Suit filed over bull trout
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September 6, 2013 |
Cascadia Wildlands says it has filed a 60-day
notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Management over “their
failure to consult and consider the impacts of
projects and actions on the critical habitat of
federally threatened bull trout (Salvelinus
confluentus) throughout its range in the Pacific
Northwest.”
“As a fish that requires cold, clean water and
complex aquatic structures, the presence or
absence of bull trout in our streams and
waterways is a true indication of whether or not
we are fulfilling our obligation to protect,
maintain and enhance our aquatic heritage,” said
Nick Cady, Cascadia’s legal director. “The
current management plans for bull trout were put
into place in the 1990s and were only supposed
to serve as interim guidance for 18 months. We
have been waiting 18 years for the federal
government to release management plans for this
important and sensitive fish.”
Once plentiful, bull trout were found in 60
percent of the Columbia River basin but now
occur in less than half their historical range,
with populations remaining in portions of
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.
In the Klamath River basin, bull trout occur in
21 percent of their historical range. They were
listed in 1999 as a threatened species
throughout their range in the lower 48 U.S.
states.
In September 2005, the USFWS published a rule
designating 3,828 miles of streams and 143,218
acres of lakes in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and
Montana and 985 miles of shoreline in Washington
as critical habitat for bull trout, including
the Kootenai River.
That rule was challenged in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Oregon. In March 2009,
the agency requested a voluntary remand of the
rule from the court to address irregularities in
the rule-making process and outcome, as
identified in a 2008 Investigative Report by the
Department of the Interior Inspector General.
The court granted the request and directed the
agency to complete a proposed revision by
December 31, 2009, with a final designation to
be delivered to the Federal Register by
September 30, 2010. |
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