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June 28, 2011
Judge
Orders Increased Protections for Wildlife in Los Padres National
Forest
Lawsuit
Filed by ForestWatch and Other Conservation Groups Protects 27
Imperiled Wildlife and Plant Species in Our Region
SAN
FRANCISCO — A federal judge today ordered the U.S. Forest
Service and two federal wildlife agencies to increase
protections for all 27 threatened and endangered species in the
Los Padres National Forest. Today’s
order,
responding to a lawsuit by five conservation groups, follows the
court’s 2009 decision that found the agencies were in violation
of the Endangered Species Act.
The
Forest Service updated the management plans for the Los Padres
National Forest and three other southern California forests in
2005. Two federal wildlife agencies — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and National Marine Fisheries Service — reviewed the
updated plans and issued their formal conclusions (called
“biological opinions”). However, the biological opinions failed
to include required protective measures to avoid harm to
already-imperiled plants and animals. The agencies also failed
to include any mechanism to track the level of harm to
endangered species and didn’t establish limits on the amount of
harm each species could withstand before triggering additional
protections.
In
2009, the court found that the agencies violated the Endangered
Species Act and ordered additional briefing on the appropriate
remedy. Today’s decision orders new protective measures to be
developed and put in place for these four national forests
within six months, including “incidental take” thresholds,
mitigation measures, and monitoring and reporting requirements.
The
court also ordered interim protections for particular species
and habitats while the additional long-term safeguards are
developed, including determining the numbers of steelhead trout
on the Los Padres National Forest, and developing a monitoring,
tracking, and reporting program to evaluate ongoing impacts to
steelhead. The order also requires closure of the Cherry Creek
area to target shooting. This area — along Highway 33 in Ventura
County — is frequently littered with household appliances and
other trash. Adding to the public safety and environmental
hazards of the site is the fact that 6 recent wildfires were
caused by target shooting activities in this area (in 1997,
1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, and 2010), according to data provided by
the U.S. Forest Service.
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| Cherry Creek
shooting area littered with bullet casings and shotgun
shells. |
Toxic-laden
television sets near a seasonal creek in Cherry Canyon. |
The 27
plants and animals teetering on the brink of extinction that
will benefit from today’s decision include the
California
condor, which is rebounding from a low of only 28 birds in
the mid-1980s, and the
Smith's blue
butterfly, the
arroyo toad,
southern steelhead, and the
Camatta
Canyon amole — a rare plant found nowhere else on Earth.
Plaintiffs in the case are the Center for Biological Diversity,
Los Padres ForestWatch, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and
California Native Plant Society. The plaintiffs are represented
in the case by Marc Fink of the Center for Biological Diversity
and Sierra Weaver of Defenders of Wildlife.
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