A review of the endangered status of the pinyon jay has been delayed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service until 2028, according to Defenders of Wildlife.
Dave Menke | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
A review to determine whether a bright blue denizen of the Pine Nut Mountains is endangered has been delayed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was reviewing the status of the pinyon jay last year, after receiving information provided by the Defenders of Wildlife in 2022.
According to the nonprofit, the service has delayed the review under the Endangered Species Act to 2028.
"The Pinyon Jay is another victim of chronic underfunding of the Endangered Species Act and the Fish and Wildlife Service’s choice to avoid and delay rather than address threats to pinyon jay and piñon pines,” said Defenders of Wildlife New Mexico representative Peggy Darr, representative. “The Service must move forward now with a final decision that protects the pinyon jay and its habitat under the Act or risk losing the animal altogether.”
Under the announcement last August, the review was due to be completed later this summer.
“More than one year after missing its deadline to produce a 12-month species review as part of the federal listing process, the service has now announced it does not intend to complete the review until 2028,” according to the Defenders.
The Record-Courier has reached out to the agency for more information.
A species of corvid, native to the piñon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin, the Jays have reportedly been in decline at a rate of 4 percent a year since the 1960s, and the cause has been a mystery.
In Douglas County, habitat for the birds has decreased due mostly to the major wildfires across the Pine Nuts, which has also affected the bi-state sage grouse.
The jay was the subject of a June 2023 paper produced by Western Nevada College students Elijah Smith, Nathan Boyd, Maile Pierson, Hailey Wagstaff under the supervision of instructor Robin A. Eppard.
The jays eat pine nuts, and a survey of the trees conducted by the students indicated even growth and abundant cone production.
It has been 11 years since the July 4, 2013, Bison Fire claimed 24,136 acres in the Pine Nuts, making it the largest blaze in Douglas County history.
Much of the Pine Nuts on either side of Highway 395 has also burned in wildfires, including 2021’s Tamarack Fire.
