Contacts
Karen Boylan (907)786-3309
LaVerne Smith (907)786-3892
Greg Balogh (907)271-2778
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated approximately 39,000 square miles of critical habitat for the spectacled eider in Alaska in four different locations: in the Bering Sea between St. Lawrence and St. Matthew islands; in Norton Sound east of Nome; in Ledyard Bay between Cape Lisburne and Icy Cape; and on the coastal fringe of parts of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
More than 97 percent of spectacled eider critical habitat is in marine waters seldom used by commercial fishermen. Of the portion on land, more than 95 percent is within areas managed by the Federal government. Less than 1 percent of the designation falls on Native lands. The remaining 4 percent are along shorelines where the water is managed by the State of Alaska.
"The designation will help focus attention on the habitat needs of this threatened sea duck," said David B. Allen, the Service’s regional director for Alaska.
"We have learned a lot about the habitat needs of this species during the last few years," Allen said. "Designating critical habitat in the areas we now know are essential to spectacled eiders will help us highlight their importance in the recovery of the species."
Under the Act, critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and which may require special management considerations. A designation does not set up a preserve or refuge and only applies to situations where Federal funding or a Federal permit is involved. It does not affect landowners taking actions that do not involve Federal funding or permits, nor does it allow either government or public access to private lands.
Specifically, the Act requires Federal agencies to consult with the Service to ensure that activities they fund, authorize, or carry out do not jeopardize threatened or endangered species or adversely modify or destroy their critical habitat. Under another provision of the Act, however, Federal agencies already have been required to consult with the Service on activities that may affect spectacled eiders since the Alaska-breeding population was listed as threatened in 1993.
"Federal agencies in Alaska will likely see few, if any, effects of this action because the Service has been working with them for the last seven years to analyze the effects of their projects on spectacled eiders and their habitat," said E. LaVerne Smith, the Service’s assistant regional director for fisheries and ecological services in Alaska. "The designation of critical habitat will not alter the cooperative relationships we’ve developed over that time; nor will it affect the end results, since habitat needs have already been addressed."
The designation of critical habitat for spectacled eiders stems from an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and the Christians Caring for Creation. These organizations challenged the Service’s 1993 decision to not designate critical habitat for spectacled eiders. At the time when the spectacled eider was listed as threatened in 1993, the Service generally did not designate critical habitat because it believed that most conservation benefits for the species accrued as a result of listing, and that species received little or no additional benefit from the designation of critical habitat. Furthermore, when the spectacled eider was listed as threatened, the Service did not know enough about the species’ conservation needs to designate critical habitat. Scientists now feel more confident in their ability to identify important eider habitat.
In February 2000, the Service published a proposal to designate a total of about 74,600 square miles in nine areas in northern and western Alaska as critical habitat for the spectacled eider. The Service then received comments on the proposal from the public, eider experts, local and regional governments, and other organizations during a 231-day comment period. After thorough evaluation of this information, the Service designated critical habitat on about 39,000 square miles of eider habitat.
After thorough evaluation of all available information, the Service designated critical habitat on about 38,000 square miles of marine waters where spectacled eiders congregate during molt, winter, or spring staging, and about 1,000 square miles of breeding habitat in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The Service did not designate critical habitat on the North Slope because the small, primarily educational, benefits of a critical habitat designation on the North Slope were outweighed by the benefits of not including this area in the designation. The available information does not allow us to identify the specific areas of the North Slope that should be designated as critical habitat. Designating critical habitat on the North Slope without a more reliable biological basis would provide inaccurate information about the areas needed by the eider and would undermine ongoing work with partners on the North Slope to carry out conservation efforts. After weighing these factors the Service chose not to designate critical habitat on the North Slope.
The spectacled eider is a large sea duck, one of three species in the genus Somateria found in the United States. In the winter and spring, adult males are in breeding plumage with a black chest, white back, and pale green head with black-rimmed white spectacle-like patches around the eyes. During the late summer and fall, males are mottled brown. Females and juveniles are mottled brown year-round with pale brown eye patches.
The species suffered a 96 percent decline on the Y-K Delta in recent decades, dropping from 96,000 birds in the 1970s to fewer than 5,000 in 1992. Biologists estimate that as of the summer of 2000, there were about 7,500 breeding spectacled eiders left on the Y-K Delta, and about 9,500 birds left on the North Slope. The cause of the Y-K Delta decline remains a mystery, but biologists believe that current threats to the bird include lead poisoning from eating spent lead shot; predation by foxes, gulls and jaegers; and hunting and other human disturbances.
Biologists don’t know if the species declined on the North Slope between the 1970s and 1990s, but survey data suggests the eiders may have experienced a slow decline throughout the 1990s. No one knows what threats the eider faces at sea, but many scientists believe the birds may be victims of fundamental ecosystem changes that seem to be occurring throughout the Bering Sea.
A backgrounder web page for the media is available by going to: http://alaska.fws.gov/ and clicking on "Spectacled Eider" under issues of importance.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
The public can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska region list server, to have our press releases sent to an e-mail address automatically by sending an e-mail message to: listserv@www.fws.gov. Those interested should indicate they would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give their name in the body of the message.
|
