- Location
- Desert Beach So Cal
comment period extended (CA and OR)
http://www.mercedsun-star.com/news/newsview.asp?c=34161
Comment period gets extension
Friday, March 14, 2003
By Cheri Carlson - Merced Sun-Star
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate 1.7 million
acres in California and
Oregon, including about 350,000 acres in Merced County, as essential to
conservation of
endangered or threatened plants and animals will again be open for
public comment.
After the critical habitat designation was proposed last year, the
Wildlife Service opened a
60-day comment period in September, and then extended that window until
Dec. 23.
Now, community members will have an additional two weeks to comment on
the proposal,
according to Merced County’s congressman.
“This will give residents and landowners in Merced County ... another
opportunity to have their
voices heard,” Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said Thursday afternoon.
All 15 of the endangered and threatened species involved in the
designation depend on vernal
pools for survival. Vernal pools are depressions that fill up with
shallow water seasonally, and
the main threat to vernal pool habitat is residential and commercial
development and land
conversion to farming.
The designation, according to the Wildlife Service, does not impose
restrictions on private
landowners unless federal funds or permits are involved.
But, according to local landowners and property rights advocates, the
designation does affect
them because almost any action taken by the property owner, such as
developing or converting
the land, will require a federal permit. They also claim the economic
loss from the designation
will be far greater than estimated.
According to the Wildlife Service, the agency didn’t want to designate
the critical habitat and,
when the species were listed in the 1990s, the service said the
designation wasn’t prudent
because it was not likely to benefit the species.
But, in April 2000, the Butte Environmental Council filed suit against
the service in federal court
for failure to designate critical habitat, and the service has been
ordered by the court to propose
the designation.
Calls to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were not immediately
returned Thursday afternoon.
Merced County Supervisor Kathleen Crookham said, “I appreciate that the
service was
concerned enough about the implications of this and how it might have
affected landowners.”
She thanked Cardoza, as well as his colleagues in the San Joaquin
Valley, for working to get the
extension.
At public meetings in November, Cardoza promised hundreds of Merced
County residents that
he would fight the designation.
On Thursday, he said this is the first step in trying to reverse some of
the problems with the
proposed designation.
According to Crookham, the reopened comment period provides time to
better define what
area should be designated as critical habitat.
Not all the land within the boundaries of the proposed designation
actually constitutes critical
habitat. To be critical habitat, it must have the listed species’ basic
life requirements, including
food, shelter, water and space, and the listed species.
So, areas such as parking lots and commercial developments may be
included in the proposed
boundaries and not actually be critical habitat.
The additional period of public comment, according to Cardoza, will give
property owners an
opportunity to provide the Wildlife Service with detailed information
regarding whether their land
contains vernal pools, endangered or threatened species.
He said that it’s a short window for people to comment, and it’s
important that property owners
get their comments into the public record.
“(It’s) very important for challenges after the fact,” he added.
Written comments must be submitted by March 28, and can be sent to U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
Service, Attention: Field Supervisor, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-2605
Sacramento, CA
95825 or be faxed to (916) 414-6710.
Any comments previously submitted need not be sent again.
Reporter Cheri Carlson can be reached at 385-2477 or
[email protected].
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
--
http://www.mercedsun-star.com/news/newsview.asp?c=34161
Comment period gets extension
Friday, March 14, 2003
By Cheri Carlson - Merced Sun-Star
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate 1.7 million
acres in California and
Oregon, including about 350,000 acres in Merced County, as essential to
conservation of
endangered or threatened plants and animals will again be open for
public comment.
After the critical habitat designation was proposed last year, the
Wildlife Service opened a
60-day comment period in September, and then extended that window until
Dec. 23.
Now, community members will have an additional two weeks to comment on
the proposal,
according to Merced County’s congressman.
“This will give residents and landowners in Merced County ... another
opportunity to have their
voices heard,” Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said Thursday afternoon.
All 15 of the endangered and threatened species involved in the
designation depend on vernal
pools for survival. Vernal pools are depressions that fill up with
shallow water seasonally, and
the main threat to vernal pool habitat is residential and commercial
development and land
conversion to farming.
The designation, according to the Wildlife Service, does not impose
restrictions on private
landowners unless federal funds or permits are involved.
But, according to local landowners and property rights advocates, the
designation does affect
them because almost any action taken by the property owner, such as
developing or converting
the land, will require a federal permit. They also claim the economic
loss from the designation
will be far greater than estimated.
According to the Wildlife Service, the agency didn’t want to designate
the critical habitat and,
when the species were listed in the 1990s, the service said the
designation wasn’t prudent
because it was not likely to benefit the species.
But, in April 2000, the Butte Environmental Council filed suit against
the service in federal court
for failure to designate critical habitat, and the service has been
ordered by the court to propose
the designation.
Calls to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were not immediately
returned Thursday afternoon.
Merced County Supervisor Kathleen Crookham said, “I appreciate that the
service was
concerned enough about the implications of this and how it might have
affected landowners.”
She thanked Cardoza, as well as his colleagues in the San Joaquin
Valley, for working to get the
extension.
At public meetings in November, Cardoza promised hundreds of Merced
County residents that
he would fight the designation.
On Thursday, he said this is the first step in trying to reverse some of
the problems with the
proposed designation.
According to Crookham, the reopened comment period provides time to
better define what
area should be designated as critical habitat.
Not all the land within the boundaries of the proposed designation
actually constitutes critical
habitat. To be critical habitat, it must have the listed species’ basic
life requirements, including
food, shelter, water and space, and the listed species.
So, areas such as parking lots and commercial developments may be
included in the proposed
boundaries and not actually be critical habitat.
The additional period of public comment, according to Cardoza, will give
property owners an
opportunity to provide the Wildlife Service with detailed information
regarding whether their land
contains vernal pools, endangered or threatened species.
He said that it’s a short window for people to comment, and it’s
important that property owners
get their comments into the public record.
“(It’s) very important for challenges after the fact,” he added.
Written comments must be submitted by March 28, and can be sent to U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
Service, Attention: Field Supervisor, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-2605
Sacramento, CA
95825 or be faxed to (916) 414-6710.
Any comments previously submitted need not be sent again.
Reporter Cheri Carlson can be reached at 385-2477 or
[email protected].
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
--
