ANCHORAGE — The endangered species law is being used to gain control over landscapes and seascapes rather than to protect species, according to the Alaska wildlife official who works on state responses to federal species listings.
“We do not believe Congress intended the act to be used in this manner,” said Doug Vincent-Lang, repeating testimony he gave to a congressional committee earlier this year.
Vincent-Lang and other state officials discussed at a forum Tuesday how the Endangered Species Act has affected Alaska and how it could be reformed. No representatives of the environmental organizations that have successfully petitioned to list Alaska species were invited to speak.
The state in 2008 was unable to block the listing of polar bears as a threatened species and unsuccessfully sued to have the designation overturned. The state is appealing.
Vincent-Lang said polar bears, despite healthy and stable numbers, were listed based on speculative risks of what might happen to the animals as summer sea ice declines off Alaska’s coast. Models projecting sea ice loss remain untested, he said, and a system that lists animals as a precautionary measure is flawed.
“Predictions of species responses based solely on projected changes in the availability of suitable habitat are likely to be inaccurate because they fail to account for important processes that potentially influence extinction,” he said.
Declining habitat, he said, may not correlate to a decrease in numbers unless polar bears were at maximum capacity within their range.
Rebecca Noblin of the Center for Biological Diversity, which wrote the original petition to get polar bears listed, said the state’s opposition to the Endangered Species Act “clearly shows how close the state’s ties are to the resource extraction industry.”
She said she wasn’t surprised the center or other environmental groups weren’t invited to speak.
“The Endangered Species Act is a result of Americans deciding we want to make it a priority to protect species in peril, and it works as designed,” Noblin said in a phone interview after the forum. “The state is deciding it’s more politically expedient to be against protecting species even when that means being against the best available science,” she said.
Vincent-Lang said that based on the polar bear precedent, the National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed to list ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears. Alaska opposes the listing because ringed seals number between 3 million and 7 million animals.
“We believe that there should be a requirement that a population is in a state of decline before a listing is made,” he said.
Vincent-Lang said Congress should reform endangered species law by giving states equal deference in all listing decisions rather than single federal agencies with biologists who might have agendas.
Species should only be listed, he said, if the underlying cause can be addressed by the law.
Comments (25)
Add commentThese guys are right
Let's wait until they're extinct before we do something.
What Parnell fails to understand is the HE's an endangered species.
the real problem is Sean Parnell
There certainly is a problem brewing for our state but its not the Endangered Species Act.
Its Sean Parnell and his staff. This group of people are basically shutting out the voice of Alaskans and Alaskan wildlife from their own state and opening the doors to the 1% crowd
"Species should only be
"Species should only be listed, he said, if the underlying cause can be addressed by THE LAW"
And who makes THE LAWS? Right now for Alaska it is Sean Parnell. (and our wildlife do not have a chance against this)
Ever since Sean Parnell took office he has been using his lobbying lawyer a ss to undermine what ordinary citizens of Alaska want for their state.
Who wants to see our coast line look like New Yorks? Not me. Alaskans YOU need to push back on this. If we do not protect habitat for our wildlife we will see a New York coast line for our state.
to expand upon phouston
I certainly agree with your points. Parnell and his staff are bad, bad news. Take a look at Corey Rossi at ADF&G, or the Board of Game's continued pressure to make it easier for out-of-staters to trophy hunt in Alaska and making it more difficult for locals to subsistence hunt. Priorities seem to be a bit backward there...
Propose a solution to further
Propose a solution to further the agenda and then come up with a problem. This is how the liberal mind works.
O/T a little but look what Salazar is up to now. Obama wasn't kidding when he told the Brady bunch that he was working on gun control "behind the scenes". Yikes...
"Gun owners who have historically been able to use public lands for target practice would be barred from potentially millions of acres under new rules drafted by the Interior Department, the first major move by the Obama administration to impose limits on firearms.
Officials say the administration is concerned about the potential clash between gun owners and encroaching urban populations who like to use same land for hiking and dog walking.
"It's not so much a safety issue. It's a social conflict issue," said Frank Jenks, a natural resource specialist with Interior's Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 245 million acres. He adds that urbanites "freak out" when they hear shooting on public lands. [Read about the subpoena issued as a result of Operation Fast and Furious.]
If the draft policy is finally approved, some public access to Bureau lands to hunters would also be limited, potentially reducing areas deer, elk, and bear hunters can use in the West."
http://www.usnews(dot)com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/11/16/obama-pushing-shooters-off-public-lands
Baloney from the environmental extremists, again.
It's absolutely amazing how the fringe voters in Juneau seem to think Gov. Parnell was elected to office by a minority of Alaska voters. He DOES represent the majority of Alaskans, and the fact he is stuck in backwater Juneau being pummeled in the Juneau Empire by conspiracy theory proponents who would place animals ahead of people in the food chain, is just wrong.
There may be a new day coming in Alaska as Republicans gain a majority in the Senate from redistricting, and the minority voice continues to expound ignorant positions. The swing away from left-wing nuts to moderate-to-conservative national positions will help Alaska as well.
No science
The endangered spieces act is being used as it was never intended to. Punish Alaska in what is clearly a global problem. There is no scientific data polar bears are going extinct. Locking people out of anwar will not help. Global warming is exactly what its name implies, Global. China belches out huge polution while it becomes an economic powerhouse. We need to rethink our priorities or we'll be extinct.
food
I hunt, as I'm guessing you do as well akdonn? If so, I want to emphasize something you said: "conspiracy theory proponents who would place animals ahead of people in the food chain, is just wrong."
Maybe there are some folks out there who want to save the animals for the animals' sake. I'm interested in saving them because they are part of the food chain. They are food for people. If this means protecting their habitat so we can continue to depend on them, then that's what we should do. It's much easier and more cost-effective to protect habitat that already exists than to try to recreate it once it's gone.
How do we "protect" polar bear habitat?
The arctic ice pack is not something we have any control over. "Endangered" baluga whales will decide whether they will return to Cook Inlet regardless of how many people live in Anchorage. "Habitat" is simply a buzword rally cry for environmental extremists who want to co-opt legitimate "environmentalists" like hunters and fishermen.
Environmental organizations promote saving the animals for their own sake to Outside donors to build their financial base in their effort to turn Alaska into a National Park. They said the Alaska Pipeline would wipe out the caribou herds and since the pipeline the numbers of caribou have grown exponentially.
They want to destroy Alaska's economy as they have Southeast's so regular people can't afford to live here.
Endangered Species Act / Supreme Court
It seems to me this was settled in 1995 by the Supreme Court when the Justices ruled that the ESA includes habitat protection (Babbitt vs.Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for Great Oregon).
Mike
Funny you bring up Cook Inlet
Funny you bring up Cook Inlet Belugas Donn. Those environmental extremests you rant about? Yeah, it was started by the beluga hunters who were bothered by their food source being riddled with tumors, grey colored meat, etc. I know, its all a liberal conspiracy, but in this case, those liberal, anti-development, anti-hunting whackos must have infiltrated the native beluga hunting crowd.
Europe just banned body
Europe just banned body scanners at airports because they cause cancer.
Ask yourself why is the US still using these scanners?
Its because corporate lobbyists that represent the 1% own the Republicans in congress.
The lobbyists say its about jobs and its good for businesses to require US citizens to go through these airport body scanners, and so the US has scanners.
So wake up folks. Our country has been taken over by the wealthy for the wealthy.
And for about a decade now
And for about a decade now many homes down south have been able set their tap water on fire, why? Because of the chemicals used by gas companies when drilling & “fracking” rock to release the gas. The chemicals used in this fracking process leak up wards and into the underground water supplies, which is drinking water.
Why does US allow this? Its because President Bush exempted oil and gas companies from have to comply with the clean water act.
Republicans in congress now want to de-fund the EPA.Why? so the oil and gas companies can make even more money. Our elected members in Congress dont care about us Americans anymore its all about the wealthy now.
A couple days ago I was reading in the Anchorage paper about how "Alaska Halliburton & Great Bear" are teaming up in shale play on our North Slope they plan to drill 200+ gas wells per month starting next year using fracking. I ask what about our water supply?
What are YOU going to do about it? This state belong to the Alaskan people.
In yesterdays paper Alaska
In yesterdays paper Alaska Dispatch publisher Alice Rogoff said in Juneau that Guggenheim Partners, LLC ( banking giants that destroyed our economy) was developing a fund aimed at making multi-billion dollar investments in the Arctic region.
Her husband David Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group, also an influential investment firm...... has ties to Halliburton
Look up:
Guggenheim role in US economy collapse
Carlyle Group
but most important look up: Propublica. org
@donn: "habitat" is a
@donn: "habitat" is a scientific term which represents an environment in which a species lives. That is not a buzzword. "Environmental extremist," "liberal conspiracy," and many of the other terms you often use are buzzwords, however.
@donn: habitat is a
@donn: habitat is a scientific term which represents an environment in which a species lives. That is not a buzzword. Environmental extremist, liberal conspiracy, and many of the other terms you often use are buzzwords, however.
For some reason, quotation marks lead to censorship. Interesting.
phouston
We're going to look like New York? Huh?
BTW, how many logins do you have here? Haily...Trent...about ten other greenpeace clones. Do you even live within 1,000 miles of Alaska?
And donn, based on your picture, you should simply eat LESS of the food chain.
Whoopsie Mike...
You can't use the name Babbitt to substantiate any adjudication about the environment. Before his Clinton era Yellowstone grey wolf packing, public land locking days, Bruce was the developer's darling Arizona Governor (try Gosnell for starters). You have to remember that the Babbitts raped out their own northern Arizona dynasty after which Bruce gained Cabinet status and nationalized his 'I've got mine now screw you' agenda. Heck, Mike! The case title says it all. Bruce vs. Folks of Oregon. Typical land baron.
Where's YOUR picture, Lat58?
Easy to take shots when you hide behind a phoney name, huh?
Wanna talk green greed?
Hearings are coming on Solyndra and the other failed green job/energy deals Obama said would save us all. They put fear in us with all the doom and gloom about global warming and the end of the world. Meanwhile, they scammed the taxpayers out of billions. Eco-freaks have no credibility.
So there is one "green" scam
So there is one "green" scam with Solyndra and all of a sudden anything green is a scam? How many billions has the oil industry screwed us out of?
scams and freaks
This is getting off topic a little, but just to add credibility to a topic about which others are still skeptical. The following was taken verbatim from the United States Army War College:
'The goal of this colloquium is to develop and strengthen the understanding of U.S. military and defense Leaders responsible for reacting to national security consequences of Global Climate Change and for forming US Military Security Strategy in the 21st Century.'
If the Army is concerned about climate change, then it lends a little more credibility to those eco-freaks, eh?
skirkz, this is going to be a phenomenal issue
to get smoldering before the full heat of elections draw near. I'm thinking this will be a chief plank in someone's platform. I would expect nothing less.
And skirkz, did you find the title as peculiar as I did? A claim of misuse (no evidence, just jabbering) segues into a demand for reform! Hmm. How about just stopping the misuse? But lets step back, what misuse? Habitat protection was ruled a valid part of the ESA by the 1995 Court. The title should have read, "I don't like the ESA, let's dump it."
The ESA is a facinating piece of ecological management that Mama and Papa Grizzlies are just salivating to tear apart. They are getting their toes wet right now. It will be interesting to see where all this goes.
Mike
landscapes and seascapes
"The endangered species law is being used to gain control over landscapes and seascapes rather than to protect species, according to the Alaska wildlife official who works on state responses to federal species listings." Why would anyone think an animals environment is directly related to its survival? Probably some crazy tree huggers. PROTECT and PRESERVE natural habitat!
animals & their habitat
I have degrees in both Forestry and Health Care, I eat meat & fish, and hug a tree every chance I get. Biology 101: You can't separate animals from their habitat and expect them to survive. I agree with southeastfood's comment. If we are so radically changing the environment that animals are facing extinction from man-made causes, then we are shitting in our own sandbox, and it will come back to us.