> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wendell Wood <onrcwood at cdsnet.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 1999 2:24 AM
> Subject: Critical Habitat for Snowy Plover Finally
> Designated
>
>
> > PRESS ADVISORY
> >
> > Critical Habitat for the Western Snowy Plover
> designated at 28 Coastal
> > Locations, Totalling 10% of the US Pacific
> Coastline--Conservationists say
> > this is the culmination of over twelve years of
> effort to protect this
> small
> > coastal shorebird from off road vehicles,
> recreational impacts, and
> > inappropriate coastal development.
> >
> > For More Information:
> > Wendell Wood, Oregon Natural Resources Council
> 541-885-4886
> > John T. Buse. Environmental Defense Center
> 805-643-6147
> >
> > For specific information on locations of the
> critical habitat designation
> > areas contact US Fish & Wildlife Service: Ms.
> Karen J. Miller, Endangered
> > Species Division Chief 916-414-6600
> >
> > The US Fish and Wildlife Service has published a
> final rule designating
> > critical habitat for the Pacific Coast populations
> of the western snowy
> > plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus). This
> action fulfills the
> > Service's obligations under a court order last
> year, which was the
> > culmination of over four years of litigation by
> conservation
> organizations,
> > following the listing of the snowy plover as a
> threatened species on the
> > Pacific Coast on March 5, 1993.
> >
> > ONRC incredibly appreciates the fine work and
> tireless efforts of John
> Buse
> > staff attorney for the Environmental Defense
> Center (based in Ventura,
> > California) to provide this critical habitat
> protection throughout the
> snowy
> > plover's western U.S. coastal range. On behalf of
> the Environmental
> Defense
> > Center, the Oregon Natural Resources Council and
> the League for Coastal
> > Protection Mr. Buse has successfully pursued the
> US Fish and Wildlife
> > Service to establish a critical habitat
> designation for snowy plovers at
> 28
> > locations on the California, Oregon and Washington
> coasts. Much reduced
> > from their original more extensive range,
> historically, snowy plovers were
> > known from 157 breeding or wintering locations on
> the U.S. Pacific
> coast--5
> > in Washington, 19 in Oregon, and 133 in
> California.
> >
> > The Oregon Natural Resources Council, along with
> the National Audubon
> > Society and numerous Audubon Society Chapters
> first petitioned for
> > threatened species status for the snowy plover in
> March 1988.
> >
> > Designating critical habitat identifies areas that
> may require special
> > management considerations or protection and may
> provide protection to
> areas
> > where significant threats to the species have been
> identified. Areas
> > designated as critical habitat receive protection
> from the prohibition
> > against destruction or adverse modification
> through required consultation
> > under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act with
> regard to actions
> carried
> > out, funded, or authorized by a Federal agency.
> Congress envisioned
> > critical habitat designation as the basis for the
> conservation and
> recovery
> > of endangered species. Critical habitat
> designation will be particularly
> > important for the western snowy plover, which has
> a small, but highly
> > dispersed, population.
> >
> > These 28 critical habitat locations total 20,000
> acres and span 210 miles
> of
> > coastline, or about 10 percent of the coastline of
> California, Oregon, and
> > Washington. Of the 28 areas, 19 critical habitat
> areas are proposed in
> > California, 7 in Oregon, and 2 in Washington.
> According to the US Fish
> and
> > Wildlife Service, within the last decade, these
> sites provided habitat for
> > about 53 percent of nesting and 57 percent of
> wintering western snowy
> > plovers in California; 97 percent of nesting and
> 98 percent of wintering
> > plovers in Oregon; and 86 percent of nesting and
> 78 percent of wintering
> > plovers in Washington.
> >
> > Also, according to the US Fish and Wildlife
> Service: "A small number (of
> > snowy plovers) winter at two locations on the
> Washington coast, the
> > northernmost being Midway Beach in Pacific County
> (S. Richardson,
> Washington
> > Department of Fish and Wildlife, pers. comm.
> 1998). Fewer than 100
> plovers
> > winter at 9 locations on the Oregon coast,
> probably as many as 2,500 along
> > the mainland California coast, and hundreds more
> in each of San Francisco
> > Bay and the Channel Islands (Page et al. 1986).
> The majority of wintering
> > plovers on the California coast are found from
> Bodega Bay, Sonoma County,
> > southward (Page et al. 1986)."
> >
> > The Service now indicates that a recovery plan for
> the threatened snowy
> > plover will be available by Spring 2000. This
> final critical habitat rule
> > will officially go into effect on January 6, 2000.
> >
> > More background:
> >
> > On November 9, 1998 a federal court ordered the
> U.S. Fish and Wildlife
> > Service to publish a final critical habitat
> designation for the western
> > snowy plover, a shorebird listed as threatened
> under the Endangered
> Species
> > Act. Judge Edward Rafeedie of the Central
> District of California ordered
> > final critical habitat to be designated by
> December 1, 1999, concluding 4
> > years of litigation by the Environmental Defense
> Center, ONRC and the
> League
> > for Coastal Protection. In 1994, the US Fish and
> Wildlife Service agreed
> to
> > settle the lawsuit with a proposed snowy plover
> critical habitat
> designation
> > by February 1995 and a final designation by
> November 1995.
> >
> > The Service published a proposed critical habitat
> designation in March
> 1995
> > that included 28 coastal areas in Washington,
> Oregon, and California.
> When
> > Congress restricted funding for the Endangered
> Species Act listing program
> > with an appropriations rider, however, the Service
> successfully moved to
> > vacate the previously approved settlement
> agreement and refused to
> complete
> > a final critical habitat designation.
> >
> > In addition, the Service obtained a stay of
> litigation until October 1996.
> > On the expiration of this stay, the plaintiffs
> moved for summary judgment
> > and the Service moved for another stay based a new
> "Listing Priority
> > Guidance" that demoted critical habitat
> designation to a low priority, the
> > Endangered Species Act's unambiguous mandatory
> deadlines notwithstanding.
> > In December 1996, Judge Rafeedie ruled that the
> case should be held in
> > abeyance pending the outcome of another case
> involving similar legal
> issues
> > before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the
> Sierra Club's Peninsular
> > Bighorn Sheep Listing case). In April 1998, after
> the Service listed the
> > Peninsular Bighorn Sheep population, the Ninth
> Circuit ruled that the
> Sierra
> > Club's case was moot. We then argued that the
> Bighorn case provided no
> > guidance for our action and asked for a ruling on
> the snowy plover
> critical
> > habitat designation. The Fish & Wildlife Service
> requested still another
> > stay based on their Listing Priority Guidance.
> But, with its December 9,
> > 1998 ruling, the Court instead granted our motion
> for summary judgment and
> > finally mandated the critical habitat designation.
> >
> > While Judge Rafeedie acknowledged that the Service
> required 12 months to
> > complete the final designation, he indicated that
> there was no reason for
> > further delay in complying with the law. At last,
> after almost twelve
> years
> > since the snowy plover was first petitioned for
> listing the US Fish and
> > Wildlife Service has finally complied with the law
> to extend full
> protection
> > of the Endangered Species Act to protect the
> Western Snowy Plover.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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