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I. Administrative ActionsA. Federal Actions1. Endangered Species Act Petitions a. Listings & Findings: California tiger salamander (Abystoma californiense).On March 19, 2003, the USFWS published a final rule listing the Sonoma County Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of the California tiger salamander as endangered. Then on May 23, the agency published a proposed rule to list the Central California DPS as threatened and to reclassify the Sonoma County & Santa Barbara County DPSs from endangered to threatened. The rule also proposed to exempt "existing routine ranching activities" from the take prohibition. b. Habitat Conservation Plans/Safe Harbors: California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii). On September 10, 2003, Robert Mondavi's Cuesta Ridge Vineyard entered into a Safe Harbor agreement with USFWS for the California red-legged frog and two listed bird species. [Note: A September 30 ruling by the federal district court in D.C. invalidated the "No Surprises" rule, adopted in 1998, that shields landowners who enter into HCP agreements with USFWS from having to provide future additional protections than what is required by the original agreement.] a. Sierra Nevada Framework: the US Forest Service proposed changes to the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (otherwise known as "the Framework") in a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ("DSEIS") dated June 2003. The DSEIS proposed significant changes to the overall Aquatic Management Strategy, which provides protections for a number of at-risk fish and amphibian species, and specific changes to the meadow management provisions developed to protect Yosemite Toad (Bufo canorus) and several bird species. b. Northwest
Forest Plan: In 2003
the Bush Administration issued two DSEISs that, if finalized,
will dramatically alter US Forest Service and BLM management of
public lands in Northern California, and Oregon & Washington
west of the Cascades. One
DSEIS proposes to limit the scope of the Plan's Aquatic Conservation
Strategy, which provides important habitat protections for fishes
and amphibians. The other
DSEIS proposes to eliminate the Survey and Manage section of the
Plan, which will affect hundreds of rare and endemic plant, fungi,
and animal species, including the Shasta
(Hydromantes shastae), Larch Mountain (Plethodon
larselli), Siskiyou Mountains (P.
stormi), and Van Dyke's salamanders (P.
vandykei). II. Legal ActionsA. ESA Cases1. Listings: In April of 2003 Pacific Rivers Council and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court challenging the delay of Endangered Species Act protection for the Sierra Nevada population of the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa). 2. Critical Habitat: Due to a successful lawsuit filed by the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), USFWS must designate critical habitat for the endangered Santa Barbara County California tiger salamander by November 15, 2004. B. Pesticide Registration and Use1. California red-legged frog (R. draytonii). This is an ongoing lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, against the US EPA for failing to consult on the effects its pesticide registration program on the frog in violation of the federal ESA.2. California red-legged frog (R. draytonii), foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii), mountain yellow-legged frog (R. muscosa), and Yosemite toad (B. canorus). This is an ongoing lawsuit filed in state court by Californians for Alternatives to Toxics against the California Department of Pesticide Regulation alleging that the agency failed to reevaluate the registration of pesticides that migrate from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada and impact the four amphibian species. II. Other ActionsThe Bush Administration continues to denounce critical habitat as a waste of time and money. However, on June 13, 2003, USFWS submitted two reports to Congress detailing all endangered species that have and have not received critical habitat designations and also determined whether they have populations which are declining, stable, or improving. Dr. Jeffrey Rachlinski of Cornell University and Dr. Martin Taylor of the Center for Biological Diversity analyzed the data in the two Fish and Wildlife Service reports and one which preceded them in 1999. They found that species with critical habitat were more than twice as likely to be improving as species without. Their study, "Critical Habitat Significantly Enhances Endangered Species Recovery" including independent reviews of its methods can be viewed at: http://biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/policy/ch/index.htm . For further
questions contact: For information about PRC's Amphibian Protection Initiative and how to order our "Imperiled Amphibians of the West" poster visit our website at www.pacrivers.org.
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