Posted on 06/14/2002 7:46:08 AM PDT by Jean S
LOS ANGELES --
In a reversal for developers and the Bush administration, a federal judge ruled that a tiny threatened bird known as the California gnatcatcher and the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp will remain protected while the government studies more than 500,000 acres of their habitat.
The land, mostly sage scrub and shallow freshwater pools, is in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had joined developers in requesting that the area's "critical habitat" designation be lifted while the agency studies its economic impact on the area. The designation, allowed by the Endangered Species Act, can limit or prevent development.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson rejected the request in a ruling made public Thursday.
Wilson had ordered in February that the "critical habitat" protection be restudied, ruling that its economic impact wasn't fully considered, as required by law, when the designation was made in 2000. He gave the agency 10 months to complete the analysis.
Environmentalists opposed lifting the protections, saying they feared doing so could lead to similar reversals around the country. They said the new ruling would protect the animals' habitat from road construction and the building of at least 14,000 homes.
"This is a significant and badly needed reprieve for endangered and threatened species that depend for their survival on protection of their habitat," said Joel Reynolds, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Federal wildlife officials wouldn't comment on the ruling, saying their attorneys had not had enough time to review it.
Endangered and/or threatened coming to a neighborhood near you!
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