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<u>MONTEREY HERALD </u>(California) 21 December 06 Salamander on path to endangered list - California amphibian should be considered for protection, judge rules (Kevin Howe)
The California tiger salamander should be considered for inclusion on the state's endangered species list, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge has ruled.
Judge Lloyd G. Connelly last week overturned the state Fish and Game Commission's 3-2 rejection of a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the tiger salamander under the state's Endangered Species Act.
The petition to list the California tiger salamander was filed with the commission in January 2004. The commission rejected the petition at its Oct. 23, 2004, meeting. On Dec. 2, 2004, the commission adopted written findings purporting to support the rejection.
Connelly's 15-page written order criticized the commission's decision, stating that it "misstated or ignored substantial evidence in the administrative record and relied on conflicting information of doubtful scientific value."
Fish and Game Commissioner John Fisher said neither he nor the commission's legal counsel has seen the ruling and can't comment on it until they do.
The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is an imperiled amphibian found only in the state. Historically, the California tiger salamander was found throughout most of the Central Valley, adjacent foothills and Coast Range, as well as in the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County and in Santa Barbara County.
Its range includes wide areas of Monterey County where streams, grasslands and vernal ponds occur. Long listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered, the presence of the colorful amphibian has delayed development projects at Fort Ord and in Carmel Valley in recent years.
The black-and-yellow salamander, which grows to eight inches long, has been in decline for years because of disappearing wetlands and hybridization with non-native salamanders.
The majority of historic California tiger salamander habitat has already been lost to urban and agricultural development, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which said more than two dozen independent scientists, as well as the state Department of Fish and Game, supported the center's petition.
Under state law, the Fish and Game Commission considers petitions to list species in a two-step process.
In the first step, the Department of Fish and Game issues a report evaluating the petition and recommending whether the commission should accept it for further study.
The commission must accept the petition if it, along with the department's report and additional evidence received, indicates that listing may be warranted.
If the petition is accepted, the species is designated as a candidate, and the Fish and Game Department conducts a 12-month status review to determine whether listing is warranted. The department then issues a second report to the commission, which votes whether to list the species. During the candidacy period, the species receives the same protection as a species listed as threatened or endangered.
Connelly ordered the commission to accept the petition, which will initiate the full status review and the second stage of the listing process.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/16288877.htm
The California tiger salamander should be considered for inclusion on the state's endangered species list, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge has ruled.
Judge Lloyd G. Connelly last week overturned the state Fish and Game Commission's 3-2 rejection of a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the tiger salamander under the state's Endangered Species Act.
The petition to list the California tiger salamander was filed with the commission in January 2004. The commission rejected the petition at its Oct. 23, 2004, meeting. On Dec. 2, 2004, the commission adopted written findings purporting to support the rejection.
Connelly's 15-page written order criticized the commission's decision, stating that it "misstated or ignored substantial evidence in the administrative record and relied on conflicting information of doubtful scientific value."
Fish and Game Commissioner John Fisher said neither he nor the commission's legal counsel has seen the ruling and can't comment on it until they do.
The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is an imperiled amphibian found only in the state. Historically, the California tiger salamander was found throughout most of the Central Valley, adjacent foothills and Coast Range, as well as in the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County and in Santa Barbara County.
Its range includes wide areas of Monterey County where streams, grasslands and vernal ponds occur. Long listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered, the presence of the colorful amphibian has delayed development projects at Fort Ord and in Carmel Valley in recent years.
The black-and-yellow salamander, which grows to eight inches long, has been in decline for years because of disappearing wetlands and hybridization with non-native salamanders.
The majority of historic California tiger salamander habitat has already been lost to urban and agricultural development, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which said more than two dozen independent scientists, as well as the state Department of Fish and Game, supported the center's petition.
Under state law, the Fish and Game Commission considers petitions to list species in a two-step process.
In the first step, the Department of Fish and Game issues a report evaluating the petition and recommending whether the commission should accept it for further study.
The commission must accept the petition if it, along with the department's report and additional evidence received, indicates that listing may be warranted.
If the petition is accepted, the species is designated as a candidate, and the Fish and Game Department conducts a 12-month status review to determine whether listing is warranted. The department then issues a second report to the commission, which votes whether to list the species. During the candidacy period, the species receives the same protection as a species listed as threatened or endangered.
Connelly ordered the commission to accept the petition, which will initiate the full status review and the second stage of the listing process.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/16288877.htm