Controversy reigns over whether Habitat Conservation Plans
- the latest attempt to balance private-property rights with the
protection of endangered species - are doing more harm than
good.
Magazine
August 4, 1997
Who wins and who loses when Uncle Sam cuts deals with landowners to protect endangered species with Habitat Conservation Plans -- the latest attempt to balance private-property rights with the protection of endangered species?
Feature
A report on the Habitat Conservation Plans conference in
Washington, D.C., reveals a lot of uncertainty about whether or not
HCPs are good for wildlife.
Some say the real problem with habitat conservation lies
in the government's unwillingness to really enforce the Endangered
Species Act.
Biologist Lorin Hicks of Plum Creek Timber Co. says that
the notorious logging company is now trying to do the right thing
for endangered species with the help of HCPs.
In the Pacific Northwest, timber companies such as
Weyerhaeuser are enthusiastic about HCPs because of the spotted
owl.
Sidebar
In his own words, California biologist Dennis Murphy
defends HCPs.
In her own words, Environmental Law Fund attorney Tara
Mueller blasts HCPs.
In his own words, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Region 1
Assistant Director Curt Smitch defends HCPs.
In his own words, scientist Michael Bean of the
Environmental Defense Fund says HCPs give landowners a reason to
protect wildlife.
In his own words, volunteer Michael Schindell with the
National Endangered Species Network says HCPs have weak
science.
News
Animas-La Plata backers unveil a leaner new version of the
proposed dam - A-LP "Lite" - but opponents still have plenty of
criticism.
The Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery and Economic
Stability Act passes in the House, but environmentalists have
reservations about the untested logging techniques as well as the
favoring of local solutions over some national interests.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's draft plan to restore
grizzly bears to western Montana and central Idaho's
Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem faces opposition from Republican Sens.
Conrad Burns and Larry Craig.
In separate attacks by mountain lions, a boy in Colorado's
Mesa Verde National Park is wounded, and another boy, in Rocky
Mountain National Park, is killed.
Sen. Dale Bumpers and Rep. Elizabeth Furse plan to leave
Congress; Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund changes name; Mike Mease
travels in buffalo bus; Great Grizzly hikers trek to protect Mont.
bear habitat; Mormon Trail wagon train.
Some Utah county commissioners cite a law from 1866, R.S.
2477, to claim rights-of-way through BLM land prevent wilderness
designation.
Rural elected officials order Los Angeles to stop
diverting 43 million gallons water a day from California's Owens
Lake.
Across the country, conservationists battle the rapidly
growing use of noisy, motorized water "thrillcraft," such as jet
skis and power boats.
A San Francisco Superior Court Judge rules against Ray
Graham III in his suit against the Sierra Club
Foundation.
The House of Representatives backs away from an amendment
that would require logging companies to pay for their roads in
national forests.
Five environmental groups say that oil and gas drilling on
the Shoshone National Forest threatens grizzly bear
habitat.
The Colorado Wildlife Commission restricts "contest
shoots" of small game, including prairie dogs and
coyotes.
The rare jaguar is added to the Endangered Species
list.
In Colorado, some say controversial wilderness-land
developer Tom Chapman may have goofed in acquiring two mining
claims in the Spanish Peaks wilderness study area.
PacifiCorp releases water from Grace Dam for two days, and
whitewater rapids roar down the Bear River through Grace,
Idaho.
The Forest Service revises its approval of a ski area
expansion onto public land in Telluride, Colo.
The BLM's desire to use DuPont's pesticide Oust to kill a
weed called cheatgrass provokes controversy.
Heard Around the West
Woodsy Owl's makeover; Ore. high school team no longer
"Savages"; Rainbows not welcomed in Prineville, Ore.; shooting in
Jackson, Wyo.; Helen Chenoweth on grizzlies; Wyo. Republican starts
field hearings; Wis. Rep. Obey replies to critics; Missy Cow
Cow.
Dear Friends
Out of the hot (visitors); in other news (Jon Christensen
writing for New York Times).
Letters
Opinion
Environmentalist Dave Foreman, in a talk in Paonia, Colo.,
praises conservation biology as a way to restore the wild, but
hesitates to offer on-the-ground details of the cure.
A "Road Warrior" for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
tries to find and document roads claimed to exist in BLM wilderness
study areas.
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