The Bush administration plans to temporarily end the protection of
rivers and streams used by 19 runs of endangered salmon and steelhead in
four Western states.
The action would retain federal protection for the fish, which are on
the federal endangered species list, but could open up some areas to
development.
The proposal, submitted Monday to a federal court in Washington, D.C.,
is the latest in a series of moves that could reduce the level of
protection for fish or their habitat. Conservationists said they will
oppose the plan, which must be approved by the federal court.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency charged
with restoring salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, said
Monday that it would temporarily revoke habitat protection for salmon
and steelhead in 150 watersheds, river segments, bays and estuaries
throughout Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho.
The agency said it would spend up to two years carefully analyzing
the economic impact of habitat protections. It then would propose
revised habitat protections, officials said, imposing new restrictions
that could be more, less or equally extensive compared with the current
regulations.
The agency's plan is a response to two lawsuits by the National
Association of Home Builders, the Association of California Water
Agencies and 16 other groups.
Harming or killing federally protected fish or destroying its habitat
would remain a crime. But some areas currently designated critical
habitat do not contain protected fish. Those areas would lose federal
protection under the proposal. Federal officials were unable to say
Monday how much acreage that involves.
The fisheries service is conducting a separate review of its decision
to federally protect 24 species of West Coast salmon and steelhead. That
review, announced in December and scheduled for completion this fall,
was triggered by a September 2001 legal ruling by a federal judge in
Eugene. The judge ruled that the fisheries service had improperly
distinguished between wild and hatchery-born salmon and steelhead.
The federal government is also reviewing fish hatchery policy.
Conservationists said they were alarmed by Monday's proposal.
"It looks like another situation where this administration is
giving in to an industry-led lawsuit," said Todd True, an attorney
for Earthjustice in Seattle. "We think the government should be
defending itself in this lawsuit, instead of rolling over and joining
with the home builders."
Fisheries service officials said the proposal does not indicate that
the administration wants to relax enforcement of the Endangered Species
Act. They said they made the proposal because their attorneys determined
that the agency was unlikely to prevail in the lawsuits by the home
builders and others.
"This proposal will have its greatest impact on the government
because we have a small staff of economists, and they will be engaged in
this instead of their other duties," said Jim Lecky, an assistant
regional administrator for the fisheries service. "In terms of the
amount of protection these fish are afforded, it won't be significantly
different."
In lawsuits they filed in June 2000, the home builders association
and others argued that the areas designated as critical habitat by the
fisheries service are "excessive, unduly vague, not justified as
essential to conserve the listed species, and not based upon a required
analysis of economic impacts."
That argument was backed in a recent ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, the fisheries service said.
Representatives of the home builders association praised the
fisheries service proposal and said they would drop their lawsuit if the
court accepts the plan.
"We applaud the government for doing the right thing," said
Bruce Smith, a builder from Walnut Creek, Calif., who is the
association's past president. "This proposed agreement marks a
major turning point in how we protect threatened and endangered species
under the Endangered Species Act."
The critical habitat provisions for the salmon and steelhead were
issued by the Clinton administration in February 2000. The provisions
outlining safeguards for populations of chinook, chum, coho and sockeye
salmon require that any federal actions in designated areas be approved
by the fisheries service before going forward. You can reach Jonathan
Brinckman at 503-221-8190 or by e-mail at jbrinckman@news.oregonian.com.
