April 14, 2006 Frog protection acreage slashed Federal agency plan doubts usefulness of ‘critical habitat.’

By MICHAEL DOYLE Bee Washington Bureau “Less of a bad thing is certainly bet- Hill in opposition to Pombo’s bill. ter than more of a bad thing,” Bri- WASHINGTON - The Bush admin- an Kennedy, a spokesman for the “Most everyone with any sense istration on Thursday dramatically House Resources Committee, said knows that all creatures need a suit- shrank the land deemed crucial for Thursday. able place to live,” Stack said. “If survival of the California red-legged the places to live are not suffi cient frog, a threatened amphibian at the The House panel is chaired by Rep. to ensure the recovery of the frog, center of a national debate. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. Pombo you don’t have to be a rocket scien- and Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Mer- tist to predict the consequences.” After years of litigation and scien- ced, propose rewriting the Endan- tifi c dispute, the Fish and Wildlife gered Species Act to eliminate the Jeff Miller, Bay Area wildlands co- Service formally declared 450,288 concept of critical habitat. The bill ordinator with the Center for Bio- acres as “critical habitat” for the frog is a long shot in Congress, with logical Diversity, which has fi led once celebrated by Mark Twain. senators and others raising serious lawsuits on the frog’s behalf, added questions. that “the designation amounts to an It’s a sprawling patchwork spread extinction plan” for the threatened over 20 California counties, includ- “It is painfully obvious that the crit- frog. ing portions of Merced, Nevada ical habitat designation for Twain’s and El Dorado counties. The frog’s frog is based more on political sci- The designated land includes critical habitat, though, no longer ence than real science,” said Rob- 12,176 acres in southwestern Mer- includes the county commemorated ert Stack, executive director of the ced County, west of San Luis Reser- in Twain’s famous “The Celebrated Jumping Frog Research Institute in voir, and the 6,733-acre Sailor Flat Jumping Frog of Calaveras Coun- Angels Camp. site near Nevada City, among other ty.” areas. But many other regions were Stack, a biochemist, fi led the original excluded. It is also 39 percent smaller than lawsuit that compelled the Fish and scientists had proposed last Novem- Wildlife Service to proceed with the The Fish and Wildlife Service origi- ber, and 89 percent smaller than of- California red-legged frog’s habitat nally proposed 4.1 million acres as fi cials fi rst suggested at the start of designation. Last week, he joined critical habitat. Pressured by Cen- the Bush administration. That an- Calaveras County rancher Danny tral Valley lawmakers, among oth- gers environmentalists but gratifi es Pearson and avid Grass Valley fl y ers, the agency scaled that back last congressional critics who dispute fi sherman Mark Rockwell - a retired November to 737,912 acres. the usefulness of critical habitat. chiropractor - in lobbying Capitol Following two public meetings in stock ponds, build fences and disc January in San Andreas, offi cials fi elds without worrying about de- further excluded 4,449 acres in stroying frog habitat. In part, agen- Calaveras County from the criti- cy offi cials explained Thursday that cal habitat list. Offi cials contended they are now convinced that man- Thursday that by relenting, they aged livestock grazing can have a might “encourage other willing “neutral or benefi cial effect” on the landowners” to join Pearson in con- frog’s habitat. serving Young’s Creek. “We recognize that ... requirements Critical habitat is the land and water could push some (ranching) opera- considered necessary for the “con- tions to bankruptcy,” the Fish and servation” of a threatened or endan- Wildlife Service added, in its offi - gered species. Federal map-drawers cial Federal Register notice. are supposed to balance scientifi c data with potential economic costs. Stack agreed that ranchers and frogs By further shrinking the frog’s criti- can peacefully coexist, and he of- cal habitat, Bush administration of- fered support for the ranching ex- fi cials estimate they have cut the emptions even as he criticized the economic impact to $102 million, rest of the proposal. from $497 million. Most of the costs come from lost development opportunities.

“To the extent that designation of critical habitat provides protection, it can come at signifi cant social and economic cost,” the Fish and Wild- life Service stated.

Bush administration offi cials insist, moreover, that critical habitat desig- nations do little to protect plants and animals.

Critical habitat doesn’t directly im- pose new regulations on property owners, nor does it set up a pro- tected reserve. It mostly matters when there is a federal connection; for instance, with permits or fund- ing. Then, the agencies must consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service. To ease ranchers’ concerns, the Fish and Wildlife Service is excluding “routine” ranching practices from certain Endangered Species Act regulations.

For instance, ranchers can clean out