SACRAMENTO, Calif.- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose critical habitat for 15 endangered and threatened species in California, one of which is also found in Oregon, that are dependent on vernal pool wetlands for their survival, under a settlement between the Department of the Interior and Butte Environmental Council that was approved by the U.S. District Court in Sacramento on July 23, 2001.
On February 9, 2001, the District Court for the eastern district of California ordered the Service to complete a final critical habitat designation for four species of endangered or threatened freshwater shrimp by August 9, 2001. Under terms of the settlement agreement, the Service will propose critical habitat designations for each of the four species of freshwater shrimp and also for eleven listed vernal pool plants, allowing for a minimum public comment period of at least 60 days, and with final designation of critical habitat on or before August 15, 2002.
"We are pleased to have reached a settlement in this case which will provide the additional time needed by our biologists to develop accurate critical habitat proposals for these vernal pool species" said Steve Thompson, Acting Manager of the California/Nevada Operations Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The species affected by this settlement include four species of freshwater shrimp - the Conservancy fairy shrimp, longhorn fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole shrimp and vernal pool fairy shrimp; and eleven plants - the Butte County meadowfoam, hairy orcutt, slender orcutt, San Joaquin Valley orcutt, Sacramento orcutt, Solano grass, Greenes tuctoria, Colusa grass, succulent (or fleshy) owls clover, Hoovers spurge, and Contra Costa goldfields. The vernal pool fairy shrimp is the one species also found in Jackson County, Oregon.
Vernal pools, seasonal wetlands that fill with water during fall and winter rains, once dotted Californias Central Valley and also occurred in southern California coastal areas. The majority of the coastal southern California pools were destroyed before 1990. Biologists estimate that about 75 percent of this unique habitat has been lost in the Central Valley, and as much as 90 percent is gone from Southern Oregon
