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FL Press: Can a salamander coexist with a U.S. 98 bypass?

wes_von_papineäu

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NORTH WEST FLORIDA DAILY NEWS (Fort Walton Beach) 21 October 08 Can a salamander coexist with a U.S. 98 bypass? (Tom McLaughlin)
The fate of the reticulated flatwoods salamander and the proposed U.S. 98 bypass will be debated Wednesday night in Escambia County.
A public meeting on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan to list the salamander as endangered, and designate areas where it lives as critical habitat, will be at 7:30 p.m. at Pensacola Junior College.
The proposed listing and designation could cripple plans for a U.S. Highway 98 bypass to cut through the south end of Eglin Air Force Base's reservation.
The bypass proposal as presently drawn runs through the heart of the reticulated flatwoods salamander territory the federal agency deems critical.
The areas in question lie primarily on the south end of the reservation west of Hurlburt Field.
Both bypass proponents and salamander supporters have announced plans to be at the meeting. Members of the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society even are offering rides to people interested in attending.
"People say, ‘Why worry about a slimy salamander? What are they good for anyway?' " said Thelma Phillips, president of the Audubon Society. "Well, I say, ‘Why worry about another toll road going across Eglin? What are they good for anyway?' "
The Santa Rosa County Commission, frustrated that the hearing is being held in Escambia County, already has asked U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, for a second public hearing in Okaloosa County or Santa Rosa County.
"We were concerned U.S. Fish and Wildlife was reticent to hold this meeting. It seems to us they're trying to make it difficult for the public to provide input by holding it in Escambia County," said Santa Rosa Commissioner Gordon Goodin.
Fish and Wildlife officials said the salamander discussion involves Alabama, Georgia and Florida, where it resides. The Escambia site for the hearing was a central location.
Most local residents are interested want to know whether a U.S. 98 bypass and an endangered salamander can coexist.
"Are they telling us, ‘You can't get there from here?' " wondered state Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who said he would attend the meeting if his schedule permitted.
Earlier this month, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced its intention to declare the reticulated flatwoods salamander an endangered species.
Its proposal was published recently in the Federal Register, along with some discussion of the proposed bypass.
"We believe this proposed road would destroy or severely degrade 22 breeding sites that support the largest reticulated flatwoods salamander population," the Federal Report states.
"These breeding sites represent 44 percent of the known reticulated flatwoods salamander ponds. This Eglin population represents the only population of this species supported by more than three breeding ponds and functions as a metapopulation."
Connie Light Dickard, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman, said a metapopulation is an area where three ponds with known salamander populations create optimal breeding opportunities.
The Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority, a regional agency charged with finding ways to ease congestion on U.S. 98, requested the public hearing.
The authority achieved two major goals last year when it signed off on a master plan for regional transportation growth and received Eglin's permission to build a bypass across its property.
News of the salamander threat was a huge disappointment to authority members. Eglin officials declared there were "no viable alternatives to the preferred (bypass) alternative" and said the bypass could not be moved north to accommodate the environmental concerns.
Randall McElheney, chairman of the Corridor Authority, said he will attend the meeting hopes of impressing upon federal authorities the tremendous need for the bypass.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service has attributed very little impact of this to people," McElheney said. "I think the impact is unbelievable."
He said he'll lobby for a compromise.
"We believe there should be a compromise that the flatwoods salamander be protected and a road be built in an environmentally friendly way," McElheney said.
Gaetz said he wants to know why no one with the Fish and Wildlife Service or Eglin Air Force Base mentioned the salamander issue before expensive road studies and suggested bypass routes had been completed.
"If federal environmentalists knew all along this was a unique habitat and the embodiment and suppository of this salamander in America, why oh why did they not share this bit of news?" Gaetz asked.
Dickard, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, said her agency and Eglin's environmental experts have had "great communication" on flatwoods salamander issues since 1995.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/salamander_12076___article.html/bypass_flatwoods.html
 
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