The list, compiled by the country's National Environment Protection Agency (Nepa), includes 20 mammal species, seven birds and four plants.
Officials hope to expand the number of protected species to as many as 70 by the end of the year.
The first wave of creatures to receive protection includes snow leopards, wolves and brown bears.
Conservationists hope the new measure will provide legal protection for the nation's wildlife, which has been badly disrupted by more than 30 years of conflict.
Small beginning
Steven Sanderson, chief executive of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped compile the initial list, applauded Afghan conservationists' "continued commitment to conserving [their] natural heritage - even during these challenging times".
"WCS believes that conservation can often serve as diplomacy, and we are optimistic that this... will benefit all of Afghanistan's people," he added.
The evaluation of species began in 2008, using the same scientific criteria as the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.
Many of the mammals featured on the list, such as the snow leopard, were under pressure from excessive hunting.
A presidential decree that banned hunting in Afghanistan recently expired, which meant the animals could have been shot and killed legally.
Campaigners hope the list of protected species will offer a legal framework that will allow conservation efforts to become established.
The only amphibian to feature on the list is the Critically Endangered Paghman mountain salamander (Batrachuperus mustersi).
According to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the salamanders are entirely water-dwelling and restricted to three tributaries of the Paghman stream drainage system in eastern Afghanistan.
The cold, fast-flowing water, which the species favours, originates from melting glaciers.
Should the glacial flow dry up, the creatures' habitat will quickly disappear, warn scientists.
Conservationists estimate that fewer than 2,000 of the salamanders remain in the wild.
Nepa officials will be responsible for managing the list, as well as drawing up recovery plans for the featured species.
The list will be re-evaluated every five years to determine whether any of them have recovered enough to be removed from the list.
In April, Afghanistan established its first national park in a spectacular region of deep blue lakes separated by natural dams of travertine, a mineral deposit.
Band-e-Amir is a region visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism dropped away as violence increased in 1979.
Officials hope that the creation of the park will be another step along to road to recovery for the nation's battered environment
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Reindeer herds in global decline
Reindeer and caribou numbers are plummeting around the world.
The first global review of their status has found that populations are declining almost everywhere they live, from Alaska and Canada, to Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.
The iconic deer is vital to indigenous peoples around the circumpolar north.
Yet it is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists.
Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus.
Caribou live in Canada, Alaska and Greenland; while reindeer live in Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Worldwide, seven sub-species are recognised. Each are genetically, morphologically and behaviourally a little different, though capable of interbreeding with one another.
These differences between sub-species dictate how each is affected by human impacts.
For example, it has been known for a while that populations of woodland caribou in Canada have declined as human disturbance has increased, caused by logging, oil and gas exploration, and road building, says Liv Vors of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
But then reports started coming in that the numbers of other herds were also falling.
"When we discovered that many herds of reindeer also were declining we decided to compile a comprehensive survey to see if this indeed was a global pattern," says Vors.
Vors and Mark Boyce at the University of Alberta contacted other researchers and scoured the published literature and government databases for all the information they could find about reindeer and caribou numbers. They compiled data on 58 major herds around the Northern Hemisphere.
The scientists were shocked to discover that 34 of the herds were declining, while no data existed for 16 more. Only eight herds were increasing in number. Many herds had been declining for a decade or more.
"We were surprised at the ubiquity of the decline," says Vors.
"We knew that woodland caribou in North America were in bad shape." There is also some evidence that populations of migratory caribou in the Canadian Arctic have fluctuated in recent history.
But the researchers were surprised at how migratory caribou and reindeer numbers seem to be falling in synchrony across the Northern Hemisphere.
"When we delved into the status of European reindeer herds, we were surprised that so many were declining. We expected them to be in better shape than North America herds because reindeer, namely the semi-domestic herds, are closely managed by humans."
The scale of the problem is shown by a map upon which the researchers plotted their data, which is published in Global Change Biology.
THE SEVEN SUB-SPECIES
R. t. tarandus. Semi-domestic and wild reindeer that live across northern Scandinavia and Russia. Wild reindeer undertake long, seasonal migrations between summer and winter ranges.
R .t. fennicus. Wild forest reindeer that live in the forests of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
R. t. platyrhynchos. Svalbard reindeer that live only on the Spitsbergen Archipelago, which belongs to Norway. Svalbard reindeer have light-coloured fur, and shorter legs than other subspecies.
R. t. granti. Grant's caribou found in Alaska and the Yukon. They reside in large groups and undertake long, seasonal migrations.
R. t. groenlandicus. Migratory barren-ground caribou found across the tundra of Canada and Greenland.
R. t. pearyi. Peary caribou, of which perhaps 700 persist on Canadian high Arctic islands.
R. t. caribou. Woodland caribou residing in the boreal forest, mountains and tundra lowlands of Canada.
"Seeing that sea of red was a sobering moment," Vors says.
"If global climate change and industrial development continue at the current pace, caribou and reindeer populations will continue to decline in abundance," says Vors.
"Currently, climate change is most important for Arctic caribou and reindeer, while anthropogenic landscape change is most important for non-migratory woodland caribou."
For example, climate change is affecting migratory caribou in a number of ways.
Warmer summers mean more insect activity, and caribou and reindeer that are harassed by insects are not able to feed as much to put on weight before winter.
Earlier springs mean plants may be past their prime by the time migrating animals reach their calving grounds, while warmer winters include more freezing rain which can form layers of ice over the ground. The caribou and reindeer cannot dig through the ice to feed, and can then starve en masse.
"In time, however, climate change will become more important for woodland caribou, and landscape change will have a greater effect on arctic caribou and reindeer," Vors continues.
"There likely will be more forest fires in woodland caribou habitat, as well as diseases and parasites transmitted to caribou from white-tailed deer, whose range is expanding northward in Canada. More roads are being built in the Arctic, as well as infrastructures like diamond mines, and these sometimes interfere with migration routes."
Unless something is urgently done, all seven sub-species of Rangifer face a bleak future, says Vors.
"The concern is that their habitat and the climate are changing too quickly for them to adapt."
The annual treks of migratory caribou form one of the last remaining large-scale ungulate migrations in the northern hemisphere.
Different sub-species also provide a cornerstone to many indigenous cultures around the circumpolar north, from subsistence hunting of caribou by Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Greenland and Alaska to reindeer husbandry by numerous cultures across Scandinavia and Siberia.
"From a Canadian perspective, the caribou is part of our national identity," says Vors. "Canada's caribou migrations have frequently been identified as one of this country's natural wonders, and the species even appears on our 25-cent coin."
The first global review of their status has found that populations are declining almost everywhere they live, from Alaska and Canada, to Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.
The iconic deer is vital to indigenous peoples around the circumpolar north.
Yet it is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists.
Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus.
Caribou live in Canada, Alaska and Greenland; while reindeer live in Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Worldwide, seven sub-species are recognised. Each are genetically, morphologically and behaviourally a little different, though capable of interbreeding with one another.
These differences between sub-species dictate how each is affected by human impacts.
For example, it has been known for a while that populations of woodland caribou in Canada have declined as human disturbance has increased, caused by logging, oil and gas exploration, and road building, says Liv Vors of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
But then reports started coming in that the numbers of other herds were also falling.
"When we discovered that many herds of reindeer also were declining we decided to compile a comprehensive survey to see if this indeed was a global pattern," says Vors.
Vors and Mark Boyce at the University of Alberta contacted other researchers and scoured the published literature and government databases for all the information they could find about reindeer and caribou numbers. They compiled data on 58 major herds around the Northern Hemisphere.
The scientists were shocked to discover that 34 of the herds were declining, while no data existed for 16 more. Only eight herds were increasing in number. Many herds had been declining for a decade or more.
"We were surprised at the ubiquity of the decline," says Vors.
"We knew that woodland caribou in North America were in bad shape." There is also some evidence that populations of migratory caribou in the Canadian Arctic have fluctuated in recent history.
But the researchers were surprised at how migratory caribou and reindeer numbers seem to be falling in synchrony across the Northern Hemisphere.
"When we delved into the status of European reindeer herds, we were surprised that so many were declining. We expected them to be in better shape than North America herds because reindeer, namely the semi-domestic herds, are closely managed by humans."
The scale of the problem is shown by a map upon which the researchers plotted their data, which is published in Global Change Biology.
THE SEVEN SUB-SPECIES
R. t. tarandus. Semi-domestic and wild reindeer that live across northern Scandinavia and Russia. Wild reindeer undertake long, seasonal migrations between summer and winter ranges.
R .t. fennicus. Wild forest reindeer that live in the forests of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
R. t. platyrhynchos. Svalbard reindeer that live only on the Spitsbergen Archipelago, which belongs to Norway. Svalbard reindeer have light-coloured fur, and shorter legs than other subspecies.
R. t. granti. Grant's caribou found in Alaska and the Yukon. They reside in large groups and undertake long, seasonal migrations.
R. t. groenlandicus. Migratory barren-ground caribou found across the tundra of Canada and Greenland.
R. t. pearyi. Peary caribou, of which perhaps 700 persist on Canadian high Arctic islands.
R. t. caribou. Woodland caribou residing in the boreal forest, mountains and tundra lowlands of Canada.
"Seeing that sea of red was a sobering moment," Vors says.
"If global climate change and industrial development continue at the current pace, caribou and reindeer populations will continue to decline in abundance," says Vors.
"Currently, climate change is most important for Arctic caribou and reindeer, while anthropogenic landscape change is most important for non-migratory woodland caribou."
For example, climate change is affecting migratory caribou in a number of ways.
Warmer summers mean more insect activity, and caribou and reindeer that are harassed by insects are not able to feed as much to put on weight before winter.
Earlier springs mean plants may be past their prime by the time migrating animals reach their calving grounds, while warmer winters include more freezing rain which can form layers of ice over the ground. The caribou and reindeer cannot dig through the ice to feed, and can then starve en masse.
"In time, however, climate change will become more important for woodland caribou, and landscape change will have a greater effect on arctic caribou and reindeer," Vors continues.
"There likely will be more forest fires in woodland caribou habitat, as well as diseases and parasites transmitted to caribou from white-tailed deer, whose range is expanding northward in Canada. More roads are being built in the Arctic, as well as infrastructures like diamond mines, and these sometimes interfere with migration routes."
Unless something is urgently done, all seven sub-species of Rangifer face a bleak future, says Vors.
"The concern is that their habitat and the climate are changing too quickly for them to adapt."
The annual treks of migratory caribou form one of the last remaining large-scale ungulate migrations in the northern hemisphere.
Different sub-species also provide a cornerstone to many indigenous cultures around the circumpolar north, from subsistence hunting of caribou by Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Greenland and Alaska to reindeer husbandry by numerous cultures across Scandinavia and Siberia.
"From a Canadian perspective, the caribou is part of our national identity," says Vors. "Canada's caribou migrations have frequently been identified as one of this country's natural wonders, and the species even appears on our 25-cent coin."
Typhoons trigger slow earthquakes
Scientists report in the journal Nature that, in a seismically active zone in Taiwan, pressure changes caused by typhoons "unclamp" the fault.
This gentle release causes an earthquake that dissipates its energy over several hours rather than a few potentially devastating seconds.
The researchers believe this could explain why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Alan Linde from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US and colleagues monitored movement of two colliding tectonic plates in eastern Taiwan.
They used three borehole "strainmeters" - highly sensitive instruments deep below the ground.
"These detect otherwise imperceptible movements and distortions of rock," explained co-author Selwyn Sacks, also from the Carnegie Institution.
Gentle relief
The instruments picked up 20 "slow earthquakes", each lasting from several hours to more than a day. Of these, 11 co-incided exactly with typhoons.
The authors described the possibility that this coincident timing was by chance as "vanishingly small
It's rare that you see something so definitive, especially when it's something new," Dr Linde told BBC News.
Their findings could provide clues about why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Here, the colliding plates move so rapidly that they build mountains at a rate of almost 4mm per year. Dr Linde said that in geological terms that was almost like "growing mushrooms".
"It's surprising that this area of the globe has had no great earthquakes and relatively few large earthquakes," Dr Linde commented.
"By comparison, the Nankai Trough in southwestern Japan has a plate convergence rate of about 4cm per year, and this causes a magnitude 8 earthquake every 100 to 150 years.
"The activity in southern Taiwan comes from the convergence of the same two plates, and there the Philippine Sea Plate pushes against the Eurasian Plate at twice that rate.
"This fault experiences more or less constant strain and stress build-up."
He described how the fault "dipped steeply" westward from near the east coast so that it is under the land area. So the landward side is under constant strain to move upward.
When a typhoon passes over the land, the air pressure on the land is lowered. That slight change in force "unclamps" the fault and allows it to move.
"But this change is quite small," said Dr Linde. "So for the typhoon to be a trigger, the fault must be precariously close to failure."
The frequent, slow earthquakes this causes are "totally imperceptible" from the ground. And Dr Linde thinks it is sensible to assume that they may reduce the frequency of larger, more damaging earthquakes.
But this is extremely hard to show because, as he puts it, "how do you prove something that doesn't happen?"
This gentle release causes an earthquake that dissipates its energy over several hours rather than a few potentially devastating seconds.
The researchers believe this could explain why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Alan Linde from the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US and colleagues monitored movement of two colliding tectonic plates in eastern Taiwan.
They used three borehole "strainmeters" - highly sensitive instruments deep below the ground.
"These detect otherwise imperceptible movements and distortions of rock," explained co-author Selwyn Sacks, also from the Carnegie Institution.
Gentle relief
The instruments picked up 20 "slow earthquakes", each lasting from several hours to more than a day. Of these, 11 co-incided exactly with typhoons.
The authors described the possibility that this coincident timing was by chance as "vanishingly small
It's rare that you see something so definitive, especially when it's something new," Dr Linde told BBC News.
Their findings could provide clues about why there are relatively few large earthquakes in this region.
Here, the colliding plates move so rapidly that they build mountains at a rate of almost 4mm per year. Dr Linde said that in geological terms that was almost like "growing mushrooms".
"It's surprising that this area of the globe has had no great earthquakes and relatively few large earthquakes," Dr Linde commented.
"By comparison, the Nankai Trough in southwestern Japan has a plate convergence rate of about 4cm per year, and this causes a magnitude 8 earthquake every 100 to 150 years.
"The activity in southern Taiwan comes from the convergence of the same two plates, and there the Philippine Sea Plate pushes against the Eurasian Plate at twice that rate.
"This fault experiences more or less constant strain and stress build-up."
He described how the fault "dipped steeply" westward from near the east coast so that it is under the land area. So the landward side is under constant strain to move upward.
When a typhoon passes over the land, the air pressure on the land is lowered. That slight change in force "unclamps" the fault and allows it to move.
"But this change is quite small," said Dr Linde. "So for the typhoon to be a trigger, the fault must be precariously close to failure."
The frequent, slow earthquakes this causes are "totally imperceptible" from the ground. And Dr Linde thinks it is sensible to assume that they may reduce the frequency of larger, more damaging earthquakes.
But this is extremely hard to show because, as he puts it, "how do you prove something that doesn't happen?"
WHO 'declares swine flu pandemic'
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports.
It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.
The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.
The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April.
It has since spread to 74 countries.
Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily.
Hong Kong said it was closing all its nurseries and primary schools for two weeks following 12 school cases.
It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.
The current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.
One factor which may have prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza.
It is thought the move was not prompted by the situation in any one country but the reports of several pockets of community spread.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says that while the number of cases has made the declaration inevitable, the problem is that the pandemic phase system is designed for a very different type of virus.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it had been expecting something more like the deadlier bird flu.
"It was believed that the next pandemic would be something like H5N1 bird flu, where you were seeing really high death rates, and so there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting," he told the BBC.
The WHO will have to manage the global anxiety the declaration of a pandemic will generate, our correspondent says.
Pandemic planning
There have been more than 800 cases in the UK with some areas of Scotland being particularly hard hit.
The government has been stockpiling antivirals such as Tamiflu and has ordered vaccine, some doses of which could be available by October.
Chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said the WHO declaration of a pandemic would not significantly change the way the UK was dealing with swine flu at the moment.
But he added there could be some minor changes to who received antivirals.
"The declaration of a pandemic per se doesn't make a big difference to the to the way we are handling the outbreaks we have.
"We are going to continue to investigate every case that occurs and treat their contacts with antivirals even though they may not be ill.
"The difference is that the Health Protection Agency has learnt a lot about approaching this question of antiviral prophylaxis and they are going to be treating the closer contacts of the cases, rather than the more far-flung contacts, because they feel that that is supported by what they know so far about how the disease is transmitting.
He added: "These flu viruses can change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the virus is changing."
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said a move to level six means that countries need to be ready to implement pandemic plans immediately but the UK was already operating at a "heightened state of readiness".
But it could affect the speed at which the UK gets pandemic vaccine supplies but that had been factored into pandemic planning.
Flu expert Professor John Oxford, said people should not panic as the outbreak was milder than others seen in the past century.
"It is global and fulfilling the requirements of a pandemic but I don't think anyone should worry because nothing drastic has happened between yesterday and today
It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.
The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.
The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April.
It has since spread to 74 countries.
Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily.
Hong Kong said it was closing all its nurseries and primary schools for two weeks following 12 school cases.
It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.
The current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.
One factor which may have prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza.
It is thought the move was not prompted by the situation in any one country but the reports of several pockets of community spread.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says that while the number of cases has made the declaration inevitable, the problem is that the pandemic phase system is designed for a very different type of virus.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it had been expecting something more like the deadlier bird flu.
"It was believed that the next pandemic would be something like H5N1 bird flu, where you were seeing really high death rates, and so there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting," he told the BBC.
The WHO will have to manage the global anxiety the declaration of a pandemic will generate, our correspondent says.
Pandemic planning
There have been more than 800 cases in the UK with some areas of Scotland being particularly hard hit.
The government has been stockpiling antivirals such as Tamiflu and has ordered vaccine, some doses of which could be available by October.
Chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said the WHO declaration of a pandemic would not significantly change the way the UK was dealing with swine flu at the moment.
But he added there could be some minor changes to who received antivirals.
"The declaration of a pandemic per se doesn't make a big difference to the to the way we are handling the outbreaks we have.
"We are going to continue to investigate every case that occurs and treat their contacts with antivirals even though they may not be ill.
"The difference is that the Health Protection Agency has learnt a lot about approaching this question of antiviral prophylaxis and they are going to be treating the closer contacts of the cases, rather than the more far-flung contacts, because they feel that that is supported by what they know so far about how the disease is transmitting.
He added: "These flu viruses can change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the virus is changing."
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said a move to level six means that countries need to be ready to implement pandemic plans immediately but the UK was already operating at a "heightened state of readiness".
But it could affect the speed at which the UK gets pandemic vaccine supplies but that had been factored into pandemic planning.
Flu expert Professor John Oxford, said people should not panic as the outbreak was milder than others seen in the past century.
"It is global and fulfilling the requirements of a pandemic but I don't think anyone should worry because nothing drastic has happened between yesterday and today
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
reenathon impact: Lighting up 50 villages ECHO WATCH
The NDTV Toyota Greenathon is lighting up lives. Villages that would be plunged into darkness at nightfall are now riding on solar power which has replaced expensive and toxic kerosene lamps.
Guwada Gujran in Rajasthan is one of the first three villages to get solar power after the Greenathon through TERI's Light a Billion Lives initiative. And here's a look at the other villages that will soon be solar powered. Thanks to the Greenathon.
Fifty villages will soon benefit from solar technology. While most of them are in north India, villages in the south are also being identified.
NDTV's campaign raised 2 crore rupees in February and now work is on to spread the light. Lighting up each village takes about two months. Village communities, local NGOs and companies that make the solar lamps are all working together.
"The way the whole program works, there are three important stakeholders, bottom up - the community - someone needs to come forward and become the charging station operator. Second is the NGO partner because TERI is not present everywhere. And the third important stakeholder is the industry partner."
It's a slow process; but it is one that will surely light up lives for years to come.
Guwada Gujran in Rajasthan is one of the first three villages to get solar power after the Greenathon through TERI's Light a Billion Lives initiative. And here's a look at the other villages that will soon be solar powered. Thanks to the Greenathon.
Fifty villages will soon benefit from solar technology. While most of them are in north India, villages in the south are also being identified.
NDTV's campaign raised 2 crore rupees in February and now work is on to spread the light. Lighting up each village takes about two months. Village communities, local NGOs and companies that make the solar lamps are all working together.
"The way the whole program works, there are three important stakeholders, bottom up - the community - someone needs to come forward and become the charging station operator. Second is the NGO partner because TERI is not present everywhere. And the third important stakeholder is the industry partner."
It's a slow process; but it is one that will surely light up lives for years to come.
Going green helped a woman rob!
Going green helped a woman rob an Austin bank. The Travis County Sheriff`s Office says a woman held up a bank on Tuesday and apparently used a recyclable grocery bag to haul away the greenbacks.
Sheriff`s spokesman Roger Wade told The Associated Press, after viewing surveillance photos of the unidentified woman with the green bag, that he`s guessing "that`s where she put the money."
Wade said the bag was the only one the woman has going in and coming out of the Regions Bank branch.
No weapon was displayed. Nobody was injured. The amount of money stolen was not released by law officers.
Sheriff`s spokesman Roger Wade told The Associated Press, after viewing surveillance photos of the unidentified woman with the green bag, that he`s guessing "that`s where she put the money."
Wade said the bag was the only one the woman has going in and coming out of the Regions Bank branch.
No weapon was displayed. Nobody was injured. The amount of money stolen was not released by law officers.
Judge orders increased help for Southern California endangered species
A judge has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries violated the Endangered Species Act in their biological opinions for managing four Southern California forests covering 3.2 million acres.
In her ruling on a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmental groups, Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court of Northern California said the opinions failed to include protective measures such as monitoring systems required to determine the effects of land-use decisions on endangered plants and animals in the Los Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino forests.
Environmentalists praised Patel’s determination as an important victory for 40 threatened and endangered species, including the California condor and steelhead trout.
“Under the Bush administration, these federal agencies regarded regional forest plans as unimportant documents that simply gather dust on a shelf,” said Marc Fink, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the lawsuit along with Los Padres ForestWatch, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the California Plant Society.
“Their argument was that they would analyze the plans later, as needed, when projects were being implemented,” he said. “In fact, these forests are surrounded by millions of people who use them daily, and the impacts of that use on dozens of endangered species are occurring now.”
In an interview, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris Tollefson said, “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that characterization of our treatment of these regional plans. In general, the service has tried hard to work within the boundaries of the Endangered Species Act.”
Patel gave both sides in the case 21 days to devise a remedy.
In her ruling on a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmental groups, Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court of Northern California said the opinions failed to include protective measures such as monitoring systems required to determine the effects of land-use decisions on endangered plants and animals in the Los Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino forests.
Environmentalists praised Patel’s determination as an important victory for 40 threatened and endangered species, including the California condor and steelhead trout.
“Under the Bush administration, these federal agencies regarded regional forest plans as unimportant documents that simply gather dust on a shelf,” said Marc Fink, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the lawsuit along with Los Padres ForestWatch, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the California Plant Society.
“Their argument was that they would analyze the plans later, as needed, when projects were being implemented,” he said. “In fact, these forests are surrounded by millions of people who use them daily, and the impacts of that use on dozens of endangered species are occurring now.”
In an interview, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris Tollefson said, “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that characterization of our treatment of these regional plans. In general, the service has tried hard to work within the boundaries of the Endangered Species Act.”
Patel gave both sides in the case 21 days to devise a remedy.
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