By Kelsie Jennings
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – The Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners would like to remove the eastern spotted skunk from Kansas’ endangered species list because they say it’s unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer’s money.

Sedgwick County Commission chairman Richard Ranzau said the endangered species list includes some species that shouldn’t be on it.

Ranzau said removing the skunk from the list would save money when doing things such as land banking for land development. He said the Sedgwick County had to spend $24,000 to move a project and land bank because the skunks inhabited the original area.

He said when the county also does stream maintenance, they’re required to build “brush piles” from the leftover trees and shrubs as habitats for the skunks. For some stream maintenance projects, the habitats are built on private property where owners tear them down forcing country workers to rebuild them. The county has also had to purchase action permits for projects that require replanting with special grass and building brush piles. Ranzau said all of this is unnecessary considering there aren’t many eastern spotted skunk sightings.

“Even if you do think they should be listed, nothing that we’re doing is having an effect on this and so we’re wasting time, money and effort,” he said. “From a tax payer point-of-view when I look at this, it just doesn’t make sense.”

When presenting Senate Bill 269 to the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, Ranzau told the senators his research showed the skunks are not indigenous to Kansas and should never have been on the list. He said the skunks migrated as settlers moved across the state.

“Why should we be concerned about it here in Kansas?” Ranzau said. “It should’ve never been listed to begin with.”

Ranzau said the commissioners are starting with the skunk because it’s caused the most trouble for the county’s public works department and is the easiest to remove, but said the entire endangered species list should be reviewed again because there are other animals on the list that don’t make sense.

“There’s a variety of issues that we could tackle, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” he said.

Several opponents to the bill gave written and verbal testimony, including the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Audubon of Kansas and the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Robin Jennison told the committee that the removal of the skunk would open the door for other species to be taken off the list in the future and could lead to a slippery slope.

“I think it’s a dangerous precedent to start listing species legislatively,” Jennison said. “I think when we start listing these species by what the popular perception is rather than the scientific reviewed and the process that we currently have in place, I
think that’s a dangerous thing.”

The secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is responsible for deciding what species are endangered. There is a review every five years that involves going through the endangered species list.

The Sierra Club’s legislative director and lobbyist Zack Pistora also asked the committee to look at the situation scientifically. He addressed the risks involved such as the KDWPT losing federal funding if they don’t meet federal standards by sticking with the formal process of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which requires the secretary of KDWPT to make the decision on what species should be protected. The Sierra Club’s written testimony says this is “obligatory, not optional.” He said it would also risk having federal agencies get involved.

“We encourage you to follow the due process laid out in front of us,” Pistora said.

Ranzau said the bill wouldn’t cost the state anything, and the fiscal note for the bill says it could possibly reduce costs to agencies by reducing the number of endangered permits that must be reviewed.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee will discuss SB 269 possibly next week after hearing other bills.

Kelsie Jennings is a University of Kansas senior from Olathe, majoring in journalism.