Salmon and Steelhead May Lose Protections-roll back 'critical habitat'

[papau]

"a very large improvement" says Christopher Galik, an "environmental policy analyst" for the National Assn. of Homebuilders.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-salmon1dec01.story
THE NATION
Salmon and Steelhead May Lose Protections
The administration proposes to roll back 'critical habitat' for the ever-declining fish by up to 90%. Developers applaud the plan.
By Kenneth R. Weiss
Times Staff Writer

December 1, 2004

The Bush administration on Tuesday proposed dramatically rolling back protections for salmon and steelhead trout streams from Southern California to the Canadian border, saying the rare and endangered fish are sufficiently protected in other ways.

The revised plan, which was prompted by a lawsuit from the National Assn. of Homebuilders, could exclude 80% to 90% of the "critical habitat" that the National Marine Fisheries Service designated four years ago as necessary to keep West Coast salmon and steelhead populations from going extinct and to allow their depleted populations to recover.

Streams and rivers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County and at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County would be withdrawn as protected habitat because the military argued that the protections would delay training exercises and space launches and diminish military readiness.

In addition, streams that run through millions of acres of national forests stretching from northwestern California through western Oregon and Washington would be excluded as critical habitat for the fish. Federal officials said they did not want to impose another layer of restrictions on areas already subject to protections for the northern spotted owl.

The new plan also drops protections on private land where developers have struck conservation deals with government officials.

By removing all of these areas, "We would get down to excluding around 90% of the critical habitat that had been identified," said Jim Lecky, an assistant regional administrator for the Fisheries Service. <snip>