Suit filed over Selkirk caribou listing
|
|
November 16, 2012 |
Bonner County and the state’s
snowmobile association this week launched a
lawsuit in U.S. District Court aimed at forcing
a response from the federal government regarding
Endangered Species Act listing of the “Southern
Selkirk” population of woodland caribou.
Bonner County and the Idaho State Snowmobile
Association on May 9 filed a petition under ESA
regulations suggesting that the caribou
population was illegally listed and asking that
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsider
its 1983 listing of the Selkirk caribou
population as endangered.
Under ESA rules, an initial finding as to
whether or not a petition to remove a species
from the list presents substantial information
indicating that the requested action may be
warranted is due within 90 days of the petition.
The complaint that finding has yet to be issued.
The complaint filed Thursday for the county and
snowmobile association by the Pacific Legal
Foundation says the USFWS has “violated the ESA,
and unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed
required agency action in violation of the
Administrative Procedure Act….”
“Unfortunately, the government has not responded
to our petition,” said PLF attorney Daniel
Himebaugh. “The agency is not serving the
taxpayers, or the cause of responsible
environmental regulation, by ignoring legitimate
questions about its policies. Therefore, on
behalf of our clients, and all taxpayers, we’re
forced to tell the agency, ‘we’ll see you in
court.’”
The petition claims that the caribou population
in Bonner County’s Selkirk Mountains isn’t
distinct in a legally relevant way that would
support federal regulation.
“The delisting petition that we submitted in May
was based on the government’s own science,”
Himebaugh said. “As we pointed out, the federal
government’s findings suggest that the caribou
population should be dropped from the ESA list.
The problem is the Service did not look at the
Selkirk caribou population in relation to the
caribou species as a whole. The government
singled out a small population without
determining whether it was legally discrete or
significant in the manner that the ESA
requires.”
A 2008 status review completed by the USFWS says
“The geographic separation between the South
Selkirk population and the next two closest
populations (South Purcells and Nakusp), the
physical movement barriers between these
populations, and the limited exchange of animals
between the South Selkirk and adjacent
populations demonstrate that this population is
markedly separated from other populations of the
same taxon as a result of physical factors.
“We find that the population is significant
because of its importance in helping protect the
viability of the mountain caribou metapopulation,
which is in danger of extirpation throughout its
current range. Over the last century, mountain
caribou have been extirpated from 60 percent of
their historic range in BC and the US,” the
status review says.
“Loss of the South Selkirk caribou population
would represent an additional 8 percent
reduction in the current range of mountain
caribou (whose range has already declined by 60
percent) and would eliminate the southernmost
population and the last remaining caribou
population in the coterminous US.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of caribou on
the North American continent, so there is no
justification for putting Idaho caribou on the
ESA list and imposing job-killing land use
restrictions as a result,” said Bonner County
Commissioner Mike Nielsen. “This regulatory
overkill puts winter tourism and recreation on
the endangered list.”
The complaint says that due to purported threats
to the Southern Selkirk Mountain Caribou
Population, a court-ordered injunction prevents
Bonner County and its residents from using and
maintaining certain trails in the Idaho
Panhandle National Forests for snowmobile
recreation.
“Trail grooming that interferes with the caribou
or its habitat may expose the county to
liability for a ‘take’ of caribou under the ESA.
Moreover, implementation of the defendants’
recent critical habitat proposal for the
Southern Selkirk Mountain Caribou Population
would place additional restrictions on
recreational activities in more than 375,000
acres in Bonner County and surrounding areas,
resulting in lost income for the county and its
residents,” the complaint says.
The complaint asks the court to issue a
“mandatory injunction requiring Defendants to
make a finding by a date certain on whether
Plaintiffs’ petition ‘presents substantial
scientific or commercial information indicating
that’ delisting the Southern Selkirk Mountain
Caribou Population may be warranted.”
|
|
Questions or comments about this
article?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
