By Douglas P. Wheeler
Chairman, California Biodiversity
Council
When the California red-legged frog was declared a threatened species in May --ending the one-year Congressional moratorium on listings under the federal Endangered Species Act --it received wide attention.
But little was reported about efforts to restore and protect the wetland and riparian habitat that support the amphibian believed to be Mark Twain's “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
Too often, our preoccupation with the state and federal listing processes for endangered species precludes consideration of wildlife habitat, the essential element in the well-being of plants, animals, and fish.
The endangered species laws are intended to serve the limited purpose of providing a "safety net" for species on the brink of extinction. Yet, of the more than 950 species listed under the federal law, one-third are nonetheless declining in population. Only six species have been removed from the list as a result of successful recovery efforts. During the 1980s alone, 34 species became extinct while waiting for listing.
These disturbing conditions reflect the fact that recovery plans, which are required for threatened or endangered species under federal law, have been approved in only 54 percent of all cases -- and many of these plans simply sit on a shelf. At the same time, 243 additional species -- including more than 100 in California -- await final decisions on possible listing. If listed, recovery efforts mandated by the Act for any of these plants and animals are years away at best.
Listings Come Too Late
Writing in the magazine of the Sierra Club, John Daniel described the reality in California:
"Endangered species listings
... are triggered far too late in the process of habitat degradation, when species are already under
the shadow of
extinction. And, worse, they perpetuate a chronic delusion -- that one species can be singled out,
attended to, and
'saved.' It's impossible."
These deficiencies can be addressed only by sound, anticipatory protection of the wide diversity of habitats that make California so uniqu ecologically. This objective -- which is supported by virtually all that is known in the field of conservation biology -- has been at the heart of Governor Wilson's program of wildlife management for five years. The results to date are impressive.
In Southern California, the Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) pilot program is an unprecedented effort in multi-species conservation on more that 6,000 square miles of coastal sage scrub habitat. NCCP, endorsed by two presidents, 59 local governments, scores of landowners, environmentalists, and others, is a model for multi-species conservation elsewhere in California.
The first NCCP plan to be fully approved covers 209,000 acres in Orange County, creating more than 38,000 in reserves and providing permanent protection for as many as 25 species. In San Diego, the city and county are completing a plan for 580,000 acres that includes a 164,000-acre reserve system. Together with two other plans being prepared in San Diego, a total of 1.3 million acres will be covered in the county, protecting more than two dozen indigenous species of plants and animals.
Fixing the Bay Delta
In the Bay-Delta, the Wilson administration and the federal government signed a historic
agreement in 1994 that brought
together the state's major water interests to address vexing issues of the San Francisco Bay-Delta,
the linchpin of our
water delivery system and a rich aquatic habitat. The resulting multi-faceted partnership has great
potential to resolve
one of California' s hottest "water wars" and protect a variety of fish-listed and
unlisted -by providing for the
restoration and protection of the Bay-Delta estuary, rivers and streams, and riparian and wetland
habitat. Already a
dozen major projects-worth approximately $30 million-are underway on the Sacramento and San
Joaquin Rivers and
their tributaries, and in the Delta.
Expanding Wetlands
Wetlands, a wealth of biodiversity, are expanding after years of shrinkage. Since Governor Wilson
' s comprehensive
wetlands conservation policy in 1993, California has increased the quantity of functioning
wetlands more than 15
percent by some 78,000 acres. Gains have come in the Central Valley through cooperative
partnerships with
landowners and local governments, and through state purchases of habitat, including the
10,000-acre Napa Marsh in
northern San Francisco Bay, the largest public acquisition of coastal wetlands in California
history.
Riparian habitat-river and stream banks covered with plants and trees-is among the richest breeding grounds for wintering birds and supports many terrestrial and amphibian species, including the California red-legged frog. Less than one tenth of California' s historic riparian habitat exists today, but since 1991, the Governor' s riparian program has acquired, enhanced, and restored more than 12,000 acres of important riparian habitat from Humboldt to Fresno. Funding has been provided to plant vegetation, stabilize streams, and use fencing to improve grazing management along more than 20 miles of streams, sloughs, and lakes.
Conservation Banks
Another innovative Wilson administration program has helped to establish 39 conservation
"banks" worth at least $40
million in 12 counties. Landowners buy "credits" in a conservation bank, which pays
for creating permanent wildlife
reserves, thus providing an incentive-and a means-to protect and restore land with significant
wildlife values in key
locations.
The California and Federal Endangered Species Acts embody an approach to conservation favored in the 1970s, but no longer reflective of the biological understanding and fiscal realities of the 1990s. It is high time to move beyond merely adding to the numbers of imperiled wildlife on government lists and to make strategic, long-term conservation our principal objective.
After all, in the parlance of the inside-the-Beltway crowd -- it's the habitat, stupid!
Doug Wheeler is California's Secretary for Resources.