News
Group's petition seeks protection for 2 plants in Cochise County
Thu, 07/08/2010 - 00:24
By Allison Gatlin /Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA - The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition Wednesday under the Endangered Species Act, seeking protection for two Arizona plants. The center says the plants' numbers are withering due to mining, recreation, climate change, and, more predominantly, collection and cattle grazing.
The petitioners render the need for federal protection for the Bartram stonecrop and the beardless chinch weed "unquestionable" and go on to explain that the decision to provide assistance for these rare plants should have been made 30 years ago.
"There is no question that both these rare plants qualify for listing under the Endangered Species Act," the petition states, adding that the stonecrop, in particular, was made eligible for protection in 1982 when T.R. Van Devender, at the time an endangered species botanist with the Arizona Natural Heritage Program, recommended it.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to determine whether "a reasonable person" would find the information in the petition enough to substantiate a full one-year review including a public comment period to determine whether the plants are endangered under the act.
Should the Fish and Wildlife Service determine reviews of both species are warranted, the one-year review will most likely begin before a draft environmental impact statement is issued by the U.S. Forest Service. The draft environmental impact statement will not be released before October, and could once again be delayed in the event that issues deemed relevant by the Forest Service are not yet answered. Those include water quality and hydrology impacts of open-pit mine pumping and protection of an orchid under the Endangered Species Act, acccording to Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel.
The plants' dire conditions are due to how they grow and interact with their environment as opposed with human activities, said Tierra Curry, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity that put in the petition.
"The chinch weed is a flower," she said. "So when the cattle graze on it or trample it, it doesn't get tall enough to grow a flower and then can't reproduce."
She added that in the case of the stonecrop, its beauty is the reason for its low numbers.
"The stonecrop is beautiful and succulent," she said. "So people tend to collect it."
Though the petition originally started with the proposition to build the Rosemont open-pit mine near the Santa Rita Mountains, it also claims that the Forest Service and cattle ranchers are culpable.
Both plants grow in what the biologists refer to as the Sky Islands in the Atascosa, Baboquivari, Chiricahua, Dragoon, Huachuca, Mule, Patagonia, Rincon, Santa Rita and Tumacacori mountains and Canelo Hills in Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties.
Since Van Devender's recommendation in the 1980s, population numbers for the stonecrop and chinch weed have dropped dramatically, with only 12 and 13 small, scattered locations left throughout Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties, respectively, according to the center.
"The Forest Service has been inconsistent in assessing the threat posed to the stonecrop by grazing," states the petition. "And has taken no actions to protect the plant."
Coronado Forest Services did not return calls by press time.
Rancher reaction
Rancher John Ladd at the San Jose Ranch called the petition "frivilous," saying "at one point in time (they) need to stop."
"The cattle industry is a pretty integral part of this country, and everyone is trying to put us out of business," he said. "I'm all in favor of being ecology-minded, but it's getting out of hand."
While the petition to protect the stonecrop and chinch weed wouldn't directly affect his cattle grazing, as those plants don't grow on land he uses, he said his experience in the past with a 2001 petition by the center to protect the Huachuca water umbel did cause him to need to change how he grazed his cattle.
He added that he doesn't understand why there's such an effort to protect a plant not "tough enough" to survive on its own.
"At some point in time, America's got to speak up for common sense," he said. "I pose the question: How many species have gone extinct since the beginning of time? What are the consequences of letting them go extinct? Nothing."
Contributing: Wick Communications environmental liaison Dick Kamp.
By Allison Gatlin /Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA - The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition Wednesday under the Endangered Species Act, seeking protection for two Arizona plants. The center says the plants' numbers are withering due to mining, recreation, climate change, and, more predominantly, collection and cattle grazing.
The petitioners render the need for federal protection for the Bartram stonecrop and the beardless chinch weed "unquestionable" and go on to explain that the decision to provide assistance for these rare plants should have been made 30 years ago.
"There is no question that both these rare plants qualify for listing under the Endangered Species Act," the petition states, adding that the stonecrop, in particular, was made eligible for protection in 1982 when T.R. Van Devender, at the time an endangered species botanist with the Arizona Natural Heritage Program, recommended it.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to determine whether "a reasonable person" would find the information in the petition enough to substantiate a full one-year review including a public comment period to determine whether the plants are endangered under the act.
Should the Fish and Wildlife Service determine reviews of both species are warranted, the one-year review will most likely begin before a draft environmental impact statement is issued by the U.S. Forest Service. The draft environmental impact statement will not be released before October, and could once again be delayed in the event that issues deemed relevant by the Forest Service are not yet answered. Those include water quality and hydrology impacts of open-pit mine pumping and protection of an orchid under the Endangered Species Act, acccording to Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel.
The plants' dire conditions are due to how they grow and interact with their environment as opposed with human activities, said Tierra Curry, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity that put in the petition.
"The chinch weed is a flower," she said. "So when the cattle graze on it or trample it, it doesn't get tall enough to grow a flower and then can't reproduce."
She added that in the case of the stonecrop, its beauty is the reason for its low numbers.
"The stonecrop is beautiful and succulent," she said. "So people tend to collect it."
Though the petition originally started with the proposition to build the Rosemont open-pit mine near the Santa Rita Mountains, it also claims that the Forest Service and cattle ranchers are culpable.
Both plants grow in what the biologists refer to as the Sky Islands in the Atascosa, Baboquivari, Chiricahua, Dragoon, Huachuca, Mule, Patagonia, Rincon, Santa Rita and Tumacacori mountains and Canelo Hills in Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties.
Since Van Devender's recommendation in the 1980s, population numbers for the stonecrop and chinch weed have dropped dramatically, with only 12 and 13 small, scattered locations left throughout Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties, respectively, according to the center.
"The Forest Service has been inconsistent in assessing the threat posed to the stonecrop by grazing," states the petition. "And has taken no actions to protect the plant."
Coronado Forest Services did not return calls by press time.
Rancher reaction
Rancher John Ladd at the San Jose Ranch called the petition "frivilous," saying "at one point in time (they) need to stop."
"The cattle industry is a pretty integral part of this country, and everyone is trying to put us out of business," he said. "I'm all in favor of being ecology-minded, but it's getting out of hand."
While the petition to protect the stonecrop and chinch weed wouldn't directly affect his cattle grazing, as those plants don't grow on land he uses, he said his experience in the past with a 2001 petition by the center to protect the Huachuca water umbel did cause him to need to change how he grazed his cattle.
He added that he doesn't understand why there's such an effort to protect a plant not "tough enough" to survive on its own.
"At some point in time, America's got to speak up for common sense," he said. "I pose the question: How many species have gone extinct since the beginning of time? What are the consequences of letting them go extinct? Nothing."
Contributing: Wick Communications environmental liaison Dick Kamp.
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