http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories20...129031221.shtml

Environmentalists hope to cajole state to list owl
Last-ditch effort to put animal on endangered list

By Benjamin Spillman
The Desert Sun
November 29th, 2003
Environmentalists are planning a final pitch they hope will convince state officials to consider a desert-dwelling, subterranean owl among California’s endangered or threatened species.

They’re hoping changes on the state’s Fish and Game Commission and perceived flaws in the recommendation to deny the owl’s status will aid their efforts.

The idea, according to Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity, is to cajole reticent state officials into listing the western burrowing owl without turning to the courts.

The commission could decide Thursday whether to continue the owl-listing effort.

The California Department of Fish and Game has recommended that the commission deny the request.

"I think we are legally right, I think we are biologically right," Miller said. "The question is the politics."

The owl has been the subject of debate for much of the year.

Conservationists and owl enthusiasts petitioned the state in April to list the bird.

They cited the fact that 70 percent of the burrowing population, once distributed statewide, is concentrated in the Imperial Valley.

The petition also cited a 60 percent decline in known breeding pairs since the 1980s and an ongoing 8 percent annual decline.

Development in much of the state is pushing the owls to desert farmland where they survive in soft soils and low grasses that allow them to look out for predators and prey.

But listing the owl could entitle it to protections that could hinder development in its habitat.

"The real threat to owls is the loss of habitat and agricultural lands from rampant urban development," said Kim Delfino of the group Defenders of Wildlife.

So far, the owl-backers have failed to convince the state.

Robert Hight, director of the Fish and Game Department, wrote a memo in October stating the owl doesn’t need more protection.

Hight agreed the owl has "declined in portions of its range in California," but went on to say, "sufficient data is lacking in other parts of the state to indicate a decline."

State officials cited increasing owl populations in the Palo Verde and Imperial valleys in suggesting it may be increasing elsewhere as well.

Miller said the pending departure of one member of the five-person Fish and Game Commission could aid owl-saving efforts.

That’s because he believes the departing member would have opposed listing.

Officials from the commission did not return a call for comment on the issue.

Whooo goes there?

Another sun-crazed greenie, thas' whoooo!

If they would only join us and see the desert when it's fit for human occupation. No wonder they keep coming up with all the animal/plant/insect species to protect...thye go out when it's over 100 degrees in the shade, then come out to show us the damages we are causing...and guess what? The mirages are gone!!!

Hmmmm, I think something stinks around here, and it ain't no stink bug

California burrowing owl doesn't need protection, state says

SACRAMENTO Development is stealing the habitat of the western burrowing owl, but not so much that the bird qualifies for protection under California's threatened or endangered species law - at least not yet, state regulators decided Thursday.

The small ground-nesting owl is being driven out of urbanizing areas, but its population is stable in rural areas, wildlife commissioners said, unanimously agreeing with a finding by the Department of Fish and Game.

Groups that proposed protections for the owl said they will immediately sue.

They say declining habitat along the coast and in the rapidly developing Central Valley means trouble in decades, though not immediately. Already, they say, the owls are declining in half their historic range and are all but gone from another 22 percent.

There are few enough owls in some regions that "one yahoo with a shotgun and a pickup truck could do serious damage to this state's burrowing owl population," said Jeff Miller, spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center, Defenders of Wildlife, the San Bernardino Valley and Santa Clara Valley Audubon societies, California State Park Rangers Association and Tri-County Conservation League, all wanted the commission to kick off a yearlong evaluation of the species' status.

Commissioners suggested the groups would be better off working with farmers, ranchers and other property owners to voluntarily protect owl habitat.

Endangered species designation could actually hurt those efforts, commissioners and rural property owners argued, because the landowners wouldn't want to attract owls and thus limit what they could do with their land.

"This is not a species that is going to hinder ag," agreed Miller. "The threat here is to development. I'm putting that backwards: Development is the big threat to the owl."

A threatened or endangered listing would mean new restrictions on developers who want to build on owl habitat.

Scientists said the owl adapts readily to agriculture, and is thriving particularly in the Imperial Valley. Commissioners said the state law can't be used to protect the species just in regions where it is doing poorly.

Nor can it be used on the assumption the bird might one day be endangered as development continues, wildlife officials said. The law says the owl must be in immediate danger.

The owl lives underground, usually by taking over burrows dug by ground squirrels. It hunts insects and small rodents above ground.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...4/APN/312041091