The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July delayed again a decision to list slickspot peppergrass, a rare Idaho plant, as an endangered species.

Last year the FWS settled a lawsuit filed by Western Watersheds Project and the Committee for the High Desert for the agency's failure to list the plant under the Endangered Species Act. The federal-court settlement required the FWS to make a final decision by July 15 on listing slickspot peppergrass under the ESA.

Instead, the agency postponed further action for another six months, citing "substantial disagreement" among a group of six "experts," or peer reviewers.

According to Jeff Foss, supervisor of FWS' Snake River Basin Office, five of the peer reviewers supported the "sufficiency and accuracy" of the science used to arrive at a final rule to list slickspot peppergrass as endangered. The lone dissenting opinion came from Terry Bashore, chief ecologist and range liaison at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Training operations at Mountain Home Air Force Base would be severely affected if slickspot peppergrass were listed under the ESA. The Air Force comments included Bashore's review and a set of comments from six other Air Force participants.

"This is one of the most blatant examples of political tampering with agency decision-making that we have seen," said Todd Tucci, an attorney with Advocates for the West representing WWP and CHD. "For years, FWS scientists have carefully detailed the threats of livestock grazing, fire and habitat fragmentation that are causing slickspot peppergrass to go extinct.

"As soon as possible, we intend to file a 60-day notice to overturn this violation of law," added Jon Marvel, executive director of WWP.

The FWS noted as early as 1999 that slickspot peppergrass qualified as a "candidate species" for ESA listing. The agency noted that "federal regulations currently do not provide sufficient protection" for slickspot peppergrass from "road developments, livestock watering tank placement, military activities, off road vehicle use, or other potentially damaging activities.

In April 2000, the FWS concluded: "We have carefully assessed the best scientific and commercial information available regarding past, present, and future threats faced by (slickspot peppergrass). . . . Based on our evaluation, the preferred action is to list (slickspot peppergrass) as endangered."

The agency went so far as to say that the rate of disappearance of slickspot peppergrass is "the highest known of any Idaho rare plant species."

Slickspot peppergrass (Lepidium papilliferum) is a flowering plant unique to Idaho. It is threatened with extinction by non-native weeds caused by livestock trampling and grazing, road construction and off road vehicles in the Snake River Plain, Owyhee Plateau and adjacent foothills of southwestern Idaho.