Tribe intervenes in caribou suit
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December 9, 2013 |
The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (Kootenai Tribe) has
moved to intervene in the litigation over the
endangered woodland caribou.
Woodland caribou historically inhabited all of
Kootenai Territory in what is now north Idaho,
northeast Washington, northwest Montana and
southeast British Columbia.
The Selkirk Mountain subpopulation was emergency
listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)
in 1983 with a final listing in 1984. The
Canadian federal government listed the entire
southern mountain population of woodland caribou
under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2002.
The Selkirk Mountain subpopulation is the
southernmost subpopulation of woodland caribou
that exists primarily in British Columbia, but
extends also into the United States.
While critical habitat is generally designated
at the time of listing, in this case the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service decided it was
not prudent to do so in 1984 due to fears of
poaching.
As a result of litigation filed by
nongovernmental organizations, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service) was compelled to
publish a proposed critical habitat rule in
November, 2011.
The Service issued a final designation of over
30,000 acres in north Idaho and northeast
Washington in November 2012 after receiving
extensive comments from tribal and state
government agencies and the public.
According to Gary Aitken, Jr., Chairman of the
Kootenai Tribal Council, “the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service reached the correct conclusion
in its final critical habitat designation.
Despite what the litigants claim, critical
habitat is not the same as a recovery zone or
area of historical use.”
The Kootenai Tribe, however, is not satisfied
with just the critical habitat designation.
“The Kootenai Tribe wants actual caribou
recovery and restoration throughout Kootenai
Territory, which will not be accomplished by
short-sighted use of ESA’s heavy hammer to force
a critical habitat designation designed to
prevent extinction,” Aitken said. “The Kootenai
Tribe intends to gather with our government
partners to begin recovery planning that will
look at all limiting factors in Kootenai
Territory and focus on all Kootenai species, not
just caribou.
"A holistic approach to natural resource
management is the only thing that will work for
humans and animals alike. We hope we can get
beyond this litigation so that our U.S. federal
partners can join the effort and focus their
limited resources on species recovery, not
litigation or procedural efforts that do little
to benefit the species and create conflict.” |
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