Suzanne Doyle
Conservation Committee

The fate of the California Tiger Salamander (CTS) is being decided right now by a closed-session Strategy Team in Santa Rosa. The Team includes representatives of the federal and state agencies that are charged with protecting endangered species, landowners, city and county interests and a single person representing the environmental community. Sitting all interested parties down together for discussion is a positive step, but the lack of public openness and absence of an independent biological voice on the Team are worrying.

The Strategy Team has set a deadline of June 15 to decide which pieces of land in the Santa Rosa Plain should be possibly protected as CTS habitat and which can be immediately developed. Usually this process, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a public process similar to an EIR, and takes one to two years. It takes this long to collect data, to study the numbers and lifecycle needs of the species, and to develop a recovery plan based on good biological science, not on local politics and economic pressure.

Apparently, pressure on the agencies is driving the Team. A group made up of developers, builders, Sonoma County and the cities of Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park is suing U.S. Fish and Wildlife to de-list the CTS. California Fish & Game is being petitioned for reinstatement of the CTS on their endangered list but must be anticipating a flood of lawsuits if it does.

What we are seeing is only a small part of a nation-wide attack on the Endangered Species Act. Lawsuits are making it impossible for the cash-starved agencies to do their job properly and in a timely way. Landowners' legitimate anger at delay and uncertainty is being channelled towards attacking the ESA, one of the world's most successful species protection laws, rather than towards demanding an adequate level of funding for the agencies.

In Washington, Rep. Dennis Cardoza (R-Merced) has brought a bill before Congress that would designate habitat only if it is "practicable, economically feasible and determinable". In other words, it would gut the ESA, making endangered species protection always come second to local money interests.

These examples are misleading. Large projects, like freeway widening and work on the Geysers pipeline will certainly be allowed to go ahead after the appropriate studies have been done and some studies have already been completed. Freeway widening delays are probably mostly due now to the state's budget problems. The Press Democrat's extensive review article of March 21 reported that Fish & Wildlife has been fairly prompt at issuing permits for urban sites and small projects and has issued permits for 62% of applications within the salamander's potential range. Three affordable housing projects have been stalled but a large number of other affordable housing developments are moving forward elsewhere in the county.

Habitat protection is the most important function of the Endangered Species Act and it shoud be based on biology, not politics. According to Mike Martini, as quoted by the Press Democrat on May 2: "We need some certainty as to how to address recovery. They need more reliable science ...." Exactly. Science-based planning is the job of the scientists at the federal and state agencies. They need funding and freedom from lawsuits to do their job.

What You Can Do:

Let your elected representatives know that you support the Endangered Species Act and that you do not support the lawsuits or Cardoza's bill:

Santa Rosa City Council
PO Box 1678
Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Mayor Sharon Wright
(707) 527-8300
swright@ci.santarosa.ca.us

Rohnert Park City Council
6750 Commerce Blvd
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
e-mail is through the city's website, at www.rpcity.org