Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundation

October 10, 2003
Listing of the Mountain Plover under the Endangered Species Act

The mountain plover (Charadrius montanus) was proposed for listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. The Foundation provided legal comments and used an expert bird biologist to comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) proposed listing. The Service came out with a decision to not list the plover, citing new information. They also elected not to put the mountain plover on the candidate species list. One of the new pieces of information included comments by an Oklahoma wildlife biologist who has done research that shows that mountain plovers can successfully nest on cultivated cropland.