About 6,000 acres of endangered vernal pool habitat around the
University of California, Merced ““ the system’s 10th
and newest campus ““ will not be designated as a critical
habitat by the Fish and Wildlife Service, potentially putting
dozens of unique plant and animal species at risk.
Merced county was just one of many areas in the state affected
by the federal agency’s decision Aug. 7 to scale back
original plans that would have protected almost 1.7 million acres
of land in California and Oregon from federal development.
Under the new plan, announced Aug. 6, about 740,000 acres of
land in 30 California counties and one Oregon county will be
classified as “critical habitat,” which will shelter 15
wetland animal and plant species listed as threatened or
endangered.
Officials with the Fish and Wildlife Service said it made the
substantial reduction based on new mapping techniques and an
economic impact analysis that determined counties could potentially
lose millions of dollars if their wetlands were designated as
critical habitat.
Environmental groups, however, said the move would hang
thousands of acres of endangered wetlands out to dry.
“The mere effort of mapping critical habitats is critical
and valuable because awareness is brought forward that there is
something of value here,” said Barbara Vlamis, director of
the Butte Environmental Council.
Vlamis also said designating land as critical habitat can help
local threatened or endangered species recover their numbers over
time; these species need more area than their occupied territory to
expand into.
However, Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Jim Nickles said
the reduction should have little impact on wetlands species as many
are classified as endangered species and thus protected by law
anyway.
“We’re still going to work with folks to modify
their projects and conserve species, and we’ll continue to do
that whether there’s critical habitat there or not,” he
said.
In the past, the Fish and Wildlife Service had been sued by
business firms because they had not factored economic impact into
their decisions, Nickles added.
The economic impact, conducted at the recommendation of the
Department of the Interior, determined that landowners and
consumers stood to lose over one billion dollars in surpluses and
land value if the original 1.7 million acres had been designated as
a critical habitat.
Environmental groups, however, have disputed that number and
cried foul at what they say is unwarranted interference from the
federal government.
“The Department of the Interior and its political
appointees are beholden to their political masters, and (the Bush)
administration is not eco-friendly,” Vlamis said.
The Department of the Interior is run by Gale Norton, a moderate
conservative and Bush-appointee who has been known to advocate
free-market solutions over environmental regulations.
Fish and Wildlife officials deny any political influence on
their decision.
Though the entire county of Merced is among the land that will
not be designated as critical habitat, the UC says it will still
proceed with plans to protect 39 square miles of vernal pools and
wetlands around the campus.
“We’ve set aside several thousand acres for
conservation that has been paid for by the state, and that will
create a wall of conservation to the north and east of the proposed
campus,” said James Grant, a spokesman for UC Merced.
“So there will be no development there,
regardless.”
UC Merced has billed itself as the “environmental
campus,” with energy-efficient buildings and land preserves
around its perimeter. Construction there is still ongoing, though
the state budget crisis has delayed the projected 2004 opening for
a year.
Vlamis, however, dismissed Merced’s claims as “a
pubic relations cloak.”
“I would suggest that campus is not friendly towards the
environment. If it was, they would have built it close to an
existing community instead of out in the wildlands,” she
said.
Some environmental groups will most likely file lawsuits against
the university in the future regarding the construction of its
newest campus, she added.