Battle lines drawn over 'sound' science
By Janene Scully -- Staff Writer

11/2/03 More than three decades ago, the discovery of a salamander by her young daughter prompted Jeanette Sainz to suggest making the tiny critter the focal point of a school project.

"I knew the salamanders had been here all my life," said Sainz, a Los Alamos rancher whose family has owned the land since the 1800s. "I thought it was a good science project."

She contacted Santa Barbara-based scientists, and recalls they became excited because they didn't know the creature -- a California tiger salamander -- lived that far south.

Years later, Sainz landed in the middle of a salamander war, as regulators charged that a new vineyard would destroy quickly disappearing habitat vital for the animal's survival.

"I never thought the little devils would turn around and bite me," Sainz said.

Saving the salamander

Today, the California tiger salamander is central to a battle over what defines sound science, how much landowners should have to give up to protect threatened species, and whether Santa Barbara County's salamander population is truly unique.

In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implemented an emergency listing of the county's population of salamanders as endangered, prompting an outcry from landowners and elected officials. Bumper stickers from upset county residents capture their frustrations: "California tiger salamander: The other white meat."

Tiger salamander protections have been blamed for snarling development projects and delaying agricultural work throughout the North County.



The Santa Maria Research Park stalled until officials could work out a deal that allowed the Santa Maria Public Airport's industrial park and golf course to move forward.


A couple had to alter plans for their dream home in Orcutt due to salamander habitat.


Foodbank of Santa Barbara County saw its new warehouse snagged by salamanders.

The debate pits regulators, landowners and scientists against each other, and in many ways boils down to whether the California tiger salamander is struggling to survive or actually thriving.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 says listings shall be made "solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available." Scientists note that data is more available for some species than others.

During a July public hearing in Santa Maria, landowners and local officials repeatedly invoked the term "junk science" in asserting that the tiger salamander doesn't need protections.

Regulators left Santa Maria frustrated.

"It makes me feel we're not doing a good getting our message out," said Bridget Fahey, division chief the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura. "This isn't junk science ... We had teams of scientists that studied the species for years."

Earlier this year, the Fish and Wildlife proposed listing all Central California tiger salamanders as threatened, and reclassifying Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties' critters as threatened. A re-opened public comment period closed Friday, and the federal agency is expected to announce its decision by mid-May.

"It's been called the most egregious listing," said Victor Tognazzini. The former president of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau has been involved in the salamander issue from the onset of the local battle.

Tognazzini asserts that the issue of the tiger salamander is not really about an endangered species. Rather, he said, it a land-use issue aimed at crushing the vast expansion of wine-grape plantings in Santa Barbara County.

Salamander researcher Samuel Sweet disagrees with those who question the scientific justification for protecting the salamanders.

"It's really not fair to characterize the science behind that as being junk," said Sweet, associate professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology at UCSB. "It really is very good."

Earlier this year, a pair of lobbyists, primarily working on Sonoma County's battle, visited the Central Coast to hear about Santa Barbara County residents' concerns. The two disclosed that biologists are reviewing past scientific data to determine what some say are flaws that led to improper protections for the salamander.

But pressed to reveal the names of these researchers, they said that information would not be released until the public comment period closed on the proposal to reclassify the tiger salamander.

To protect the credibility of comments submitted to the federal government, all lobbying is being kept separate from that research, said lobbyist Marc Kelley of Public Policy Advocates of Oregon.

"I don't blame you for keep coming back to this but I really don't know," Kelley said. "Honestly we built a firewall between getting ready for what we're going to submit in our public comments and the work (we) are doing. We've done that on purpose ..."

What is the California tiger salamander?

Salamanders don't it make it easy for those trying to learn about them.

Blunt-nosed amphibians -- don't call them lizards, they only loosely resembles them -- they live underground in holes created by gophers and squirrels.

On the darkest, wettest nights, they head for vernal pools -- created from ponding rainwater -- to mate. Dry years mean little breeding.

"They're a heck of an animal to study," Sweet said. "You don't know where they live. It comes out on the worst night of the year. Everybody does everything on that one night."

Add to that the fact that young salamanders don't reach reproductive age for five years. They typically breed only twice in their lifetime. While some live to be 10 years old, many breed only one time, scientists say.

The science of salamanders

Arguments about science surrounding salamanders center on two main issues: How unique is Santa Barbara County's population and how far do the critters travel from vernal pools.

H. Bradley Shaffer, a UC Davis professor of evolution and ecology, has studied the tiger salamanders for years and developed a large database on the critters.

"It's the sort of work people cite," Sweet said.

DNA studies show that the Santa Barbara County critters are genetically unique, he said.

"They are as different from other salamanders as humans are from chimpanzees," Sweet said.

Blame geology for that distinction. Sweet said Santa Barbara County's salamanders have been isolated for a long time -- up to 4 million years. That's about the time the mountain range separating the Santa Maria Valley from the San Joaquin Valley was created.

Why a distinct population segment is important isn't a question scientists can easily answer. Instead, they wonder why anyone would want to see development sweeping across fields that host salamander habitat.

Sweet said it's a philosophical issue.

"I can't easily answer a value question," he said. "My own feeling we don't have a go-ahead to wipe out nature," Sweet said. "Who gave us that permission?"

Distinct or not?

Shaffer said it's important to understand that the "distinct population segment" is defined under the Endangered Species Act with several specific criteria.

He has contributed to studies involving DNA sequencing data to determine if Santa Barbara County's population is distinct in evolutionary lineage.

"Shaffer's data set is really the best data on any vertebrate, other than humans really, in terms of scope and amount," Sweet said.

With an "enormously large sample," it's one of the more comprehensive studies done on any species, Shaffer said.

"That result is not going to go away," he said.

Shaffer said his studies reveal that Santa Barbara County's tiger salamanders are distinctive based on molecular data that separates them from the rest of the range.

Studies show three distinct populations: Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County and everything in between.

"There may have been science available that indicated that the species were genetically distinct," said Marc Kelley, Public Policy Advocates of Oregon. "The real issue was, distinct or not, was there enough science to say they're endangered, threatened or otherwise?"

The journey of salamanders

Genetics is only half the dispute. The Fish and Wildlife Service initially recommended that land extending 2,200 feet around vernal pools remain untouched since salamanders travel to "upland" areas to mate.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's Fahey said 2,200-feet was only a suggestion, not a requirement.

"It was kind of a general recommendation, but that has been superseded by more specific recommendations based upon (salamander) populations," Fahey said.

To learn more about salamander traveling habits, scientists have equipped the creatures with the tiny radio transmitters to determine how far they travel away from the ponds.

"It's hard work, but eventually you start to piece together the story," Shaffer said.

In Monterey County, scientists found the salamander moves about 2,200 feet between ponds Shaffer said, while Solano County studies of different habitat showed critters moved shorter distances.

UCSB graduate student Steve Sykes is about to start the final year of a three-year project studying salamanders on the Santa Maria Public Airport.

In his observation of the salamanders, Sykes tracked seven of the critters as they traveled a range of 220 to 656 feet. But, he noted, the sample size is limited.

"From my point of view, there is data to back that up," Sykes said of the Fish and Wildlife Service's 2,200-foot rule. "It's not a number pulled out of the air."

Critics charge that Shaffer's data didn't receive proper peer review to evaluate its validity.

"Most of what was used to list (the salamander) had not been peer reviewed or published," said Carolyn Wasem, a Santa Rosa public relations consultant working to help fight land-use restrictions related to the salamander protection. "In the science community, you either publish or perish basically."

"Oh, nonsense," said UCSB's Sweet. "Certainly the journals in which he published are intensely reviewed."

Jeanette Sainz has traveled a long path since that salamander science project 30 years ago. She is now part of the tiger salamander recovery team, made up of local landowners, farmers, winegrape growers, regulators and scientists helping develop the best way to ensure the population does not disappear.

Despite the headaches the salamander might have brought, she remains committed to protecting it as well as preserving property rights.

"I think there's got to be a balance," she said. "Humans were put on Earth just like salamanders. There's got to be room for everybody."

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