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by Gaye Walton
Even if nothing else in this misbegotten law is changed, and much needs to be, two provisions cry aloud for modification. A pair of evil sisters that work together to deny property owners the full use and enjoyment of their real property and allow frivolous claims by green organizations and individuals to harass citizens and government entities at will, these provisions pertain to critical habitat and mitigation.
Critical habitat is supposed to be an area or ecosystem that must be reserved to the near exclusive use of an endangered plant or animal in order for it to survive. In many cases, not one single instance of the endangered species can be found in the area, but it may possibly have been there once or it might possibly be able to live there should it migrate into the area. What kind of scientific basis can be claimed for such intangible and ill-defined declarations?
But designation of "Critical Habitat" is deemed wonderful, for it is so useful to stop almost any development including the construction of sorely needed highways, bridges, schools, etc. and to preclude any constructive use of both public and private land. The Envirocult has termed the ESA "the pit bull" of their arsenal of anti-landowner tools. I'd call it the junkyard dog, and add that Critical Habitat is the fang-filled jaws! I have to add here my belief that there are no "bad dogs", irrespective of breed, but simply bad people who make animals vicious by mistreatment and neglect. And no, I am __not__ a member of PeTA, but I have loved a lot of horses and dogs over the years and found them better friends and more honest than many people!
Mitigation is simply legalized extortion by which property owners are forced to pay •protection moneyê in order to use their legally owned real property. How either of the provisions can be considered legal under the U.S. Constitution I cannot begin to imagine. Letês look at how they work.
Much of the land bordering the San Pedro River in Arizonaês Cochise County and intermittent feeder canyons has been designated as critical habitat for the Spike Dace and Loach Minnow. If you own property in the lower part of Huachuca City or the Woody Hills/Presidential estates area which borders the Babocomari, a San Pedro tributary, don't try to do so much as dig a flower bed or put down some asphalt to park your car or motor home without consulting the proper authorities.
You might get by with it, but chances are, you will have to submit to a lengthy and expensive environmental impact study while your plans go on hold. In short, you are judged guilty until proven innocent of intent to harm or "take" some of these small native minnows ã who have probably not swum in these part-time waters for several centuries!
Even if a study determines your proposed activity will have no effect on the non-existent fishies, before you are allowed to proceed with the planned modification of your own property, itês likely youêll have to cough up "mitigation" to the tune of perhaps $1500-- if you are lucky. This money allegedly goes to purchase other property to make up for the habitat you infringe on, to various agencies such as the National Fish and Wildlife Service to further study or assist the endangered critters, and even to some of the green groups and NGOs that are marching along gobbling up rural land and water. How convenient. Of course they all love it.
In middle and south Texas, a creature called the Houston Toad has found its way onto the endangered list. For awhile, I was collecting instances where mitigation was required for this beast before people could raise a single family home on their land or maybe build a barn so the kids could have a couple of horses. At $1500 here and $5000 there, the amount of money collected to benefit one ugly little reptile was piling up fast. I finally quit counting, but the cases kept coming. Iêm sure the running total is in the six figure bracket now and probably nearing seven. Not counting cents, either.
Here's a specific example extracted from the Federal Register dated June 6, 2001.
"Applicant Leslie Adams plans to construct a single-family residence on approximately 0.5 acres of the 15.704-acre property on Gotier Trace Road, Bastrop County, Texas. This action will eliminate 0.5 acres or less of Houston toad habitat and result in indirect impacts within the property. The Applicant proposes to compensate for this incidental take of the Houston toad by providing $2,000.00 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for the specific purpose of land acquisition and management within Houston toad habitat, as identified by the Service."
It may be worded as if it was the property ownerês idea, but don't believe that. I don't know about anyone else, but I call it extortion, pure and simple. Why should someone have to pay an extra $2,000 for the privilege of building a house on his own property?
Another case in point involves the Cave Harvestman, which I understand is a blind form of the arachnid known to most of us as a "Granddaddy Long Legs," that lives in sink holes and small caves in limestone, again in Texas. What possible significance or value such a creature could possibly have escapes me, but a consortium whoêd bought a large block of land for a planned development was stopped in their tracks when a few of these wee beasties were supposedly found in small caves on an included hillside and underneath a part of the proposed development area. Critical habitat, again. Iêm not sure whether they coughed up a half million or so and were allowed to carry on or not. Money talks, even here among the idealistic save-the-earth crowd.
Then we've all heard about the little speckled owl who brought construction of a school, a home for wayward girls, and a number of much-needed roads to a halt in the Tucson area until a judge overruled the orders to cease. Score another for critical habitat. In Duncan, Arizona, a small town on U.S. Highway 80 near the New Mexico line, construction of a new bridge across the Gila River --needed to safely connect the two parts of the community--stopped for the summer. Summer is the best time to pour cement and do other construction work, but someone thought Southwest Willow Flycatchers might be nesting in some trees along the river not far from where the new bridge was to go in. And it was within designated critical habitat.
Here is another example. Back east in Virginia, eighty year old John Taylor has sued the government over the "taking" of his property. Mr. Taylor wanted to build a new home--on his property--to accommodate the special needs of his wheelchair- bound wife. Unfortunately, a bald eagle was nesting in the area, some ninety feet from Mr. Taylorês property line. The powers-that-be determined any activity on or around his land might disturb the eagle -- which has not been taken off the endangered list in spite of a loudly trumpeted announcement a year ago that this event was eminent. This put a kibosh on his plans. By the time his suit is heard and he gets approval, probably both he and his wife will have passed away, never to enjoy the comfort of the special home he planned for them.
No discussion of critical habitat is complete without mention of the Desert Tortoise. A vast block of land has been claimed for this animal. Its critical habitat encompasses major sections of Arizona, California and Nevada, an area almost as large as all of New England! This designation is now hampering military training on and around the Marine Corps installations at Twenty Nine Palms and Camp Pendleton and the Armyês Fort Irwin. It has curtailed recreational access to favored desert camping, 4-wheeling/dirt bike and ATV areas, and is expediting the green goal of cutting off many long standing grazing leases on BLM and other federal lands within the critical habitat area, forcing numerous ranchers out of business.
Most recently, in southern Oregon, a confused decision based on admittedly flawed science determined that a certain level of water must be maintained in Klamath Lake to support endangered Sucker Fish. Incidentally, I have read they are not actually native to the area but imports and until recently were considered trash fish and efforts made to eradicate them, but this may not be correct. Still, this decision brought almost all other activity in the region to a standstill. No matter that many other species of wildlife, both endangered and otherwise, relied on the unique canal bank habitat and resultant wetlands for life and existence.
Bald eagles and many species of migratory birds used the wetlands below the lake, now drying up due to the cut off of water flows from the lake, as a migration stop over and for some, a wintering area. What is going to become of them? Or the many animals who drank from the canals and foraged the lush green growth there?
Strange, but I don't hear the Envirocult screaming about this at all. All they really want is to remove the farm families settled in the area by the government after the dust bowl days and promised--contractually, in most cases--the water they needed for farming in perpetuity. Klamath Lake is said to be critical habitat for the Sucker Fish. Thatês all that matters to the Envirocult, because it gives them leverage needed to pry established property owners loose from their land and make them "willing sellers".
While the Klamath situation and other water and land use cases throughout the rural regions of the nation are rapidly creating personal tragedies of epic proportion for farm and ranch families effected by the loss of their livelihood, only a little of the real facts leak out to the urban and suburban populace. FOX Network is helping to publicize these issues, for which we are very thankful. A few conservative talk show hosts are bringing in the more articulate victims to tell their story. Every word helps, but it seems too little and too slow.
We can only pray to reach enough people in sufficient haste to raise a groundswell of public opinion which will force repeal or major revamping of the Endangered Species Act before irredeemable harm results. Somehow we have to be heard above the shrill and strident voices of the Envirocult. Itês hard when their Liberal/ Socialist politician handlers and fawning admirers in the media see they always get the first and last words.
You can find more information on the Klamath Crisis at http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org
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