Conservatively
Speaking
by
Bill & Donna Lenhart
March
2003
Wetland Protection
Vital to Wildlife — As most conservation-minded
people are aware, wetlands play an integral role to both
humans and wildlife. In addition to sustaining
nearly one-third of the nation’s endangered and
threatened species, wetlands provide breeding and wintering
grounds
for millions of waterfowl and shorebirds. Wetlands
also play key roles in municipalities – lessening
flood damage, reducing erosion, recharging groundwater,
filtering
sediment and abating pollution. (Protecting America’s
Wetlands: An Action Agenda by the National Wetlands
Policy Forum). Increasing numbers of municipalities
are realizing this importance and are writing aquatic
resources ordinances
to provide these important green space areas the protection
they desperately need. Local towns such as Fishkill,
LaGrange and Pawling have written ordinances that will
not hinder thoughtful and responsible development, while
incorporating crucial elements such as buffers. Science
has shown that buffers, which are undisturbed areas that
act as a barrier between development and wetlands, are
most effective if they are a minimum of 100’. While
some municipalities have compromised at a minimum of
50’, the Town of Poughkeepsie has drafted an ordinance
with a 25’ minimum buffer. This will afford the
greatest number of town wetlands (65%) the least amount
of protection. Those living in the town are urged
to call their town councilperson and tell them to vote
for
an ordinance that will give a greater degree of protection
than that offered in the draft. A public hearing
on this topic is forthcoming – check your newspapers
or the Town
of Poughkeepsie website to
find out the date and time, and please attend if you
can.
The Adirondack “ATV” Park? — The
NYDEC has begun to wrestle, in earnest, with the issue of ATVs
in the Adirondack Park. As they have begun to prepare
unit management plans (UMP’s) for various tracts of state
land, more and more four-wheeler enthusiasts have turned out
in force to demand greater access to these lands. The New York
State Off-Highway Recreational Vehicle Association tracks the
progress of individual plans on its website and informs its
members how to get involved: “We can stop the
opposition from winning again and again by participating in
the UMP process,
advising our politicians that [off-road vehicle] enthusiasts
have been shut out of state lands for too long, and standing
up for our right as residents and taxpayers.” Preservationists,
not surprisingly, are just as adamant in their opposition to
opening more of the preserve to ATVs, citing the damage to
plants and soils and frequent incidents of trespass. Two
citizen groups – the Adirondack Council and the Residents’ Committee
to Protect the Adirondacks – assert that ATV abuse has
gotten so out of hand that four-wheelers should be banned from
the park entirely. According to John Sheehan, an Adirondack
Council spokesperson,
“
In just about every place where legal access [to state land]
is provided, there is an illegal incursion into the adjacent
Forest Preserve.” From the Adirondack Explorer,
November/December 2002.
ESA concerns return — In
a recent analysis, the Center for Biological Diversity found
that the current administration is the first and only one not
to voluntarily list any imperiled species. In its first
two years, the Bush administration has extended ESA protection
to only 20 species. These species were listed only after
lawsuits were brought against the administration. The
listings represent
the fewest since Ronald Reagan listed 17 species in 1982 and
1983. (From GREENlines issue 1812)
The Piping Plover gets some legal
relief — As
a result of a lawsuit settlement, Stone Harbor, New Jersey
agreed to remove contaminated dredge material that was
deposited in the habitat of the endangered Piping Plover.
The settlement also includes the creation of new nesting
areas (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/13). The lawsuit
was brought when the affluent borough violated an agreement
to test and remove sand and mud containing mercury and
arsenic that was dredged from its back bay. (From GREENlines issue 1808)
..And more Litigation for the Spotted
Owl — The
decision to deny ESA protection for the California Spotted
Owl came under scathing criticism from environmental groups
who promise a “legal showdown,” reports the Sacramento
Bee 2/11. To the specific groups' charges, the USFWS denied
allegations that the “Bush Administration is pressuring
federal biologists not to expand the jurisdiction of the ESA.” (From
GREENlines issue 1801)
Birds of Conservation
Concern now available — The
USFWS has released the long anticipated report Birds of
Conservation Concern 2002, which lists candidate birds “in
need of additional conservation action,” says the Federal
Register 2/6. This is a follow-up to, and expansion of,
the 1995 list
of migratory nongame birds that are likely to become candidates
for ESA listing without additional conservation actions. The
Hudson Valley is in Bird Conservation Area 28; among the birds
listed are Upland Sandpiper, Yellow-bellied and Olive-sided
Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler and Henslow’s Sparrow. You
can read
or download the fairly robust report (125 pages) here online.
Wings
Over Dutchess, March
2003
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