HOLLISTER
– A proposal to designate hundreds of thousands of acres east
and south of Gilroy as critical habitat for the threatened
red-legged frog could alter the way many local residents,
developers and agencies manage their land.
HOLLISTER – A proposal to designate hundreds of thousands of acres east and south of Gilroy as critical habitat for the threatened red-legged frog could alter the way many local residents, developers and agencies manage their land.
Concerned locals have less than four weeks left to tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service how they feel about it. The agency extended the proposal’s public comment period because there’s still strong public interest in the matter.
The plan includes designating 4.1 million acres in 28 counties as critical habitat. More than a million of these acres would be in the Diablo Range, and thousands more would be in the Pajaro River drainage basin south of Gilroy, around San Juan Bautista. Other frog habitat areas in San Benito County would include the Salinas River drainage and Pinnacles National Monument.
“Clearly, it means that any activity conducted there has to give thought to the presence of red-legged frogs,” said John Gregg, head of the San Benito County Water District, which oversees the federally owned San Justo Reservoir, part of which includes the frog habitat.
Announced in April, the newest proposal resembles a similar one involving the red-legged frog the Fish and Wildlife Service lost a court battle over in 2001.
Three years ago several development-friendly associations – such as the Home Builders Association of Northern California – sued and won when the federal agency didn’t adequately show the economic impacts of the habitat designation.
If the Fish and Wildlife Service succeeds this time, the designation would restrict all local building projects within the critical habitat that either need a federal permit – such as those near wetlands – or any other project that uses federal funding.
The red-legged frog has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1996. The listing signals a high likelihood the species will be endangered in the near future.
The species’ population declined starting in the late 1800s due to ecological effects from mining damaged habitats and because the frogs were harvested for food at a rate of 80,000 a year, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Gregg believes the federal government’s proposal shows a lack of balance between environmental and economic considerations, he said.
“Overall, the district could be characterized as being environmentally responsible and sensitive,” Gregg said. “At the same time we question the manner in which decisions are made with respect to recovery areas and recovery activities.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in 2001 to conduct an economic impact report with any new proposal brought forth, but it hasn’t produced one yet, said Tom Roth, a San Francisco attorney for the development associations that sued Fish and Wildlife for a lacking economic analysis in 2001.
Roth no longer represents the group of associations, but he thinks the same plaintiffs recently filed a court motion to enforce the consent decree requiring an economic report, he said. The lawyer and spokesperson for the Home Builders Association of Northern California did not return calls.
Critical habitat affects developers, Roth said, because the additional red tape raises administrative costs – along with builders’ levels of uncertainty.
Paul Hain, a Tres Pinos farmer who owns land in the proposed critical habitat designation, also said the designation lacks economic considerations.
He believes the designation could “interfere drastically” with many methods of mechanized agriculture, such as his walnut harvesting along the Tres Pinos Creek.
Pinnacles National Monument certainly wouldn’t mind the extra hurdles caused by the designation, said wildlife biologist Jim Petterson. Of the park’s 24,000 total acreage, about 2,000 acres encompass proposed critical habitat.
The federally-owned San Justo Reservoir – unlike Pinnacles – is not natural habitat of red-legged frogs, Gregg said. By a fluke, a construction project at the reservoir years ago created an environment that has since attracted the frogs as full-time residents, he said.
San Justo Reservoir supplies water to many agricultural properties in the northern area of the Hollister Valley, the entire San Juan Valley and other pockets such as lands adjacent to Fairview Road, Gregg said.
The public as until July 14 to comment.
Mail comments on the proposal to Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W. 2605, Sacramento, CA 95825, or e-mail to fw1crlf@r1 fws.gov.
