Farm Bureau concerned about proposal
More acres in San Benito County would be designated as critical
habitat for the endangered California red-legged frog under a
proposal under consideration by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
Farm Bureau concerned about proposal
More acres in San Benito County would be designated as critical habitat for the endangered California red-legged frog under a proposal under consideration by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A 60-day public comment period mandated as part of the public review process ends on Monday, Nov. 17.
The proposed “critical habitat” area covers more than 1.8 million acres in 28 California counties, up from the approximately 450,000 acres in 21 counties listed in the 2006 designation for the amphibian.
“We’re encouraged to see that the new proposal maintains incentives for ranchers who manage their property to benefit the frog,” said Elisa Noble, California Farm Bureau Federation director of livestock, public lands and natural resources. “But we’ve seen from practical experience that designating land as critical habitat does little to benefit the protected species.”
Expanding the habitat, Noble added, “can tie landowners’ hands and can actually delay cooperative work by farmers and ranchers to benefit the frog.”
Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, said keeping the red-legged frog’s habitat intact is essential to its survival.
“[The frog] desperately needs protection of adequate wetlands habitat throughout its former range. [The] proposal is a step toward biologically meaningful protections for the frog.”
Last year, Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall asked regional biologists to independently review a 2006 critical habitat rule and propose changes if needed to assure the scientific integrity of the plan.
The wildlife service in 1996 listed the red-legged frog as a threatened species in California and in 2004 proposed to designate more than 4.1 million acres as critical habitat for the creature. In response to a lawsuit by developers, however, the service revised the proposal in 2005 and eventually finalized the rule the next year at just over 450,000 acres – a reduction of 90 percent from the originally proposed rule.
In 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups filed lawsuits accusing the service of refusing to properly designate and protect critical habitat areas for 19 endangered species – including the California red-legged frog.
“Under the Bush administration, the Fish and Wildlife Service has consistently slashed the size of proposed critical habitats,” Miller said. “So we will be closely watching the final designation.”
Protected habitat for the red-legged frog has been proposed in seven California counties that did not have any land designated in the 2006 rule: Calaveras, Kings, Mendocino, Placer, Riverside, Sonoma and Stanislaus.
The Farm Bureau said the proposed designation can harm farmers and ranchers because those who use federal dollars to participate in conservation programs under the federal farm bill will see their applications delayed by lengthy consultation requirements imposed by the critical-habitat designation. These consultations, the Farm Bureau says, could slow down cost-sharing projects on ranchland such as rebuilding stock ponds, which would actually help the species.
“Critical habitat designations may also depress land values and actually result in increased urbanization,” the Farm Bureau’s Noble said.
The Center for Biological Diversity counters that critical habitat designations can be “the most effective tool for recovering species” such as the red-legged frog, which prefers ponds, marshes and creeks with still water.
A copy of the proposed critical-habitat proposal, including maps and specific areas where the Fish and Wildlife Service seeks more information, is available at www.fws.gov/sacramento.
The California Farm Bureau Federation contributed to this report.
