AUSTIN— Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is thrilled after scoring a major victory following the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decision to initiate the formal process to determine whether the Golden-Cheeked Warbler, a bird that breeds in Central Texas, should be delisted or downlisted from the Endangered Species Act list.
"Texas property owners should be able to make decisions for their own land without the federal government impeding with an unjustified Endangered Species Act listing. Thankfully, after seven years and two federal lawsuits, the USFWS has finally decided to move forward on the issue of delisting the Golden-Cheeked Warbler," said Commissioner Buckingham. "The GLO looks forward to participating in this process and will ensure that ample evidence is presented to justify the much-needed decision to remove this prevalent Central Texas bird from the ESA list."
On January 17, 2025, the USFWS released their 90-day finding on the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)'s petition to delist the Golden-Cheeked Warbler, saying the petition presented "substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted." The USFWS will initiate a status review of this species to determine if the petitioned actions are warranted. This new finding marks a substantial victory for the GLO and TPPF after years of working diligently to delist this pervasive Central Texas bird.
The decision follows a September 5, 2024 legal victory for the Texas General Land Office (GLO) when a Western District of Texas Judge ruled in favor of GLO, determining that the Biden Administration misapplied the law and violated the Fifth Circuit’s prior remand order when it originally denied TPPF's petition to delist the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. On January 14, 2025, the USFWS and the United States Department of the Interior formerly dismissed their appeal of that ruling in favor of the GLO.
“It’s been a long, hard battle against an intransigent FWS, but ultimately the courts made it clear that the agency had to move on to the 12-month review because the Warbler species is thriving throughout its range.” said Ted Hadzi-Antich, TPPF senior attorney and lead counsel on the case. “The next step will be to participate during the 12-month review to ensure that the Warbler is finally delisted from the ESA’s Endangered Species List, thereby ending this decades-old restraint on private property rights throughout central Texas.”
TPPF attorney Connor Mighell added, “It’s remarkable that it took FWS nine years to follow the law and apply the proper standard of review to our petition, but now that they have, they should recognize that the best available science shows the Warbler is thriving and should be delisted.”
The Secretary of the Interior must now approve the recommendation to downlist the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. If approved, the proposed downlisting would be open to public review and comment.