ESA Protection Proposed For Two Appalachian Crayfish Threatened By Mountaintop Removal

Two crayfish that have died out throughout much of their range in Appalachia may have some hope. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to protect the two species under the Endangered Species Act.

            More than half of their habitats of the Big Sandy crayfish and the Guyandotte River crayfish have become too polluted, mostly from mountaintop removal coal mining, for these creatures to live in. The proposed protection by the Fish and Wildlife Service is in response to a petition and a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Big Sandy crayfish photo: Guenter Schuster

Though the evidence that mountaintop removal causes ecological damage has been mounting, and the health hazards to people because of mountaintop mining have become more evident, this is the first news that I’ve run across that any legislators or government agency is doing anything to mitigate the harm that this mining practice inflicts on the people or land of Appalachia.

            You can read more about the proposed listing in the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Roadkill From the Ocotillo Express

There are fewer than 1000 Peninsular Bighorn sheep, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just granted permission for ten of those sheep to be “taken,” meaning that people could be moving them, harassing them, or even killing them. The sheep have been listed as endangered since the late nineties, when their numbers had dwindled to just a couple hundred individuals. Since then their numbers have rebounded, largely because of the protected status.

            The sheep are true wonders, beautiful creatures that my wife and I have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of on trips to Anza-Borrego State Park. This decision does not conform in the slightest with the mission of the USFWS to work for the recovery of imperiled plant and animal species.

Bighorn sheep in Anza-Borego State Park

The USFWS granted the taking to allow for the construction of the Ocotillo Express wind energy facility of over 100 wind turbines, many of them expected to be over 400 feet tall, in the desert east of the Imperial County town of Ocotillo. The facility received its final approval from the Interior Department last week.

It’s easy to see that the bad news for the bighorn sheep has been in the works for some time. In 2009 the USFWS diminished the amount of land designated for protection of the Peninsular Bighorn sheep by more than half. Some of the area that lost that status is where they are now building the Ocotillo Express. At the time of the reduction, the USFWS officials said that research since 2001 identified areas that were actually used by the sheep. Well, the research was either wrong, or the “actual” places where many of these sheep roam and live was kinda sorta overlooked by “mistake.”

Additionally, I found this story in the online edition of the East County Magazine, a local publication of the rural backcountry of San Diego County. The San Diego UT, the recognized news source of the major metropolitan area of San Diego, the news source of record, had no story on the taking of the sheep, despite the significance this story has and the ramifications that a decision like this might have on the sheep and other threatened or endangered species.

In the meantime, it’s full speed ahead for the Ocotillo Express, sheep or no sheep.