23 imperiled regional creatures and plants will have habitat protection

Julian Aguon with Blue Ocean Law has secured habitat protection for 23 imperiled Micronesian species. In a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act, the unique animals, and plants, including the sac-winged bat and eight-spot butterfly, covers areas in Guam, the CNMI, Palau, and FSM.

"We reached a settlement and filed a joint motion to dismiss yesterday and essentially now we have the joint agency, Fish and Wildlife, forced to designate critical habitat for the 23 species," said Aguon. "We are really proud of it only because basically when endangered species get the benefit of a critical habitat designation they are more than twice as likely to recover than without those protections. So this is just a really great victory for our non human relatives."

Aguon says that listing species as endangered is a first step in protection and this new designation is a vital second step.