JEFF
BARNARD, Mercury News 1/12/06
GRANTS PASS,
Ore.
- A San Francisco Superior
Court judge on Friday put a salamander
that lives in old growth forests along the
Klamath River back on California's
threatened species list until the state
Fish and Game Commission takes action.
The California Department of Fish and
Game had stopped giving protection for the
Scott Bar salamander under the California
Endangered Species Act after new genetic
work determined it was a subspecies of the
Siskiyou Mountains salamander, which was
listed.
Taking the Scott Bar salamander off the
protected list had allowed some logging to
go ahead in old growth forests on private
land along the Klamath River in Northern
California, but the ruling could put a
pending logging plan on hold, said Noah
Greenwald of the Centers for Biological
Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the
case.
"The court's decision was important
because it clarifies that only the Fish
and Game Commission, and not DFG, after
thorough scientific review and public
comment can remove protection for species
under the California Endangered Species
Act," said Greenwald.
The California Fish and Game Commission
is considering removing the Siskiyou
Mountains salamander from protection after
state biologists decided it was not as
rare as once thought, and that 90 percent
of its habitat is on federal lands.
San Francisco County Superior Court
Judge Peter J. Busch found that because
the Scott Bar salamander had been
protected before it was declared a
subspecies, it could not be denied
protection by the department without
formal action by the commission.
"We're working with the Fish and Game
Commission to sort out the ruling and the
various petitions before the commission
right now," said Steve Martarano,
spokesman for the California Department of
Fish and Game.
"Because advances in genetic analyses
allow detection of previously undetectable
species, it is quite likely that other new
species will be separated from already
protected species. Today's decision
ensures that these species will continue
to receive protection until the Fish and
Game Commission and the public review
their status."
The two salamanders live under the
surface in patches of loose rock where old
growth forest keeps the air and ground
cool and moist.
Siskiyou Mountain salamanders are found
on more than 200 sites along the Klamath
River in Northern California and the upper
reaches of the Applegate River in Oregon.
The Scott Bar salamander is known to
inhabit only 27 sites around Scott Bar on
the Klamath River.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last
year denied a Center for Biological
Diversity petition for Endangered Species
Act protection for the two salamanders
after deciding that threats to their
habitat from logging had dramatically
declined and that salamanders have even
been found in clear-cut forests.
The center is suing to reverse that
decision.
