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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Karl and Zealot |
Posted - 07/24/2007 : 13:07:32
Idaho Statesman
7-24-07
Fire ravages rare species habitat
Slickspot peppergrass is only found in SW Idaho.
The nation's largest wildfire is raging through the fragile habitat of two rare species.
The slickspot peppergrass plant and a prairie bird known as the sage grouse already are awaiting their fate in court.
State and federal agencies and environmental organizations are keeping a close watch on the nearly 600,000-acre Murphy Complex Fire burning along the Idaho/Nevada border. The area also is home to the federally protected bull trout.
While the bull trout and sage grouse can be found in several states, the slickspot peppergrass is found only in Southwest Idaho.
"We don't know at this point what has happened to habitat for all three of those species" in the area, said Steve Duke of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We have an active and ongoing interest. Right now we are waiting and seeing."
The lighting-caused fire started July 16 about 30 miles southwest of Twin Falls. As of Monday morning the blaze had consumed almost 568,000 acres.
Jarbidge, Nev., has been evacuated and Murphy Hot Springs is closed to the public, said Chuck Dickson, Bureau of Land Management Twin Falls District spokesman.
Meanwhile environmentalists and biologists are cringing at the thought of thousands of acres of old-growth sagebrush being incinerated.
"It's burning some of the best remaining sagebrush habitat," said Katie Fite with Western Watersheds Project, which has filed appeals on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to list sage grouse or slickspot peppergrass as endangered.
"(The government) has delayed and delayed in making changes out there. Now we have the perfect storm — extreme heat, messed up weather patterns and extreme dryness," Fite said. "Things are crashing."
Torched sagebrush habitat cannot be quickly restored because slow-growing sagebrush can take 30 to 50 years to mature, said Jack Connelly, a sage grouse expert with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
"There's a lot of concern when sage grouse habitat starts to burn," Connelly said.
Duke said biologists with the Idaho Data Conservation Center finished surveying the area for peppergrass the week before the fire broke out.
"Fortunately, we know what was going on before the fire," Duke said.
Similar mapping was recently completed for sage grouse in the area.
Once the fire is contained and its burn area mapped, biologists will overlay maps of known sage grouse and slickspot peppergrass areas. With that data, they will be able to decide what the next steps are.
"We don't know our options," until the impact is known, said Duke, calling it premature to speculate about the fire's impact on the two rare species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected petitions to designate slickspot peppergrass and sage grouse as endangered.
Western Watersheds Project has filed lawsuits in district court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over what it calls failure by the department to protect the rare plant and the large game bird whose population has plummeted in recent decades. Both cases are still in court.
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