves or others, as a result of the listing of the species or the development of a proposed program for the conservation of the species as required in subsection (1) of section 37-807.
The inadvertent failure to provide notice as required by subdivision (3)(b) of this section shall not prohibit the listing of a species and shall not be deemed to be a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act or the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act.
(c) When the commission is proposing to add or remove a species under this subsection, public notice under subdivision (3)(b)(i) of this section shall include, but not be limited to, (i) the species proposed to be listed and a description of that portion of its range in which the species is endangered or threatened, (ii) a declaration that the commission submitted the data which is the basis for the listing for peer review and developed an outline if required under subdivision (b)(viii) of this subsection, and (iii) a declaration of the availability of the peer review, including an explanation of any changes or modifications the commission has made to its proposal as a result of the peer review, and the outline required under subdivision (b)(viii) of this subsection, if applicable, for public examination.
(d) In cases when the commission determines that an emergency situation exists involving the continued existence of such species as a viable component of the wild fauna or flora of the state, the commission may add species to such lists after having first published a public notice that such an emergency situation exists together with a summary of facts which support such determination.
(4) In determining whether any species of wildlife or wild plants is an endangered or threatened species, the commission shall take into consideration those actions being carried out by the federal government, by other states, by other agencies of this state or political subdivisions thereof, or by any other person which may affect the species under consideration.
(5) The commission shall issue regulations containing a list of all species of wildlife and wild plants normally occurring within this state which it determines, in accordance with subsections (1) through (4) of this section, to be endangered or threatened species and a list of all such species. Each list shall refer to the species contained therein by scientific and common name or names, if any, and shall specify with respect to each such species over what portion of its range it is endangered or threatened.
(6) Except with respect to species of wildlife or wild plants determined to be endangered or threatened pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, the commission shall, upon the petition of an interested person, conduct a review of any listed or unlisted species proposed to be removed from or added to the lists published pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, but only if the commission publishes a public notice that such person has presented substantial evidence which warrants such a review.
(7) Whenever any species of wildlife or wild plants is listed as a threatened species pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, the commission shall issue such regulations as are necessary to provide for the conservation of such species. The commission may prohibit, with respect to any threatened species of wildlife or wild plants, any act prohibited under subsection (8) or (9) of this section.
(8) With respect to any endangered species of wildlife, it shall be unlawful, except as provided in subsection (7) of this section, for any person subject to the jurisdiction of this state to:
(a) Export any such species from this state;
(b) Take any such species within this state;
(c) Possess, process, sell or offer for sale, deliver, carry, transport, or ship, by any means whatsoever except as a common or contract motor carrier under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission or the Interstate Commerce Commission, any such species; or
(d) Violate any regulation pertaining to the conservation of such species or to any threatened species of wildlife listed pursuant to this section and promulgated by the commission pursuant to the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act.
(9) With respect to any endangered species of wild plants, it shall be unlawful, except as provided in subsection (7) of this section, for any person subject to the jurisdiction of this state to:
(a) Export any such species from this state;
(b) Possess, process, sell or offer for sale, deliver, carry, transport, or ship, by any means whatsoever, any such species; or
(c) Violate any regulation pertaining to such species or to any threatened species of wild plants listed pursuant to this section and promulgated by the commission pursuant to the act.
(10) Any endangered species of wildlife or wild plants which enters this state from another state or from a point outside the territorial limits of the United States and which is being transported to a point within or beyond this state may be so entered and transported without restriction in accordance with the terms of any federal permit or permit issued under the laws or regulations of another state.
(11) The commission may permit any act otherwise prohibited by subsection (8) of this section for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species.
(12) Any law, regulation, or ordinance of any political subdivision of this state which applies with respect to the taking, importation, exportation, possession, sale or offer for sale, processing, delivery, carrying, transportation other than under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission, or shipment of species determined to be endangered or threatened species pursuant to the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act shall be void to the extent that it may effectively (a) permit that which is prohibited by the act or by any regulation which implements the act or (b) prohibit that which is authorized pursuant to an exemption or permit provided for in the act or in any regulation which implements the act. The Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act shall not otherwise be construed to void any law, regulation, or ordinance of any political subdivision of this state which is intended to conserve wildlife or wild plants.
Source
Laws 1975, LB 145, § 5;
R.S.1943, (1993), § 37-434;
Laws 1998, LB 922, § 356;
Laws 2002, LB 1003, § 33;
Laws 2019, LB302, § 19.
Cross References
Administrative Procedure Act, see section 84-920.