ELKO - Proposed endangered species listings don't have to be controversial and they don't have to produce anxiety.
That was one of the messages Ted Koch, Nevada director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, delivered to a group in Elko County this month,
Elko County's Northeast Nevada Stewardship Group organized a public meeting Jan.14.
Each of the agency and industry representatives were asked to answer two questions: "What will the impact be in your area of expertise: If the sage grouse is listed as a threatened or endangered species or; what impact has there already been from the interim management regulations.
"Listing doesn't have to be that controversial," Koch said, adding it's just a few high-profile cases that put people on edge. "Anxiety over endangered species listing comes from a sense that it's a battle for control.
"There's a lot of truth to that; we're currently being sued by certain interests to list sage grouse and some of those interests are very clear in their intent to do things such as remove all livestock from public lands."
He assured that wasn't his agency's agenda and it was possible to find common ground.
Koch emphasized the kind of cooperation he favors, citing as a success story his involvement with the bi-state sage grouse working group.
"We're so supportive of it, we said if the action plans are fully refined and implemented in addition to realizing resource management plans which the BLM is developing, that could be adequate to remove the threats." he said, adding Nevada's 18 million acres of sage grouse habitat means "our backs aren't against the wall, we can still be flexible."
Jill Silvie, BLM's District Manager for Elko County, said although BLM cooperates regularly with USFWS to differing degrees, "It is not in the BLM's best interest to have the bird listed."
She agreed with Koch it is about control but added the more control local agency personnel have, the more flexible they can be.
Koch said his Fish and Wildlife Service supervisor told him when he arrived in Nevada, the top threats to sage grouse are invasive species and fire.
"We burned twice as much grouse habitat in Nevada in 2012 than has been developed for mining over the past 20 years," he said.
Silvie said BLM had a good track record in Elko County of
- See LISTING, Page 20 -
(Cont. from Page One)
catching fires. Ranching representative J.J. Goicoechea pointed out it was the ranchers who make up the volunteer fire departments that catch the fires when they're small.
Silvie said possible positives of listing could be additional funding for fuels treatment projects before fire breaks out and possibly more resources when fire does break out.
When Silvie said she wasn't aware of jobs lost related to BLM or Forest Service interim regulations, some in the audience pointed to oil and gas lease deferments. An Elko County wind energy project defeated by interim regulations was also brought up and Silvie conceded that interim regulations and potential listing has effected economic development.
Silvie concluded if the sage grouse is listed, BLM will continue to work to preserve access to minerals, oil and gas, and grazing while maintaining intact sage grouse habitat.
Jeff White, who works in environmental stewardship for Newmont Mining Co., said mining could be considered "a sagebrush obligate species" because mining locations are largely in sagebrush habitat. The total permitted disturbance for mining through the end of 2012 was 145,000 acres.
He contrasted that with the $10 billion in metal resources produced and the positive economic effect of taxes, jobs and production. He said the mining industry has been engaged in sagebrush ecosystem and sage grouse conservation efforts for 13 years on an industrial scale and on individual mining properties in all mining activities, exploration, operation and reclamation.
The mining industry has been able to meet conservation goals and requirements, noted White.
"We have an opportunity to do some good on the landscape if we're all reasonable and working together," he said. "The industry finds plenty of opportunities to partner on projects to address habitat and sage grouse conservation."
Noble Energy representative Robert Veldman said his industry has contributed aerial and ground surveys of sage grouse breeding areas and additional monitoring to provide trending data to develop adaptive management.
"We've done great short-term demonstration projects and long-term habitat enhancement and mitigation projects," Veldman said.
Veldman said energy development is like mining in that listing of the bird will add time and expense to each project. The industry is willing as long as it is economically feasible and when it is no longer the industry will go away.
As will ranching, said Goicoechea, immediate past president of Nevada Cattlemen's Association. However, while oil, gas and minerals will stay in the ground waiting for future development, if ranchers are forced out of business they won't be back.
Goicoechea pointed out because ranchers and farmers were there to do the conservation work, $26 million in Natural Resource Conservation Service funding was put on the ground for sagebrush ecosystem and bi-state sage grouse conservation projects.
Goicoechea said adaptive management would make it possible to continue to work cooperatively to protect the sagebrush ecosystem on which many animals, not just the sage grouse depend.
"What we're going through today is going to be repeated with other sagebrush ecosystem wildlife and we have to get it right, look at the whole ecosystem and not just one species," said Goicoechea.
Questions focused on sage grouse predators, chiefly ravens, and why they weren't to be addressed in the BLM and Forest Service EIS. Koch said U.S. Fish and Wildlife has predators like the raven listed as a threat to sage grouse but they were far down the list in perceived importance. Fish and wildlife issues permits to kill 5,000 ravens a year in Nevada.
Koch said his USFWS is concerned the human causes of raven proliferation be addressed along with removing the predators by killing them. Those human causes include the power lines stretching across the west that provide perches and nesting areas for the raptor, along with food sources such as road kill and garbage dumps.[[In-content Ad]]
