[PCA] ARTICLE: Cows & Vernal Pools (fwd)

[Plant Conservation]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 15:11:26 -0600
From: "Juanita A. R. Ladyman, Ph.D." <juanita_ladyman at hotmail.com>
To: Plant Conservation <plant at plantconservation.org>
Subject: Re: [PCA] ARTICLE: Cows & Vernal Pools

This observation seems to have generated more publicity than that reporting
the reduction in protections for vernal pools in CA (see below). Considering
the damage done by livestock to the cienegas, springs, and bodies of water
in general, in arid and semi-arid climates I think encouraging use by
livestock should have been very strongly prefaced with the importance of
evaluating environmental and biological conditions on a site-by-site basis.

Juanita Ladyman
Centennial, CO

***************** Excerpt from 2003 San Francisco Chronicle
Less land for vernal pools  - 5 counties excluded in Bush team trim



Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer

Thursday, August 7, 2003

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The Bush administration has issued a drastically reduced plan to protect
rare California wetland species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species
Act, claiming economic considerations outweigh environmental benefit.



The decision announced Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cuts
the amount of so-called "critical habitat" for 15 types of West Coast plants
and freshwater crustaceans from 1.7 million acres to 740,000 acres.



The affected species include four types of freshwater shrimp and 11 plants
such as the Butte County meadowfoam, the hairy Orcutt grass, Greene's
tuctoria, Colusa grass, succulent owl's clover and Contra Costa goldfields.



All are endemic to vernal pools -- an uncommon variety of marsh
characterized by seasonal wet and dry periods. Five California counties --
Butte, Sacramento, Solano, Merced and Madera -- that contain vernal pools
were excluded from habitat designation because of potential economic impact.
Most of Glenn County was also excluded for economic considerations,
officials said, and Riverside County was excluded because a local
collaborative restoration plan already is under way. Under the Endangered
Species Act, federal agencies are required to designate critical habitat for
each listed species -- territory suited to the endangered plants or animals,
where recovery efforts may be undertaken. Development or agricultural
activity can be curtailed to greater or lesser degree on designated land.
U.S. Assistant Interior Secretary Craig Manson, who oversees Fish and
Wildlife, said the law specifically allowed exceptions to the critical
habitat rule. Critical habitat can be excluded, said Manson, "if the
benefits of excluding it -- including economic benefits -- outweigh the
benefits of including it." That would be the case with the vernal pool
protections, Manson said. Manson said the economic impacts would be
especially severe in the counties being excluded. Environmentalists were
livid about the move, characterizing it as one in a long series of
administration attacks on environmental protections. "They didn't analyze
the legitimate economic benefits of wetlands, including vernal pools," said
Barbara Vlamis, the executive director of the Butte Environmental Council in
Chico, which filed the original lawsuit against Fish and Wildlife to obtain
critical habitat for vernal pool species. Vlamis said the decision to cut
the critical habitat area was an 11th-hour political move that "reflects the
interests of agriculture and the development industry."






----- Original Message -----
From: "Plant Conservation" <plant at plantconservation.org>
To: <native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 2:01 PM
Subject: [PCA] ARTICLE: Cows & Vernal Pools


> I don't know if any of you have seen this, but there's an article about
> cows & vernal pools here http://www.enn.com/news/2004-02-17/s_13169.asp
>
> Apparently this was also covered on the radio on the nationally broadcast
> Osgood File http://www.theosgoodfile.com/osgood/fri3.htm
>
> Olivia
> SER/PCA
> http://www.nps.gov/plants/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> native-plants mailing list
> native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
>
http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org
>