A federal court ruling that overturned the "listing" of the California Gnatcatcher as a threatened species will not jeopardize the Natural Communities Conservation Planning program (NCCP), the state's nationally acclaimed effort to both protect critical habitat and provide for economic progress.
U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in Washington, D.C., on May 2 that the gnatcatcher is not a threatened species because of procedural problems with the listing process. The small gray songbird had been listed by the Department of the Interior in March 1993 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
However, the gnatcatcher's status will not adversely affect the NCCP program, Undersecretary for Resources Michael Mantell said.
"We are greatly heartened that local governments, landowners, developers, environmentalists, and others have re-affirmed their commitment to the state program," Mantell said. "The common interest of all of these parties in multi -species ecosystem planning is unchanged by the court's decision."
The judge said the federal government erred by not making available to the building industry raw data used as the basis for the listing petition. In listing the bird, the government had relied upon the analysis of an ornithologist who reversed a conclusion he had made two years earlier that the California Gnatcatcher was the same as the gnatcatchers found in Mexico and other parts of the western United States. The ornithologist then decided - using the same data - that the California Gnatcatcher was distinct from the Mexican bird.
Challenging the court's ruling, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said the department is confident the listing was based on sound scientific information, and asked the court to reinstate the gnatcatcher's threatened status while research data to back up the claims was being made available.
"It is increasingly clear that local government, other public agencies, and private landowners want this conservation planning effort to succeed," Babbitt said. The state supported Babbitt's decision to disclose the data.
Michael Mantell received the Chevron-Times Mirror Magazines Conservation Award on May 18 for his achievements in developing the NCCP.