9-1-04

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently reduced by nearly 60 percent the amount of land in California's Imperial Valley considered essential to a broomlike plant's survival. Last year, Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in California proposed designating 52,780 acres of the Algodones Dunes (aka Glamis) as critical habitat for the Peirson's milk-vetch. In a final rule published Wednesday, the critical habitat was reduced to 21,863 acres.

Decision Criticized by Environmental Group

The Center for Biological Diversity criticized the Fish and Wildlife Service decision. The Tucson, Ariz.-based group, which has sued to protect numerous species including the milk-vetch, noted that much of the plant's critical habitat had previously been protected as a wilderness area.

"This designation is far too small, and will jeopardize the conservation and recovery of the species," said Daniel Patterson of the center. "We may challenge it in court."

The rare, purple-flowering plant was listed in 1998 as a threatened species. In the United States, the Peirson's milk-vetch is found only in the Algodones Dunes, a desolate 160,000-acre area that is enormously popular with off-road enthusiasts. About 1.3 million people visited last year.

OHV Group Says it’s a Bittersweet Victory

Roy Denner, president and CEO of the Santee-based Off-Road Business Association, said it was a bittersweet victory. "Sure, giving up 23,000 acres is better than giving up 53,000 acres, but we could win our way out of existence with those kind of victories over the long term."

Denner said off-roading groups hired biologists and submitted scientific evidence rebutting arguments that the plant warrants special protection. "They shouldn't be designating a single ... acre," said Denner. "In our minds, the plant should never have been listed in the first place."

Economic Analyses Part of the Process

An economic analysis estimated that closing 52,780 acres to vehicles could cost the region as much as $124 million by 2013. Closing the smaller area, which is mainly wilderness, to traffic would cost about $2.8 million in the same period, according to the analysis by Industrial Economics Inc., an environmental consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass.

Economic analyses are part of the process of considering critical habitat. Congress allowed the U.S. Interior secretary to evaluate the economic benefit of excluding areas from critical habitat, unless it resulted in the extinction of the species.

While Peirson's milk-vetch are found in areas being excluded from critical habitat, the Fish and Wildlife Service says the plant won't go extinct. The excluded areas are under the control of the Bureau of Land Management, which would have to follow the Endangered Species Act and protect the plants, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Tucson's Patterson said the critical habitat had been "gutted" by Craig Manson, assistant interior secretary for fish and wildlife. Patterson called Manson "an anti-conservation political appointee."

A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Carlsbad disagreed with the center's statement and said the process for determining critical habitat had been followed.

 

That's great new's for you dune riders. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Sweet! Can't wait until Halloween!