In this photo provided by Suzanne Collins is a redbelly snake. The Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission is set to decide whether the snake should continue to be listed as a threatened species in the state.

Even if Kansans don’t care about the survival of the redbelly snake in Kansas, they should care about the precedent that would be set by removing the species from the state’s list of threatened and endangered species.

When the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission meets today, its members will be asked to drop the redbelly snake from the threatened list, not because the snake is any less threatened than it was before, but because wildlife officials are trying to appease a group of state legislators. Those legislators reportedly want the snake taken off the list because they believe its presence is hampering some development projects in the Kansas City area.

If the commission doesn’t remove snake from the list, wildlife officials fear lawmakers may pass legislation that not only removes the redbelly from the threatened list but takes more drastic action. That action could go so far as abolishing the state regulations protecting threatened and endangered species in Kansas, as was proposed by some legislators last session.

So, as conservationists have pointed out, the fate of the redbelly snake is being decided not by science or even the existing conservation laws, but by politics.

In the 40 years since passage of the Kansas Threatened and Endangered Species Act, the wildlife commission has never overridden a recommendation from its task force that evaluates what species need protection. According to the task force, there is no evidence the status of the redbelly snake is improving. According to the science there is no reason to take it off the list.

But, according to the politics…

Wildlife and Parks Secretary Robin Jennison confirmed at a commission meeting in June, “Science clearly shows the redbelly snake is clearly jeopardized in Kansas.” However, he added, removing the snake from the list might be a way to stave off broader legislative action. “If the department does not pay attention to politics,” he said, “then the Legislature (could) run natural resource management.”

That kind of micromanagement by state legislators would be detrimental to the state, not to mention much of the wildlife that live here.

The future of the redbelly snake in Kansas is important but not as important as the precedent the wildlife commission would set by deciding this issue based not on science, but on the fear of political retribution by the Kansas Legislature.