74,000 Acres Proposed for California Tiger Salamander in Sonoma County
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed the re-designation of 74,223 acres of critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander population in Sonoma County.
The action is in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center of Biological Diversity (CBD) to reverse the Bush administration’s illegal reduction of the California tiger salamander’s (Ambystoma californiense) habitat to zero in 2005. According to a CBD press release, the action is part of a larger campaign to overturn decisions made by the Bush administration regarding endangered species. The Cleaning up the Bush Legacy Campaign has so far addressed 8 million acres of critical habitat designation decisions in 28 states for 46 species.
Many of the illegal decisions, including the decision over critical habitat for the tiger salamander, were engineered by former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Julie MacDonald, who resigned in disgrace following a scathing investigation by the inspector general of misconduct at the Department of the Interior.
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Regarding the California tiger salamander, agency scientists were overruled by Bush administration appointees (including MacDonald) who hacked the critical habitat down to zero acres - instead of the 74,000 proposed acres. The Bush administration did not include any unoccupied habitat in the proposal - claiming that that only 17,000 acres of occupied habitat should be considered “critical” - and leaving only seven viable breeding sites for the salamander. Then, in a plan called “Santa Rosa Plain Conservation Strategy”, developers and local governments backed the agency’s decision to illegally exclude the entire habitat, in order to allow continued development throughout the region.
The California tiger salamander is found only in seven locations in the Santa Rosa Plain, although the species used to occupy the entire area. Urban sprawl, roads, and pesticides are a constant threat to the few areas where the salamander has managed to survive. Back in 2001, CBD and Citizens for a Sustainable Cotati filed an emergency listing petition under the Endangered Species Act for the Sonoma County population of the California tiger salamander. However, when the FWS failed to respond to the petition, CBD filed suit, getting the emergency listing in 2002. The endangered listing for the salamanders was made permanent by the FWS in 2003 - but was illegally changed to threatened in 2004. Endangered status was restored in 2005 when the CBD filed suit to challenge the downlisting.
Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasizes the need to protect the Santa Rosa Plain’s vanishing vernal pools.
The Santa Rosa Plain is a critically important ecosystem that is being subjected to a full-throttle assault by developers … The Sonoma County population of the California tiger salamander is on the brink of extinction and full protection of all suitable habitats is its only chance for survival. The few remaining tiger salamander populations in Sonoma are fragmented, isolated, and completely hemmed in by development and roads.
Development interests have destroyed enough of the lovely Sonoma County region.
Here’s to hoping the 74,000 acres are designated for California tiger salamanders - and not for developers.
Image source: FWS photo by C. Johnson
