Ranchers Slam ‘Ad Hoc’ Endangered Subspecies Definition Process

A federal judge wrongly upheld the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s standard for defining subspecies and whether they should be listed as endangered, a group of New Mexico ranchers told a federal appeals court.

The lower court shouldn’t have upheld the agency’s decision to list the southwestern willow flycatcher as an endangered subspecies on an “ad hoc and standardless basis,” according to the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association’s brief, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Aug. 16.

The service’s standard for subspecies designations violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it can’t be tested, ...