Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes To Revise Critical Habitat For Endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher
by Hugh Holub on Aug. 13, 2011, under endangered species act, politicsPress Release from US Fish and Wildlife Service Ausugt 12, 2011:
Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes To Revise Critical Habitat For Endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is proposing to revise critical habitat for an endangered migratory bird, the southwestern willow flycatcher. The proposed revision identifies 2,090 stream miles within the 100-year floodplain of waters in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico as critical habitat. Of the total proposal, approximately 779 stream miles are currently being considered for exclusion from the final critical habitat designation. The Service is seeking input on the proposal, including exclusions, through October 14, 2011.
“Our proposal identifies riparian habitat needed to attain the established southwestern willow flycatcher recovery goals — the flycatcher habitat and populations that will remove the threat of flycatcher extinction,” said Steve Spangle, the Service’s Arizona field supervisor. “Now we’re seeking input to refine our strategy. Did we identity the features and areas essential to conservation of the species? What are the anticipated impacts of designating various areas?”
In 2005, the Service designated 737 river miles of flycatcher critical habitat (after initially proposing 1,556 river miles). The critical habitat is being revised following a settlement agreement stemming from legal challenges to the 2005 designation. The 2005 critical habitat designation remains in effect during the current rulemaking process, anticipated to be completed in one year.
The proposed critical habitat uses the conservation strategies from the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Recovery Plan and flycatcher movement data to identify river segments within each of 29 management units that would meet the flycatcher distribution and abundance (1,950 territories) recovery goals. Because flycatcher habitat and Southwest rivers are dynamic, a broad distribution of flycatcher populations throughout the bird’s range is important to retain population stability and gene flow, and to prevent simultaneous catastrophic loss of populations and local extirpation.
However, the Service recognizes that a substantial amount of the proposed areas are already being managed to accommodate or advance flycatcher recovery through Habitat Conservation Plans, tribal management, and other partnerships. Areas such as these, and areas where resulting economic and other relevant impacts may occur, can be excluded from the final critical habitat designation if the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion.
The Service is also preparing a draft economic analysis and environmental assessment of the proposed critical habitat that will be released for public review and comment at a later date.
Critical habitat is a term in the Endangered Species Act that identifies geographic areas essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species. Designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership, establish a refuge or preserve, and has no impact on decisions that private landowners make on their land that do not require Federal funding or permits.
Federal agencies that undertake, fund or permit activities that may affect critical habitat are required to consult with the Service to ensure such actions do not adversely modify or destroy designated critical habitat.
The 5¾-inch flycatcher breeds and rears its chicks in late spring and through the summer in dense vegetation along streams, rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs in the arid Southwest. The most recent 2007 flycatcher rangewide assessment described 288 separate flycatcher breeding sites (areas that contain a collection of territories) and estimated 1,299 flycatcher territories. A territory is a discrete area defended by a resident single flycatcher or pair of flycatchers during a breeding season. The flycatcher migrates to Mexico, Central, and possibly northern South America for the non-breeding season.
A copy of the proposed rule, maps and other information about the southwestern willow flycatcher is available on the Internet at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona/ or >http://www.regulations.gov“, or by contacting the Service’s Arizona Ecological Service Office at (602) 242-0210.
Comments on the proposal and relevant scientific and commercial information will be accepted within 60 days, on or before October 14, 2011, and can be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov, or can be mailed or hand delivered to Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2-ES-2011-0053; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203. Written requests for a public hearing will be accepted within 45 days, on or before September 29, 2011, via the Federal eRulemaking Portal or Division of Policy and Directives Management mailing address.
The ESA provides a critical safety net for America’s native fish, wildlife, and plants. This landmark conservation law has prevented the extinction of hundreds of imperiled species across the nation and promoted the recovery of many others. The Service is working to actively engage conservation partners and the public in the search for improved and innovative ways to conserve and recover imperiled species. To learn more about the Endangered Species Program, visit http://www.fws.gov/endangered/
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service.
For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov Connect with our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/usfws, follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/usfwshq, watch our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/usfws>
and download photos from our Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona/
More photos:
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/arizona/images/SpeciesImages/WIFL_AndreSilva_TNF.jpg
CLICK HERE TO SEE PROPOSED NEW RULE AND MAP OF IMPACTED AREAS
Included in the proposed habitat conservation area near Tucson are the Santa Cruz River from the Nogales Wastewater Treatment Plant to Chavez Siding Road, a portion of the Cienega Creek, and all of the San Pedro River. There have never been willow flycatchers in the Santa Cruz River south of Tucso.
Center for Biological Diversity press release August 12, 2011:
2,000+ Stream Miles of Critical Habitat Proposed for Protection of Endangered Desert Bird
Southwestern Willow Flycatcher to Gain Ground in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah
TUCSON, Ariz.— In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed 2,090 stream miles as protected critical habitat for the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. If finalized, today’s proposal would substantially increase protection for the rare bird over a previous designation of 730 stream miles finalized by the Bush administration in 2005 and challenged by the Center.
“With today’s proposal, the southwestern willow flycatcher has a shot at survival,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center’s endangered species director. “Like so many species dependent on the rivers and streams of the Southwest, the southwestern willow flycatcher is on the brink of extinction and urgently needs more habitat protection.”
The proposed designation includes numerous important and well-known rivers, including the San Gabriel, Ventura, San Diego, Virgin, Colorado, Little Colorado, Gila, Rio Grande, and San Pedro.
“Protection of southwestern rivers for the flycatcher will benefit hundreds of other species and millions of people, too, who depend on these rivers for water and recreation,” said Greenwald. “There are so many benefits, economic and otherwise, of protecting endangered species that are often underappreciated.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service is still considering excluding 779 stream miles it says are “already being managed to accommodate or advance flycatcher recovery through Habitat Conservation Plans, tribal management, and other partnerships.”
“Although we support the efforts of local governments or other entities to conserve habitat for the flycatcher, we believe all 2,090 stream miles should be designated as critical habitat,” said Greenwald. “In many cases, ongoing conservation efforts for flycatchers don’t take into account recovery of the rare songbird, or they’re voluntary and therefore uncertain.”
The flycatcher was listed as an endangered species in 1995 in response to a petition from the Center. According to a 2007 survey, there are roughly 1,299 territories spread across the species range with substantial populations on the upper Gila River and middle Rio Grande in New Mexico, Roosevelt Lake and the lower San Pedro in Arizona and numerous scattered locations in California.
Background on the Flycatcher
The flycatcher is a small, neotropical migrant bird that breeds in streamside forests of Southern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas and extreme northwestern Mexico. Within this range, the flycatcher has lost more than 90 percent of its habitat to dams, water withdrawal, livestock grazing, urban sprawl and other factors.The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 320,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
COMMENTARY: When one looks at the proposed habitat conservation plan areas for the Willow Flyctacher, the chriricahua leapord frog and a number of other endangered species one finds that virtually all of the streams, rivers and watercourses in Arizona are covered.
The goal is pretty clear beyond just protecting the endangered species…radical limitations in access to water via state granted water rights, elimination of grazing on federally-managed lands, and other goals radical evironmental groups seek in the name of protecting endangered species but have everything to do with removing humans and their access to their water rights in the habitat conservation plan watersheds.
August 13th, 2011 on 10:38 am
You know, I heard about this on the radio yesterday on my way home from work. The first thing that came to mind was, “I wonder if this will put a burr under Hugh’s saddle”?
August 13th, 2011 on 2:20 pm
You bet.
Interestingly a lot of areas where the willow flycatcher are increasing in numbers are exactly areas CBD and USF&W want to change existing land use (i.e eliminate nearby grazing) to “create” habitat and in fact there are examples (especially along the Verde River) where the opposite result has happened…fewer willow flycatchers.
The stretch of the Santa Cruz River being proposed has been decades of work by many people to restore the clean water via a new wastewater treatment plant and restore the riparian habitat.
US Fish and Wildlife and CBD have done absolutely nothing here to bring this area to the point it could support willow flycathers and a lot of other endangered species.
But I am sure as soon as this area is designated we’re all going to be hit with BS regulations about what we can or cannot do with our land and water because they know better than we do about hopw to manage an environment and they start with built-in biases against existng land uses they want to eliminate…and the habitat designation is their tool to force this.
I can’t wait until all this craziness finally hits you where you live and you find what you thought you could do is no longer allowed because your conduct is in conflict with someone else’s concept of what the “natural” environment ought to be. And guess what…that is just a matter of time the way things are going which…once this is pushed over the edge in the cities….you won’t think twice about wanting to balance the laws and regulations. For example, an extremely valid argument exists to remove all cats from the Santa Cruz Valley because they prey on endangered birds and lizards, some of which may actually live on your property. The day when the wildlife police come to arrest you because your cat killed a pygmy owl and you face prison time is the day you will wake up.
August 13th, 2011 on 10:30 pm
The largest willow flycatcher population known in the Southwest occurs on a working cattle ranch, the U Bar, in southwestern New Mexico. Up to 200 pairs have been recorded to nest there, where reproductive success has been documented over time and the supposed “threat” of cowbird parasitism has been proven negligible. Tellingly, the FWS doesn’t even mention these journal published facts (Brodhead, Stoleson and Finch). Nor does the FWS mention the fact that only 3 records of these flycatchers were known from New Mexico prior to 1928, the last of which had occurred fully 25 years earlier (Florence Mirriam Bailey’s “Birds of New Mexico”). According to the FWS, because ”only” 500 or so pairs are documented to be breeding in New Mexico today, critical habitat designation is essential to preventing the southwestern willow flycatcher’s extinction as a species.
Nor does the Service mention anywhere that less than a handful of willow flycatcher records exist for the Santa Cruz River — all of which are from the Tucson area and none of which are after 1910. There are no specimen records of willow flycatchers from upstream on the Santa Cruz.
Although abundant habit exists for them along the Santa Cruz from Rio Rico to downstream of Tubac because of agricultural water diversions and the cleaned water coming from the international waste water treatment plant Hugh mentioned, willow flycatchers did not historically, nor do they currently, breed in this area. Moreovcr, willow flycatchers are only rarely encountered along the Santa Cruz as migrants.
Yet this is the scientific basis on which the FWS claims that the Santa Cruz must be designated as “critical habitat,” or habitat “essential” to the survival of southwestern willow flycatchers as a species where imposition of its management authority is required. This is just another example of the use of a species as a trojan horse to get what the FWS wants in the absence of legitimate scientific process.
August 14th, 2011 on 11:55 am
“The proposed revision identifies 2,090 steam miles …of critical habitat”
“Of the total proposal, approximately 779 stream miles are being considered for exclusion from critical habitat.”
In 2005, the Service designated 737 river miles of flycatcher critical habitat (after initially proposing 1,556 river miles).”
Pop quiz:
True or False? The US Fish and Wildlife Service is planning to add between 574 and 1353 stream miles to the existing 737 stream miles of critical habitat for this bird .
True or False? The US Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to expand critical habitat for this one species by anywhere from 78 % to 184%.