On Wednesday, November 12, 2003, Mary E. Darling, a Tucson, Arizona environmental consultant, pleaded guilty in federal court to a single misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, for illegally removing and transplanting the endangered Pima pineapple cactus (Corypantha scheeri var. robustispina).
Pursuant to a plea agreement with the federal government, Darling, 48, admitted to U.S. Magistrate Glenda E. Edmonds that she had been hired in August of 2001 to survey a parcel of private property in the Sierrita Mountains in order to determine if the Pima pineapple cactus existed there. The Pima pineapple cactus is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and listed as a "Highly Safeguarded Protected Native Plant" under the Arizona Department of Agriculture Native Plant Law. The presence of Pima pineapple cactus or other protected species often helps undeveloped property qualify for status as "Conservation Bank", making it eligible to be used in mitigation of developed property.
Darling did not find any Pima pineapple cactus growing naturally on the Sierrita
property, so she removed approximately 30 plants from another parcel, with the owners consent, then transplanted them to the Sierrita parcel. In doing so, she violated the
Arizona Native Plant Law, the Endangered Species Act, and the Lacey Act. Under the Lacey Act, it is a crime to transport endangered plants that have been removed in violation of state law.
"Licensed environmental consultants have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients to
complete their contracts within the scope of federal and Arizona State laws as they
apply to endangered species Mary Darling failed to uphold these standards," said
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Director H. Dale Hall.
The government and Darling have agreed to recommend a sentence that includes five years probation, 90 days home confinement, 250 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine. Sentencing is set for February 12, 2004.
The case was investigated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona
Department of Agriculture Plant Services Division and prosecuted by the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for
conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitats such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
