This week the *Bell County coalition of stakeholders – Bell County, Clearwater UWCD, Salado WSC, Jarrell-Schwertner WSC, and Village of Salado – filed a second round of public comment on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“USFWS’s”) proposal to list the Salado Salamander as an endangered species. The Coalition’s filing bolstered its position that measures are already in place in Bell County that protect spring flow and spring habitat of the Salado Salamander. This comment concluded that “[b]ased on studies conducted to date, the stakeholders continue to be of the position that the Salado Salamander does not merit listing and that designation of critical habitat is unnecessary to protect the survivability of the Salado Salamander.” Bell County separately filed a detailed explanation why USFWS had incorrectly classified certain important areas as critical habitat.

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