SAN FRANCISCO -- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling that could have broad implications on old forest logging in federal forests, Friday overturned U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's interpretation of the Endangered Species Act's protections of the northern spotted owl.
The case, Gifford Pinchot Task Force v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioned whether the Fish and Wildlife Service was adequately protecting the designated "critical habitat" of northern spotted owls.
Gifford Pinchot Task Force, an Oregon nonprofit organization, was joined by other Oregon nonprofits: Cascadia Wildlands Project, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council Fund, American Lands Alliance, Bark and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center; and Washington nonprofits: Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project.
The case involved six representative areas in Northern California, Oregon and Washington state.
Appellants had argued that the FWS' finding that timber harvest in the spotted owls' habitat did not constitute "destruction or adverse modification" of that habitat.
The 9th Circuit Court ruled that the Endangered Species Act "was written not merely to forestall the extinction of species ... but to allow a species to recover to the point where it may be delisted."
Appellants had argued that analysis of jeopardy to species "must look to the actual species themselves instead of simply analyzing habitat ... (or) must continually verify habitat models by on-the-ground population verifications."
The 9th Circuit said, "Focus on actual species count is an overly narrow interpretation of what is required under the jeopardy prong."
The court also determined that the Northwest Forest Plan "was developed on sound scientific analysis as an effective method to conserve the spotted owl."
George Sexton, conservation director for the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, said in a statement: "For years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been handing out spotted owl kill permits in critical old-growth habitat like candy. The open season on spotted owls has finally ended."
source: http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2320647,00.html 7aug04
A federal appeals court shot down a series of timber cuts planned for national forests in the Pacific Northwest yesterday, ruling that regulations ostensibly protecting the spotted owl and other threatened species are "blatantly contradictory to Congress' express demand."
In a ruling covering 6.9 million acres but with potentially even greater implications, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it's not enough for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to merely keep threatened species from dying out.
The government also must protect natural areas deemed critical to the recovery of battered animal populations so that they no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act, said the court, which is based in San Francisco and covers nine states.
"The ESA was enacted not merely to forestall the extinction of species ... but to allow a species to recover," the court said in a ruling written by Judge Ronald Gould.
The ruling echoes one by a New Orleans-based appeals court in 2001 -- one never followed by the Bush administration -- and a ruling earlier this week by a federal district court judge in San Francisco. The New Orleans ruling dealt with the gulf sturgeon. The California case was about the desert tortoise.
At issue in all three lawsuits was what the Endangered Species Act calls "critical habitat" for species designated as in need of federal protection. The government and environmentalists have long wrangled over the issue.
The Bush administration and presidential administrations dating back to Ronald Reagan's followed rules that said critical habitat must be managed merely to keep protected species from disappearing. But that allows a lot of leeway -- for instance, permitting timber harvests in old forests suitable as a home for spotted owls.
"The agency's interpretation would drastically narrow the scope of protection commanded by Congress," the 9th Circuit court ruled.
Dave Werntz, science director of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the owl case, called the ruling "a big change."
The Bush administration had argued that the Northwest Forest Plan, which was adopted by the Clinton administration to end bickering over the fate of the spotted owl, adequately protects the bird.
That 1994 plan sets aside some 7.4 million acres to shelter the owl, but allows logging in an additional 5.5 million acres -- including some "critical habitat." The logging envisioned by the plan has never been realized because of challenges by environmentalists and other problems putting the plan into effect.
The new ruling will make it even harder to allow logging of federal forests capable of sheltering the owls.
Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, a Portland-based timber group, faulted the Clinton administration for adopting the Northwest Forest Plan but failing to square it, as promised, with the critical habitat regulation.
"We argue critical habitat is a baseline for protecting the species, not a recovery plan," which is required under a separate section of the Endangered Species Act, West said.
Yesterday's ruling dealt with six proposed timber sales in Oregon and Washington national forests that would have destroyed or harmed more than 21,000 acres of critical habitat. But the ruling could go much further, affecting development even on private land in cases where federal environmental permits are required.
Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which was involved in the desert tortoise case, called both of this week's rulings significant.
Comparing the Endangered Species Act to a hospital, Suckling said the policy rejected by the court "just tries to keep species in the emergency room. The Bush administration's idea of a hospital is a place where people can live on the verge of death forever and declare it a success."
A Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman said the agency had no comment, pending review of the 29-page ruling.
P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or robertmcclure@seattlepi.com
source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/185288_forest07.html 7aug04
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