Opinion ID: 3037715
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Danger of Extinction

Text: [4] Upon concluding that the BVL shrew was a distinct subspecies, FWS sought to determine whether the shrew was “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range . . . .” 16 U.S.C. § 1532(6). FWS found that few BVL shrews remained and determined that several factors subjected the BVL shrew to a substantial risk of extinction throughout its range. The Final Rule used the Status Review to expand on its discussion of the BVL shrew’s population and range, integrating the Status Review’s data with all that was known and cited in the Proposed Rule. Some of the revisions provided by the Status Review were unquestionably significant. In discovering three new populations of BVL shrews, the Status Review nearly doubled the number of known shrews to thirty. Further, the Status Review provided more detailed information on the current range of the BVL shrew and on the suitability of various habitats. None of the new information, however, adversely affected FWS’s underlying reasons for its conclusion.8 The Status Review’s data simply supplemented the existing data, confirming that few BVL shrews existed and that their most suitable habitat remained fragmented, degraded, and scattered. Status Review at 10-12. Because the Status Review provided useful data that supplemented FWS’s existing understanding of the BVL shew, but 8 One FWS official found that the Status Review “ma[de] a stronger case for listing than delisting,” while another determined that the data from the Status Review “d[id] not change the conclusion for the final rule.” 6870 KERN COUNTY FARM BUREAU v. ALLEN did not alter the primary conclusions from the Proposed Rule, it was not critical to FWS’s decision.