Federal Register publication will begin 60-day public comment period
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said today it is proposing critical habitat for the endangered Buena Vista Lake shrew in five areas of Kern County, in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California. The agencys action comes in response to a court order. To view Q&As click here.
The five proposed units cover a total of 4,649 acres, and include portions of the Kern National Wildlife Refuge, the Kern Fan Recharge Area and the Coles Levee Ecosystem Preserve. Little, if any, land now under cultivation is included in the proposal because the species does not live onregularly tilled land.
The Service submitted the critical habitat proposal to the Federal Register on Friday. Once the proposal is published, probably later this week, the public will have 60 days to review it and submit comments. The Service has scheduled two public hearings Sept. 30 on the proposal.
Under an order from U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (Kern County Farm Bureau et al. v. Anne Badgley, Regional Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1), the Service must make a final determination of critical habitat by Jan. 12, 2005.
Written and oral comments may be submitted at the public hearings, which are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 30 at the DoubleTree Hotel, 3100 Camino del Rio Court, Bakersfield, California. The public hearing will include two sessions: 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Registration for the hearings will begin at 12:30 p.m. for the afternoon session and at 5:30 p.m. for the evening session.
Biologists believe that historically the Buena Vista Lake shrew occurred widely in the marshlands of the Tulare Basin. By the time biologists first discovered the shrew in 1932 most of these marshes were drained or dried up by water diversions. Today, the species has lost more than 95 percent of its historic habitat.
Biologists currently know of only five locations where the Buena Vista Lake shrew can be found - the former Kern Lake Preserve, Cole Levee Ecological Preserve, the Kern Fan recharge area, the Goose Lake Bottoms Wetland project, and the Kern National Wildlife Refuge. All these sites are in Kern County, California. Surveys in the past decade have found only about 50 of these rare mammals.
These remaining populations are threatened primarily by habitat alteration due to agricultural activities, modifications of local hydrology, uncertain water supply, possible toxic effects from selenium poisoning, and naturally occurring catastrophic events such as drought that could wipe out the remaining animals. Water is a vital component of the shrew's environment because of the moisture required to support the variety of insects that are its primary food source.
The Buena Vista Lake shrew is a mouse-sized animal with a long snout, small eyes, and ears that are concealed or nearly concealed by soft fur. Its coat is predominantly black with buffy brown specks on the back and smoke-colored gray underneath. An adult weighs about the same as a quarter (0.14 ounces), and most are around 5 inches long (including their tails). The shrews benefit surrounding plant communities by consuming large quantities of insectsand other invertebrates, influencing plant succession and controlling pest insects.
Critical habitat is a term in the Endangered Species Act. It identifies geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area conservation area
A conservation area is a type of national wildlife refuge that consists primarily or entirely of conservation easements on private lands. These conservation easements support private landowner efforts to protect important habitat for fish and wildlife and major migration corridors while helping to keep agricultural lands in production.
Learn more about conservation area . It does not allow government or public access to private lands.
In 30 years of implementing the Endangered Species Act, the Service has found that the designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection to most listed species, while preventing the Service from using scarce conservation resources for activities with greater conservation benefits.
In almost all cases, recovery of listed species will come through voluntary cooperative partnerships, not regulatory measures such as critical habitat. Habitat is also protected through cooperative measures under the Endangered Species Act including Habitat Conservation Plans, Safe Harbor Agreements, Candidate Conservation Agreements and state programs. In addition, voluntary partnership programs such as the Service's Private Stewardship Grants and Partners for Fish and Wildlife program also restore habitat. Habitat for endangered species is provided on many national wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife management areas.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 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 Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
