Endangered Species

CWA Endangered Species, 9/8/09

Since last reporting, little new news has surfaced. an update of old issues.

August 11, Press Enterprise
Basis of plan to move tortoises at issue. Environmentalists who face a deadline for comment, are upset about unpublished, incomplete data.

August 15, Press Enterprise
Proposed tortoise move: Protests prompt federal officials to give people more time to voice opinions about the move at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.

August 18, Press Enterprise
Editorial against moving a threatened species away from a military base expansion too rapidly, running roughshod over the process for addressing environmental concerns. The federal government would short-circuit a process established to protect a threatened species.

August l5, Press Enterprise
Species gets a jump on recovery: Just found habitat for yellow-legged frog has ecologists rethinking population estimates.

September 6, Press Enterprise
Restore spectacular Hetch Hetchy Valley for future genertions. Those who love-and find a refuge in-nature should join the fight to rehabitate Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite's "twin".We have an opportunity to participate in one of the first great environmental battles of the 21st century. We have an opportunity to right a wrong.

September 7, Press Enterprise
Desperately seeking salmon. Drought: a fish rescue group finds no coho, an ominous sign for the endangered species. The coho draft recovery plan is overdue but should be completed by the end of September.

August 7, Redlands Daily Facts, Opinion page. Thomas Elias Humans have a stake in smelt case. This is a long, involved article about the results of legislation and judgements on the salmon, smelt and water situation in CA. Mentions hardships on famers and workers. The conclusion is "All of which means the water picture in CA just got somewhat wetter, because
a key judge has at last realized that cutting water supplies affects much more than just fish."

Please let me know if you want copies of these articles for your files.
Jane Hawkins

CWA Endangered Species, 7/24/09, Page 2

June 30, Riverside Press Enterprise
Fresno Point person on water issues named.
Gov. Arnold Swarzenegger appointed a new state coordinator on issues relating to the water shortages.
The appointment of Lester Snow comes a day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar named his chief deputy, David Hayes, as the federal person coordinating federal action.
Snow, of the Department of Water Resources, will coordinate work on fixes on the state government side.

June 30, 2009, Los Angeles Times
U.S. aims to speed solar production, Julie Cart
The Obama administration on Monday announced that it would put solar energy development in the West on a fast tract. with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signing an order that sets aside more than l,000 square miles of public land for two years of study and environmental reviews.
Although the clean energy initiative identifies some 676,000 acres for study, more than half-351,000 acres in the Mojave Desert-are in California. There are three large solar projects undergoing environmental review in the state.
The Bureau of Land Management has already gotten 470 renewable energy applications. Those include 158 active solar applications covering l.8 million acres.
Conservation groups reacted to the announcement with praise but cautioned that even so-called green projects could conflict with protected lands and sensitive species.
Environmentalists are monitoring maps of the Mojave so that leasing doesn’t take place in wilderness areas of importance for wildlife and other resources. The Mojave is home to all of that, including national parks, threatened and endangered species .
Salazar said federal agencies had already ruled out solar leasing on protected lands and would examine potential effects on wildlife before allowing projects to proceed. The two-year environmental study will cost $22 million, he said.

June 30, 2009. The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, CA
Solar site review accelerates. Mojave: The 676,000 acres include inland territory. Not so much land is needed, environmentalists say. By Janet Zimmerman
This article is similar to the LA Times one previously reviewed with some additions.
Like the Times article, it also includes a map in color of the area. It states that half of the 676,000 acres and 24 of the solar study areas are in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The streamlined review and approval process would take one year instead of three to four.
The federal proposal includes four times as much land as environmental groups wanted.
The Sierra Club and other environmentalists said the government should start closer to urban centers, where energy transmission lines already are in place, rather than focusing on core desert areas.
The highest priority will be given to 13 projects that are furthest along in planning and will be able to meet a December 2010 deadline. The locations are named and BLM is considering 92 other applications.
Endangered species were not mentioned as such, just that “wildlife habitat and wilderness” were considered in selection of the sites.
My comments are that the immense acreage of these projects will tie up reserves of sunny land for future agriculture, and will use huge amounts of scarce water for frequent washing of dust, dirt and sand off the solar panels.

July l, 2009, Riverside Press Enterprise, Habitat of the flat-tailed horned lizard by Janet Zimmerman. This article includes 2 pictures and large map in color on the front page.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider by adding the flat-tailed horned lizard (horny toad) to the endangered list.
Separate points detail: Disappeared from half its historical range because of FARMING, urban sprawl etc. (blaming the farmer again). Eats up to 200 harvester ants per day.
After the proposed listing was withdrawn twice, in the latest round, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered Fish and Wildlife to reconsider listing the lizard as endangered based on current information.
Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the parties that filed suit to have the lizard listed said “The problem here is that there hasn’t been any really good monitoring of the animals, so we don’t know exactly what’s going on out there, except we do know there’s increasing AGRICULTURAL issues etc”
Jane Hendron, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Carlsbad, said that the service withdrew its former proposal because of a pact signed by state and federal agencies to preserve 35 percent of the habitat. In 2003, the agreement was updated to identify specific action that each agency managing habitat should do. The agencies involved include the federal bureaus of land management and reclamation, U. S. Navy and Marine Corps, the CA Department of Fish and Game, Anza Borrego State Park and Arizona Game and Fish Dept.
Off-road vehicle representatives were quoted in opposition to the listing and increased acreage. No mention was made of any comments from agricultural interests.
Endangered species status ensures legal protection of lands or water that species need to survive and recover their populations.
Note: That’s how it is done, folks. They don’t give up, then fix the blame and get the job done with the backing of the courts and the government agencies, by using the people’s land and private property.

 

 

CWA Endangered Species Report, April 30, 2009 for May SWM Sacramento

Water and the Delta are ongoing topics for March-May this year. A new topic is the edict to use alternative energy as it relates to the use of land for wind and solar. Endangered species are
important factors in all these and other agriculture issues as shown in these headlines.

March 3: Press Enterprise: Local bighorn sheep population continues to show improvement. The latest count shows at least 202 sheep in the San Gabriel Mountains, a slow gain from 37 in 1990.
April l8: Press Enterprise: Protected bighorn habitat cut. Federal wildlife officials decided this week to cut from 844,897 to 376,938 acres the land in Riverside, San Diego and Imperial Counties designated as critical habitat for an endangered type of desert bighorn sheep. A lawsuit filed by an Indian tribe, developers, and horseback riders forced the wildlife service to revise its habitat designation. Peninsular bighorn sheep stay at lower elevations and feed in alluvial fans.
About 800 Peninsular sheep are in CA up from 280 in1996.

March 8: Press Enterprise: Judge makes plea for officials to compromise on salmon, dams.
Portland: Judge James Redden has struck down two salmon and dam plans for the Columbia and Snake Rivers. He recommended federal attorneys ask their new clients, Obamas environmental officials and their new partners, all of the Columbia River tribes except Nez Perce, if they might want to compromise on their plan to protect 13 endangered stocks of salmon and steelhead.

April 22: Press Enterprise: Salmon disaster declaration sought: The governors of CA and OR are asking the federal government to declare another West Coast salmon fishery failure. Commercial salmon fishing has been closed off in Ca and most of Or because of low returns of fall chinook to the Sacramento River, the second largest producer of salmon on the West Coast.
May l: Press Enterprise: Funds released for salmon disaster. The Commerce Dept. released $53 million to CA and OR to help salmon fishermen after the third fishery failure in four years. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke declared the latest disaster in a letter to the governors . He cited continued low number of fish returning to the Sacramento River. Locke released $53.l million in unspent money from a fishery disaster declared last year. $46.4 million will go to CA and $6.7 million to OR.

March 31: Investor’s Business Daily: Obama bill protects 2 mil acres. Pres. Obama signed legislation that sets aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness from Ca to Va.
March 10: Redlands Facts: Obama resuming guards for endangered species: Washington(AP)
Pres. Obama urged agency heads to Ignore a Bush administration regulation limiting scientific reviews of projects that might harm endangered wildlife and plants. The reviews by independent consultations federal scientists have performed, are responsible for delays and cost increases on projects such as dams and power plants.

April 7: Press Enterprise: Rivers called nation’s most endangered. Report: Poor management threatens the vital San Joaquin and Sacramento, an environmental group says. Fresno: California’s two longest rivers are threatened by outdated water management and poor flood planning according to Steve Rothert, CA director of American Rivers, a Washington based non profit. The Delta of the rivers is losing important fish species.
Pres. Obama signed a wilderness bill that would open the way for Congress to appropriate aid for salmon fishermen.
Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen Feinstein, farmers, water agencies have argued that the state must upgrade its water delivery systems with canals around the delta. Environmental groups say the canal might trap migrating salmon and other endangered species.

Two other ongoing issues: solar and other uses for the desert affecting endangered species:
(The desert is important to the future of ag: all it needs is water!)
March 14: Press Enterprise: Group sees “violation of trust”. The Wildlands Conservancy has spent years amassing $45 million in private donations and negotiating the purchase of more than a half million unspoiled acres in the CA desert so it could be turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for protection. Now, the BLM is considering applications for wind turbines and solar energy arrays on thousands of those acres. The BLM has to balance multiple missions on public land including energy, oil, gas and oil development, livestock grazing, habitat management and recreational opportunities. “That is land that belongs to the American people that has been designated for multiple use by the American people”, Steve Borchard, the BLM district manager said. The BLM is considering 162 applications for large scale solar and wind projects on more than a million acres.
The donation included 160 acre parcels either side of the railroad tracks from Barstow to the Colorado River, the result of a grant from the government in the 1800’s to spur development.
The conservancy’s purchase from Catellus Development Corp, a spinoff of the Santa Fe Railway(note Feinstein’s husband was involved with this), tapped $18million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Now conservancy leaders are lobbying for a Mother Road National Monument to protect the lands from development (later article). After the donation, the BLM dubbed the parcels, “some of the most pristine and scenic areas in the CA desert” valuable for their sand dunes, cinder cones and habitat for the endangered desert tortoise and bighorn sheep. “The land is also “some of the most valuable for solar development on earth,” Borchard said. Eight million acres are already preempted from development, he said.
Sen. Feinstein, D CA, who was instrumental in the Catellus land deal vowed to ensure that the federal government honors its commitment to protect the property.
Conservationists said they do not oppose renewable energy, but prefer roof top solar units or projects on land that has already been disturbed such as abandoned farms.
Transmission lines should be along established corridors such at along I-10.
Gary Thomas, board member of the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep said he fears the effects of widespread desert development on the habitat of the 3,000 bighorn sheep in the greater Mojave. Fences prevent movement of sheep along habitat corridors to preserve genetic viability of sheep populations.

April 19: Press Enterprise: Desert’s solar power potential faces another obstacle: shortage of water. Oakland - A dash to power electricity hungry cities by cashing in on the desert’s most abundant resource-sunshine- is clashing with efforts to protect the tiny pupfish and desert tortoise and stinginess over the region’s rarest resource: water. Water is the cooling agent for the most cost-efficient type of large scale solar plants. Some are moving to costly air cooled panels using 90 percent less water for plants that employ miles of sun reflecting mirrors. Others use solar dish or photovoltaic technologies that don’t require cooling water.
The unusual collision for renewable energy vs. environmental protectors pits natural resource protections against Obama’s plans to produce more environmentally friendly energy.
The article describes in detail the location and dangers to the pupfish and the tortoise. The proposed Mojave National Monument promoted by Sen. Feinstein is also mentioned. Various solar companies are mentioned including one from Spain. The systems proposed are discussed with water still being the biggest issue.

March 30: Investor’s Business Daily. Calif’s Solar Flare-Up. The governor wants to carpet the
desert with solar panels. The senator says it will destroy the ecosystem. The battle between environmentalists and conservationists is one of alternative energy’s big drawbacks. Another
problem is that wind and solar power are land intensive. 500,000 acres in the Mojave Desert would seem ideally suited for solar and wind. 19 companies have submitted applications. Sen. Feinstein says the land was donated or purchased with the purpose of blocking development. She wrote Interior Sec. Salazar to suspend further consideration of leases for these former railroad lands for any purpose. Other obstacles are the obscene amounts of land required. Also huge amounts of water are required to wash dust, dirt and sand off the l0,000miles of solar panels every month. Another problem is getting the power to the cities on high voltage lines through two large national parks, several wilderness areas and military bases, plus the angry communities and endangered critters.
Our solution, to classify nuclear power as a renewable resource which would create green jobs and energy without carpeting the Mojave Desert with solar panels.

April 16: Press Enterprise: Water overhaul urged. Interior Sec. Ken Salazar and CA Gov tour the Sacramento Delta region by helicopter. Salazar vowed to provide the state $260 million from a $1 billion federal stimulus fund for water projects across the West. After the flyover, Salazar told the press the massive system of reservoirs, pumps and canals, built a half century ago, was outdated and designed for half the size of today’s population. Three years of lower than normal precipitation combined with federal restrictions on pumping, which are designed to protect a threatened fish, have led to water cutbacks. The Interior Dept said $4 million of the stimulus money will go toward a delta habitat plan that features a possible canal, rejected by voters in 1982. Salazar declined to endorse building new dams or a canal. He did rule out suspending federal environmental laws, as suggested,
to funnel more water to farmers. “That is not the solution here,” Salazar said. “The solution that we’re looking at is one that is going to have to be comprehensive in nature that takes into account the huge variations you’re seeing in water supply.”

April 19: Press Enterprise: Lawmaker calls on governor to resign. CA Rep Nunes, R-Visalia, calls on CA Governor to resign because of his handling of the water crisis. He says he represents several communities that are withering away because they cannot get enough water for their farms. Federal regulations are restricting water to protect tiny fish called delta smelt. Nunes said the solution is an emergency reprieve from the Endangered Species Act that would allow more water to be pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. (Salazar says no-previous article.)
April 22: Press Enterprise: Feds to release minimal water to farms, by Garance Burke, AP. Fresno.
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said that heavy storms in March allowed them to boost the amount of water sent to customers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the critical region where most of the nation’s fruits and vegetables are grown. Water districts will receive 10 per cent of the amount they are entitled to under government contracts. Farmers north of the Delta will receive
15%. The storms brought the largest reservoirs, Shasta and Oroville, to ¾ as full at this time of year.

April 23: Press Enterprise: Preserve sold at auction . For a winning bid of $225,000 developers took ownership of a 308 acre nature preserve, the latest step in a five year court battle with an environmental group that was forced to forfeit the land to help pay opponents’ legal fees. In 2007 Habitat Trust for Wildlife Inc. lost a lawsuit against the developers and a judge ordered the group to pay the developer’s attorney fees and costs. The preserve, acquired through legal action against other developers, was the group’s principal asset. Spirit of the Sage Council, a sister group, had acquired 308 acres through lawsuits and disputes on how much habitat should be set aside to protect wildlife affected by home building. The city of Rancho Cucamonga found the Habitat Trust did not meet qualifications to hold the conservation land. Neither did Spirit of the Sage, which has offices in Pasadena and Fayetteville, N. C.. (neither in San Bernardino Co.) The groups sued the developer, who filed a cross complaint and won. The land was sold to pay the judgment. The land is next to the l,208 North Etiwanda Habitat Preserve, which the county plans to make a hiking destination. The conservation groups want the land dedicated to wildlife only.
(This case shows how these groups, with a few donations, can keep suing, becoming more powerful.
This time they did not win, but they will appeal.)