The Salt Lake Tribune

A handful of hermaphroditic, mucus-secreting siblings of the brown garden snail are in danger of extinction - and a group of conservationists wants to force the feds to take notice.

The Wyoming-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance gave notice Tuesday of its intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Uinta mountain snail as an endangered species.

The action comes three years after the Utah Environmental Congress petitioned the federal agency to protect the snail under the Endangered Species Act. The agency has not responded, despite the act's requirement that it do so within 90 days. "Litigation is a pretty common precursor to species' actually getting listed [as endangered] these days," said Stephanie Tidwell, director of the Utah Environmental Congress, which supports the proposed lawsuit. "Generally, the Fish and Wildlife Service is very slow to react, and oftentimes what you have to do to get action is to file" a lawsuit. A Fish and Wildlife official was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

For the Biodiversity Alliance's Jeremy Nichols, that lack of response is indicative of the agency's failure to procure adequate funding from Congress.

"Usually they won't issue a finding within 90 days unless they are sued in court," said Nichols. "They claim it's poverty, but they never ask for the money they need . . . They ask for much, much less."

But the Fish and Wildlife Service does have money in emergency funds to protect the Uinta mountain snail, said Nichols.

The notice of intent to sue - which must be answered within 60 days to avoid a lawsuit - specified that the snail receive emergency funds because of small numbers and a limited habitat.

Only a handful of the endangered mollusks are known to exist, residing in an acre-sized area within the Ashley National Forest in the Uinta Mountains.

Like the common garden snail, the Uinta snail breaks down plant parts and "recycles" animal waste.

Its morphology - or shell shape and coloring - is a distinguishing trait.

Environmentalists are asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to rebuild a fence around the snail's habitat and to close a small road nearby. They also want to stop the Forest Service from conducting a "prescribed burn" in the snail's vicinity.

Joining Utah Environmental Congress and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in the notice of intent to sue is the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems.

nwarburton@sltrib.com