For Immediate Release:
April 24, 2014
Contacts: Bob Sallinger, Audubon Society of Portland, (503) 380-9728
Quinn Read, Oregon Wild, (503) 283-6342 (x226)
Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541) 708-0731
Klamath Advocates Go To Court Over Wildlife Mismanagement
Conservation Groups Ask Federal Court to Require U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Obey the Law, Complete Long-Overdue Comprehensive Conservation Plan
Parched Lower Klamath NWR, Sept. 20, 2013
Portland–Today three conservation groups, Audubon Society of Portland, Oregon Wild and WaterWatch of Oregon filed litigation in Federal Court to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to produce a much- needed and long-overdue Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The plan, required by law, is now 18 months past the federally-mandated deadline.
“The Klamath Refuges are some of the most important bird habitat in the Western United States,” said Portland Audubon Conservation Director, Bob Sallinger. “There is absolutely no basis for failing to meet the requirements of the Improvement Act and provide the public with a roadmap of how these critically important wetlands are going to be protected and restored.”
The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service develop and implement a “comprehensive conservation plan” (CCP) for each unit within the national wildlife refuge system. The CCP describes desired future conditions and provides long-range guidance and management direction to achieve the purposes of the refuge and ensure commercial activities on refuge lands do not undermine wildlife conservation. The Improvement Act set a deadline of October 9, 2012 for the completion of all CCPs. While the vast majority of refuges in the United States have met this requirement, five Klamath Refuges still have not released a draft or provided a timeline for when this will occur.
“We are simply asking that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service obey the law,” said Sean Stevens, Executive Director of Oregon Wild. “The agency is legally required to have a plan to prevent commercial activities, like leasing refuge lands to private agribusiness, from harming fish and wildlife. We simply want them to do their job.”
While there have been notable recent announcements in regards to a water deal between The Klamath Tribes and upper basin ranchers, these agreements do not address the failure of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to obey the law and develop a CCP, nor do they resolve the ongoing water crisis facing the refuges.
The Klamath Basin refuges’ wetlands represent some of the most important waterfowl habitat in the United States. An estimated 80% of Pacific Flyway waterfowl utilize the wetlands during their migratory journeys and more than 260 species of birds have been observed on the refuges.
The Klamath Wetland Complex once encompassed more than 350,000 acres but today it has been reduced to 80,000 acres to make way for commercial agriculture. In addition more than 22,000 refuge acres are leased for commercial agriculture, displacing essential wildlife habitat. In recent years, federal water management decisions and drought have resulted in Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge frequently going completely dry during the critical spring and fall migratory periods. These conditions helped spark massive waterfowl die-offs from avian cholera in 2012 and botulism in 2013. Governor Kitzhaber has already declared 2014 to be another drought year, and the federal government has announced plans to again cut water for wildlife while preserving full deliveries for agribusiness operations on refuge lands.
“Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge is one of the nation’s most important habitats for migratory waterfowl, but current federal management means parched wetlands and massive disease outbreaks have become the norm here,” said Jim McCarthy, Southern Oregon Program Manager for WaterWatch of Oregon. “It is long past time for the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a proactive long range management plan that meets the refuges’ primary purposes of protecting waterfowl and other wildlife.”
Plaintiffs allege that that the Improvement Act includes a mandatory, non-discretionary deadline that has already passed for producing a CCP. The plaintiffs ask the court to provide injunctive relief compelling the refuges to produce a CCP by a date certain, at the earliest possible time.
“Refuges across the United States complied long ago with this important and necessary planning process,” added WaterWatch’s Jim McCarthy. “It is especially important that the Klamath Refuges meet this mandate given their critical importance to wildlife and the complex challenges that these particular refuges face.”
The Plaintiffs are represented by Attorney Chris Winter at the Crag Law Center, a public interest environmental law firm based in Portland, Oregon and Quinn Read at Oregon Wild.
Read WaterWatch’s prior comments on the CCP process here.