Free Republic

Fairy Shrimp vs. Man By C.C. Kraemer A wide-body jet with 300 passengers lumbers westward on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport toward the ocean on its takeoff roll. About halfway down the runway, the captain pulls back on the yoke and the airliner pokes its nose skyward and climbs powerfully away from the Earth. By the time the jet clears the end of the runway, it will be more than 1,000 feet from the ground. Swimmers on the beach don't even notice. Neither does a 1-inch crustacean that makes its home in vernal pools -- kids would call...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - A tiny freshwater shrimp that was identified as a species just three years ago will be studied for potential protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday.</p> <p>The midvalley fairy shrimp lives only in vernal pools in the Central Valley's Contra Costa, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Solano counties.</p>

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...