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Newly discovered salamander species slated for logging

by Sally (thps [at] humboldt1.com)
The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) along with 2 other environmental groups filed suit in state court today. The lawsuit challenges Forest and Wildlife agencies' decision to allow the the logging of Scott bar salamander habitat. The Scott Bar Salamander was discovered just last year...
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HABITAT OF NEWLY DISCOVERED SALAMANDER SPECIES SLATED FOR LOGGING

IN BACKROOM DEAL, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENTS OF FORESTRY AND FISH AND GAME APPROVE REMOVAL OF PROTECTIONS FOR SCOTT BAR SALAMANDER

Yreka CA – The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild), and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed suit today against the California Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game for approving logging of crucial habitat for the newly discovered Scott Bar salamander. The species was first described in May of 2005 and has one of the smallest ranges of any salamander.

“In Arkansas, hundreds of volunteers and scientists are combing the woods trying to confirm the location of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which was driven to near extinction by careless logging of its habitat,” states Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Meanwhile, in California, the Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game are putting the newly discovered Scott Bar salamander on the road to extinction by approving logging of its habitat.”

The Scott Bar salamander was previously considered the same species as the Siskiyou Mountains salamander, but was recently discovered to be a separate species by researchers who published their findings last May in the journal Herpetologica. The Siskiyou Mountains salamander is listed as “threatened” under California’s Endangered Species Act, giving it a measure of protection from logging.

Upon learning of the new species, the California Department of Fish and Game informed industrial timber companies that because the Scott Bar salamander is a new species, protections afforded to the rare salamanders would cease. The California Department of Forestry has since approved amendments to at least four timber harvest plans (THPs) allowing logging of Scott Bar salamander habitat. Amendments to the THPs were approved without public notice or comment.

“Rather than heralding the discovery of a new species in California, the California Department of Forestry is rushing to wipe out the rare critters’ habitat,” said Joseph Vaile, campaign director of KS Wild. “In approving logging plans, the state agencies left the public in the dark, violating public trust and ignoring their responsibilities to protect California’s natural heritage for future generations.”

Paraphrasing Shakespeare, EPIC’s Timber Harvest Monitor, Lindsey Holm quipped, “a rare species by any other name is still threatened with extinction.”

Conservation organizations petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list both the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar Salamanders under the federal Endangered Species Act in June of last year, and expect an initial decision on this petition by the end of April.

At the same time, California Department of Fish and Game is moving to delist the Siskiyou Mountains salamander under the state Endangered Species Act. This move has been sharply criticized by the primary experts on the biology of these salamanders. Forest Service scientist, Dr. Hartwell Welsh, for example, concluded that “interpretation of the science” used by the state game agency to support delisting was “seriously flawed” (letter available upon request).

“The newly discovered Scott Bar salamander needs immediate protection from logging under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts,” states Greenwald. “Instead, the California Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game are doing everything in their power to ensure timber companies are allowed to log this unique species’ habitat.”

In filing suit, the groups hope to ensure additional protections for the Scott Bar salamander, give the public a voice in the management decisions for such a rare species, and hold the agencies accountable for their actions. The groups are represented by attorneys Michael Graf and Sharon Duggan.

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Groups sue over new salamander species
by John Driscoll
Eureka Times Standard

Environmental groups have sued the California Department of Fish and Game and a Yreka-based timber company over proposed logging in the habitat of a newly discovered salamander species.

The Environmental Protection and Information Center and others claimed this week that failing to protect the Scott Bar salamander violates state endangered species law -- because the salamanders once thought identical to them are protected, among other reasons. It also claims violations of state forest rules for allegedly not analyzing the environmental effects of logging.

A species with a smaller, more isolated range is even more likely to be a species that could go extinct in the near future, the groups write in the complaint.

”Common sense says if a new species is discovered it should be dealt with carefully,” said Lindsey Holm with EPIC. “They shouldn't be rushing in with chain saws and bulldozers.”

The Scott Bar salamander was found to be distinct from the Siskiyou Mountains salamander -- whose name suggests its greater range -- by researchers last year. It lives in part of the Scott River watershed, which connects to the Klamath River.

Fish and Game is in the process of taking the Siskiyou Mountains salamander off the state endangered species list because it is more widely distributed than first thought. The agency has informed Timber Products Co. that since it's the Scott Bar, not the Siskiyou Mountains, salamander that lives in the area it hopes to log, no special guidelines need to be followed.

Fish and Game habitat conservation manager Mark Stopher said there is no statute that dictates what the agency should do when a taxonomic revision takes place. But he said the agency has no basis to afford protections to the salamander, since little is known about it.

”It does have a small range,” Stopher said, “but that doesn't necessarily make it rare.”

Former U.S. Forest Service researcher Richard Nauman said the salamander has the smallest range of any salamander in the Pacific Northwest, and is more genetically different than humans are from chimpanzees. They require the same moist conditions as the other related salamanders, he said, which may make them vulnerable to hotter, drier conditions that could arise from logging.

The suit was filed in Siskiyou County Superior Court.
by Lumber exported under WTO!!
In this era of WTO globalization, corporations are having an easy time exporting resources all throughout the globe, environmental, local and workers rights be damned. It is now easier for multinational corporations here in the US to export natural resources (forest ecosystems) overseas without concern for the ecological destruction of any fair labor laws for the workers..

Of course the forest products aren't used to build homes for the millions of lower income people in other less fortunate nations, mostly for mansions for the puppet leaders of US imperialism. What can activists do to stop loss (borrowed term from US military) of US forests to overseas imperialists??

Within the US we also witness the timber products being used for suburban sprawl McMansions and corporate subdivisions, not for lower income housing. The people who remain houseless from the Katrina/FEMA disaster are a lower priority, while brand new suburban mansions are appearing all over the US, especially in Southern/Central CA. After reading Craig Rosebaugh's "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet", am also reconsidering the effectiveness of ELF/ALF tactics. The problems are from insurance corporations and developers attempting to pass off the burden of developer's mistakes on taxpayers (400K mansions don't sell fast enough, loss of profit, etc..), not the actual tactics of the ELF/ALF. Maybe what is needed is for mainstream environmentalists to support the ELF/ALF actions instead of always trying to exert energy in distancing themselves. More ELF/ALF actions may be needed to pressure the insurance corproations to increase their policy premiums for unsustainable development..

Don't take my word for it, read the book yourself;
http://www2.akpress.org/2004/items/burningrageofadyingplanet

One other bottleneck feature from point of destruction (forest ecosystems, treesitting tactic) to point of consumption (Home Depot, boycott/protest tactic, etc..) is point of transportation, either via Union Pacific rail lines or freeways and trucks or the regional west coast ports (Oakland, West Sacramento, Portland Seattle) and by having solidarity with the dockworkers unions (IWLU, IWW, etc..) to have slow down or possible direct action at the point of transport..

iww transport union;
http://www.iww.org/unions/dept500

For more info on the corporations directly involved in transport of forest products, visit their websites;

Pacific Lumber Exporters Association;
http://www.lumber-exporters.org/members.asp

Capital Lumber International
Location: Kent, Washington
Contact: Ridge Pittman
Tel: (253) 859-8200
Fax: (253) 859-8209
Email: rpittman [at] capital-lumber.com
Web: http://www.capital-lumber.com
Offices: Capital Lumber Co.Corporate HeadquartersPhoenix, Arizona
Primary Product: Lumber/Building Materials
Detailed Product List: Export sales and shipments of Douglas Fir, Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Spruce/Pine/Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Sitka Spruce, California Redwood, Western Red Alder, Pacific Coast Soft Maple in rough, finished and semi-finished Clear and Merchantable grades of lumber and panel products.
Destinations: East Asia, Mediterranean, North Africa, North Europe, Australia/Pacific Islands
Languages Spoken: English, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, French, Dutch


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