Critical Habitat Plan Critiqued
By John Driscoll, Eureka Times-Standard
January 15, 2005

ARCATA -- The federal government's plans to protect streams important to salmon and steelhead under the Endangered Species Act -- while excluding some areas on economic grounds -- met mostly stern resistance Thursday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries department pitched the proposal to a crowd of about 50 at the North Coast Inn. It is the first of four meetings set to take comments on how the agency protects seven California populations of chinook salmon and steelhead.

The methods to safeguard the threatened and endangered fish would change from current provisions, allowing exclusions for tribal lands and areas vital to national security, as well as exclusions based on economic hardships created by the protections. Ratings based on complicated models will determine if an area has a low, medium or high conservation value. Only low- and medium-rated areas would be considered for economic exclusion.

That exclusion can be overruled by the secretary of commerce if it would lead to extinction of a population.

Critical habitat applies to federal projects or operations that affect salmon. It also applies to the private sector when federal funds are used or when permits are needed, as is the case for logging, gravel mining or diverting water.

Two of the populations -- known as Evolutionarily Significant Units -- occur in this region. Coastal chinook salmon and North Coast steelhead would remain protected, though some areas might be excluded on economic grounds.

Southern Oregon and North Coast coho critical habitat would remain unchanged.

"At most, 10 percent of what was eligible was excluded," said Craig Wingert of NOAA.

Under the plan, for example, the main fork of the Eel River would not be considered critical habitat for chinook salmon, but many of its tributaries would be. The Klamath and Trinity rivers are not part of the plan.

Areas not currently populated by the threatened species would not be considered critical habitat. Also, exclusions could potentially be made for federal lands covered under the Northwest Forest Plan, and for timberlands with a Habitat Conservation Plan.

The complexity of the plan and the economic models used to determine what areas presently considered critical habitat would be excluded, raised a call from many at the meeting to extend the comment period beyond the Feb. 4 deadline. Wingert expressed concern that extending the period could sandwich the agency against its June 15 deadline to produce a final plan.

Several in the crowd questioned the general economic rationale used to exclude areas, and wondered if the value of restored fisheries was considered in the models.

"The program is really a ploy," said longtime environmental activist Melvin McKinney.

He said any reduction in critical habitat could doom the limited fishing opportunities on the North Coast.

Scott Greacen of the Environmental Protection Information Center said the proposal undercuts a central tenet of the Endangered Species Act -- that conservation means recovery. He said the agency should be setting its sights on the range of the species, not what's currently occupied.

"It looks like a rug about to unravel," Greacen said.

Former federal employee Wendy Cole said the exclusion of unoccupied streams doesn't account for activities in a tributary that may affect a downstream reach deemed critical to salmon.

Only one man voiced concern about the regulations currently in place to protect salmon. Rancher Sterling McWhorter said regulation fragments the landscape, and ignores what he sees as a recovering resource.

"Ranching is a heritage we want to keep," he said. "We also want to keep a livelihood and a tradition."

The proposal is available on the Internet at http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov Comments must include the docket number 041123329I-4329-01 and RIN number 0649-AO04.

They can be e-mailed to critical.habitat.swr@noaa.gov ; by mail to Assistant Regional Administrator, NMFS Protected Resources Division, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA, 90802-4213; or by fax at (562)980-4027.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.