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FWS DESIGNATES CRITICAL HABITAT
FOR THREATENED
AND ENDANGERED VERNAL POOL SPECIES
10/03
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today designated
approximately 740,000 acres in 30 California
counties and one Oregon county as critical habitat
for 15 wetland animals and plants listed as
threatened or endangered under the Federal
Endangered Species Act.
The final designation represents a reduction in
acreage from the approximately 1.7 million acres the
Service proposed as critical habitat in September
2002. The reduction is due to:
--Refined mapping techniques, which resulted in a
more accurate assessment of habitat lands compared
to developed agricultural or urban lands;
--Exclusions of Tribal and military lands, lands
under Habitat Conservation Plans, National Wildlife
Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries, and State
ecological lands and wildlife management areas;
--Clarified and updated biological information; and
--The exclusion of all lands in Butte, Madera,
Merced, Sacramento and Solano counties in California
due to the potential economic effect of
critical-habitat designation in those areas.
Under Section 4(b)2 of the Endangered Species Act,
the Secretary of Interior has the discretion to
exclude areas from critical habitat if the economic
costs outweigh the benefits.
The exclusion of lands in the five counties is not
fully reflected in today’s Federal Register notice.
Because of the settlement agreement that required
the Service to deliver this rule to the Federal
Register by July 15, there was insufficient time to
revise the rule to fully reflect these exclusions. A
technical amendment to the rule to remove these
areas from maps and legal descriptions, and change
the text of the rule, will be completed as soon as
possible.
In its final economic analysis, the Service found
that the listing of the 15 vernal pool species and
the critical habitat designation could potentially
impose total economic costs for consultation and
modifications to projects of $1.3 billion over 20
years.
This critical habitat designation was completed in
response to a court settlement with the Butte
Environmental Council, which sued the Service in
2000 for failing to designate critical habitat for
four vernal-pool crustaceans.
The species included in today’s critical habitat
designation are four types of freshwater shrimp –
the Conservancy fairy shrimp, longhorn fairy shrimp,
vernal pool tadpole shrimp and vernal pool fairy
shrimp; and 11 plants that depend on seasonally
flooded wetlands known as vernal pools. Critical
habitat is a term in the Endangered Species Act
identifying geographic areas that are essential for
the conservation of a threatened or endangered
species and may require special management
considerations. The designation of critical habitat
does not affect land ownership or establish a
refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other
conservation area. It does not allow government or
public access to private lands.
They are the Butte County meadowfoam, hairy Orcutt
grass, slender Orcutt grass, San Joaquin Valley
Orcutt grass, Sacramento Orcutt grass, Solano grass,
Greene's tuctoria, Colusa grass, succulent (or
fleshy) owl's clover, Hoover's spurge and Contra
Costa goldfields. One species, the vernal pool fairy
shrimp, is also found in Oregon. Critical habitat is
a term in the Endangered Species Act identifying
geographic areas that are essential for the
conservation of a threatened or endangered species
and may require special management considerations.
The designation of critical habitat does not affect
land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness,
reserve, preserve, or other conservation area. It
does not allow government or public access to
private lands.
Vernal pools are havens for California’s diminishing
native plants and play a critical role in an
ecosystem that supports numerous other animals,
including birds of prey, migratory waterfowl and
shorebirds, as well as frogs, toads, salamanders,
and pollinating insects.
The main threat to the continued existence of these
vernal pool species is loss of habitat, especially
due to residential or commercial development and
lands converted to agricultural uses. About 16
percent of the approximately 740,000 acres
designated is in public ownership or is owned or
administered by private conservation groups. The
remainder is in private ownership.
The lands are located in the following California
counties: Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama,
Plumas, Lake, Colusa, Yuba, Mendocino, Glenn, Napa,
Yolo, Placer, Amador, Contra Costa, San Joaquin,
Calaveras, Alameda, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Mariposa,
San Benito, Fresno, Monterey, Kings, Tulare, San
Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. In Oregon,
the proposed critical habitat is in Jackson County.
The Service is nearing completion of a plan that
will serve as a blueprint for recovering these
vernal pool species. Members of the group developing
the plan include ranchers, farmers, developers,
conservationists and recreationalists. The recovery
plan will serve as a framework for coordinating
activities and describe the site-specific actions
necessary to achieve the species’ conservation and
survival.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal
Federal agency responsible for conserving,
protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants
and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
American people. The Service manages the
95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System
which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges,
thousands of small wetlands and other special
management areas. It also operates 70 national fish
hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81
ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws,
administers the Endangered Species Act, manages
migratory bird populations, restores nationally
significant fisheries, conserves and restores
wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign
governments with their conservation efforts. It also
oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and
wildlife agencies.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section
107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or
payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this
information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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