FWS denies protections for 13 at-risk species. (One of them is already gone for good.)

Following a lengthy delay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will not grant protections to 13 imperiled plants and animals. The decision comes just months after the administration launched one of the biggest attacks against the Endangered Species Act in decades. The unlucky 13 include a seaside sparrow and a lizard destined to lose much of their habitat to sea-level rise, a songbird losing its home turf to military development, and a flower-loving fly threatened by sand mining. The FWS also denied protections for the Ozark pyrg snail, because...wait for it...the animal is already extinct. The snail lesson should be clear: These species need our help now—before it’s too late.