Issues
Federal officials reveal plan to protect sage-grouse habitat. On Monday the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Forest Service released a plan to combat destructive wildfires and restore sagebrush in the Great Basin. The plan supports Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell’s 2015 order calling for a “science-based” approach to protect the greater sage-grouse and its habitat by combatting destructive wildfires.
One proposed solution features a fungus that limits the spread of the invasive and wildfire-prone cheatgrass, which the plan identifies as the “primary invasive threat” to sagebrush. In the past, the fungus has successfully limited the spread of cheatgrass and allowed cattle to graze on the weed at a strategically determined time and place before it becomes a hazard to the ecosystem.
“With so much at stake, both ecologically and economically, we are committed to the plan’s successful implementation and continued collaboration with states, scientists, resource managers, western communities, ranchers and farmers,” Secretary Jewell said in a statement. However, critics have called the plan, which identifies 37 priority “science needs,” unrealistic. John Freemuth, a public lands policy expert and professor at Boise State University, called the plan a “Moon shot for the sagebrush steppe ecosystem in terms of getting as much science done quickly enough to have an impact.”
Researchers study ways to re-establish dwindling bat populations. In response to the ecological impact of white nose syndrome, a fungal infection that is responsible for severely reduced native bat populations in the eastern part of the United States and Canada, researchers at the University of Kentucky are trying to help the species re-establish itself by studying different forest management practices.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service joint effort began in 2015 to test different forest management procedures and determine which would create the best environment for the surviving bats to raise their young. Over the next couple of years, the research team will monitor the effectiveness of three different treatment sites using acoustic detectors to track the bats.
According to the researchers, bats play a critical ecological role as the primary predator of pest species that harm agricultural crops and forest trees. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that bat populations in the Northeast have declined by 80 percent since 2006.
Condor conservation lawsuit challenges oil and gas development plans in Los Padres. Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Los Padres ForestWatch, and Defenders of Wildlife, filed notice of their intent to sue federal agencies over a plan that would allow more oil and natural gas development in Los Padres National Forest. The forest provides habitat for a majority of the California condor species, one that has historically suffered from hunting, pesticide use, lead contamination, and man-made infrastructure collision.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2007 over a 2005 Forest Service plan that opened more than 52,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to new drilling projects. Since then, federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found the impact of energy development on the condor to be minimal, but environmental groups have disagreed. According to ForestWatch Executive Director Jeff Kuyper, “There’s a cumulative impact, and we’re concerned that because the population of condors is so low already—there’s about 200 condors in the wild in California—harm to a single condor is extremely significant and should be avoided at all costs.”
Agency representatives have acknowledged the notice but stand by their wildlife impact findings. Forest Service Public Affairs Officer Andrew Madsen said the Forest Service is working with the leasing oil companies to address the species endangerment problems in the future, especially those related to microtrash ingestion.
In the News
Sage grouse—a ‘political firebomb.’ E&E News (sub req’d). In November 2014, former Obama White House aide Jim Messina warned Obama aides that a sage grouse listing under the Endangered Species Act would be a “political firebomb in the West,” according to another hacked email. Messina, who founded a political advisory firm after he was Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, told Podesta and David Simas that he was hearing rumors that the grouse was about to be listed by the Interior Department. That “will set off a bomb out west including
Use of long-term climate projections for bearded seal listing not necessarily a bellwether for Endangered Species Act decisions. National Law Review (Op-Ed). For most species we encounter in the lower 48, including California, the relationship between climate change and habitat conditions is more complex, and other factors such as development of habitat are typically identified as greater threats to a species’ survival than climate change. Thus, climate change plays a smaller role in the Services’ analyses, and the Services typically limit their predictions of the “foreseeable future” to a shorter time period between 25 and 45 years. (An exception is the proposed listing of the wolverine—a species with parallels to the bearded seal in that the USFWS found it depends on persistent spring snow cover for successful denning.) With that in mind, the bearded seal decision does not necessarily portend a rash of species listings based on long-term climate projections (at least outside the Arctic).
Land easement hailed as sage-grouse protection. Telluride News. The second phase of a land easement deal was finalized Tuesday to increase the protection of Gunnison sage-grouse habitat in the region, marking the end of a multi-year project. In June, the San Miguel County Board of Commissioners agreed to provide $50,000 to help the Montezuma Land Conservancy close the second phase of the project. The four parcels of land included in the agreement totaled 1,680 acres and are located in San Miguel County, east of Egnar. The $50,000 provided by the county had originally been earmarked for a separate easement, but it was unanimously agreed upon at a county meeting that the resources would be better allocated to close on the sage-grouse project. In total, the county contributed a little under $125,000 to bring the easement to fruition.
Frequent fliers: The attorneys shaping EPA pesticide policy. Bloomberg BNA. Through dozens of suits against the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies, the nonprofit group with around 100 attorneys is having as big of an impact on the agency’s pesticide policy as firms many times its size. This is especially the case with the Endangered Species Act, he said, which requires agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service before taking an action that “may affect” a listed species. Decades-long litigation from Earthjustice and other groups has forced the three agencies to acknowledge they hadn’t been doing this for pesticide approvals and that they needed to develop a way to conduct these consultations regularly in the future.
Wildfires could decimate sage grouse in coming decades. Wyoming Public Media. A new scientific study suggests as wildfires become more frequent, sage grouse populations in the West will decline because of a loss of habitat. The study was published in the scientific journal PNAS and shows that if sagebrush continues to burn at the rate it has in recent decades, sage grouse populations will be halved in 30 years. U.S. Geological Survey Wildlife Researcher Peter Coates said fires burn up sage brush the bird needs for food and shelter, replacing it with invasive cheat grass, which is more likely to burn. Coates said climate change exacerbates the problem with its wild swings of wet and dry seasons. “There’s so much habitat lost due to that fire and replacement with invasive cheat grass that sage grouse can’t reap the benefits of precipitation,” Coates said.
FWS to grant Calif. wind project rare 5-year eagle ‘take’ permit. E&E News (sub req’d). The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to issue a permit for the second time ever allowing a Southern California wind power project to kill, harm or harass up to three federally protected golden eagles over a five-year period. FWS today published a final environmental assessment and a “finding of no significant impact” in the Federal Register that paves the way for the operators of the 137-megawatt Alta East Wind Project in Kern County to obtain a five-year eagle “take” permit. FWS intends to issue the permit to Alta Wind X LLC — a subsidiary of NRG Yield Inc., which owns the Alta East wind farm — after a 30-day public review period, according to today’s notice.
