Suit filed over caribou habitat
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February 8, 2013 |
A coalition of conservation organizations last
week filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to
sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for what
the groups say were violations of the Endangered
Species Act in the agency’s final declaration of
“critical habitat” needed to sustain endangered
mountain caribou that roam northeast Washington
and northern Idaho.
The notice takes to task the USFWS’ November
2012 decision establishing critical habitat of
30,101 acres for the caribou. That total was
less than 10 percent of the geographic area
outlined earlier in a critical habitat
designation proposal.
The notice, signed by representatives of the
Center for Biological Diversity, The Lands
Council, Conservation NW, the Idaho Conservation
League, the Selkirk Conservation and Alliance
Defenders of Wildlife can be found by
clicking here.
“This reduction in protected habitat is a death
sentence for mountain caribou in the United
States. They will not survive in this country if
we don’t protect their habitat,” said Noah
Greenwald, endangered species director at the
Center for Biological Diversity. "The Fish and
Wildlife Service’s decision “is one of the most
blatant examples of caving to political pressure
and ignoring science issued so far by the Obama
Administration.”
The southern Selkirk Mountains population of
woodland caribou in the United States was
emergency listed as endangered under the ESA on
January 14, 1983. A final listing rule was
published on February 29, 1984. The population
is the only woodland caribou population that
still occurs in the United States. The caribou
range also stretches north into southern British
Columbia. At the time it was listed, only an
estimated 25-30 animals existed in the
population.
The USFWS did not designate critical habitat, a
requirement of the ESA, for the southern Selkirk
Mountains population of caribou at the time the
species was listed. Environmental groups
petitioned the agency in 2002 to designate
critical habitat, and ultimately sued the
federal agency in 2009 to force action.
A settlement of that lawsuit resulted in a
proposed critical habitat rule being issued on
November 30, 2011. A final rule was issued on
November 28, 2012.
The proposed rule designated 375,562 acres while
the final rule designated 30,010 acres.
Under the ESA, the USFWS is required to identify
the most important geographic areas that are
critical to the conservation of a listed
species. Acreage is designated as critical
habitat because it contains the physical and
biological features essential to the
conservation of the species, the federal agency
says.
The final designation is a result of 150 days of
public involvement and extensive analysis that
included public information meetings, hearings,
comment periods, scientific peer review, and a
reexamination of information regarding occupancy
at the time of the caribou listing, the USFWS
said. All of the area being designated as
critical habitat is federally owned lands under
management of the U.S. Forest Service
“Thoughtful inquiry and scientific information
was presented to us by tribes, citizens, federal
and state agencies, elected officials and other
interested parties. Because of this, we have a
modified rule that adheres to policy, is
responsive to issues raised by others, and most
importantly, addresses priority habitat for
caribou conservation,” Brian T. Kelly, USFWS
Idaho State supervisor, said in announcing the
critical habitat designation.
The reduction in the critical habitat area from
the proposed to final decisions “reflects a
1,000 foot change in elevation from 4,000 feet
in the proposed rule, to an elevation at or
above 5,000 feet in the final critical habitat
designation. Literature and information we have
reviewed, and peer review comments received,
confirm that although caribou may use elevations
below 5,000 feet, habitats at this elevation and
above are essential to their conservation,”
according to the USFWS.
Caribou once ranged across much of the northern
lower 48 states, including the northern Rocky
Mountains, upper Midwest and Northeast.
Mountain caribou are a unique form of woodland
caribou adapted to surviving winters of deep
snow with a diet focused on arboreal lichens
found on old-growth trees for three to four
months.
Meanwhile, the USFWS Service announced in
mid-December that it will conduct a review of
the status of the southern Selkirk Mountains
population of woodland caribou in response to a
petition to remove the mammal from ESA
protection.
The USFWS received the petition to delist in
May, 2012, from the Pacific Legal Foundation, an
organization representing Bonner County, Idaho,
and the Idaho State Snowmobile Association.
The southern Selkirk Mountains woodland caribou
was first protected in 1983 due to the threats
posed by poaching, habitat loss due to timber
harvest and wildfire, motor vehicle collisions
and genetic problems through inbreeding, the
USFWS said.
The agency’s conclusion, called a “substantial
90-day finding,” does not mean that the USFWS
has made a decision on the petition’s requested
action. It does, however, indicate that a more
thorough review of the information, or a
“12-month status review,” is needed to be able
to make a decision on whether delisting this
population of caribou is warranted.
The petition claims that the caribou population
in Bonner County’s Selkirk Mountains isn’t
distinct from nearby healthy populations in a
legally relevant way that would support federal
regulation.
A 2008 status review completed by the USFWS says
“The geographic separation between the South
Selkirk population and the next two closest
populations (South Purcells and Nakusp), the
physical movement barriers between these
populations, and the limited exchange of animals
between the South Selkirk and adjacent
populations demonstrate that this population is
markedly separated from other populations of the
same taxon as a result of physical factors.
The snowmobilers’ in November filed a legal
complaint in U.S. District Court to press the
delisting issue. It says that due to purported
threats to the Southern Selkirk Mountain Caribou
Population, a court-ordered injunction prevents
Bonner County and its residents from using and
maintaining certain trails in the Idaho
Panhandle National Forests for snowmobile
recreation. |
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