Has the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service become kinder and gentler in the
ways it helps endangered species? Some landowners say yes and point to
Safe Harbor as proof.
Safe Harbor has expanded nationwide since it began as a policy change
under the Endangered Species Act in 1995. It protects landowners who do
management that attracts additional endangered species beyond a baseline
number.
Under old, harsher rules, landowners were forced to shelter and protect
the newcomers, so some people were altering their land to never have the
species. Under SafeHarbor, a baseline number is established at the
beginning of the permit, and that's the number landowners have to
maintain. They do have to give the FWS advance notice of changes that
may affect the species. This gives the service time to relocate the
plant or animal.
Julian Johnson and Bob Long both sing the praises of the Safe Harbor
program. Johnson is a North Carolina timber owner, and Long is a Texas
rancher.
Johnson and his family, who live at Raeford, N.C., are protecting
themselves with Safe Harbor while they help the red-cockaded woodpecker.
Cost-sharing from the Endangered Species Landowner Incentive Program is
helping Johnson clear debris off the forest floor, which is good for the
woodpecker and also for his pine-straw business.
"Safe Harbor isn't for the animal; it's for the landowner," Johnson
says. "Fish and Wildlife used to draw a hard line on environmental
protection. But they've found that give and take with landowners
protects species better."
The size of properties enrolled in Safe Harbor ranges from 2-acre
residential lots to huge quail plantations.
Bob Long has an agreement similar to Johnson's. His land is a cattle
ranch in Bastrop County, Texas, and the species present is the
endangered Houston toad.
"We're trying to build a trail that other people will follow," says
Long. He calls himself a conservative Republican, a taxpayer and
anything but a wild-eyed environmentalist. He simply thinks government
can protect species at much less cost on private land, working with its
owners, instead of spending tax dollars to buy more property as
habitat.
The group Environmental Defense had a management plan developed for the
toads on Long's ranch. ED also helped find cost-sharing for the efforts.
Included are wetlands restoration, prescribed burning and cattle-herd
rotation. And since imported fire ants kill baby toads, the plan calls
for controlling the ants with pressurized hot water near wetlands and
toad-breeding grounds, and with chemicals farther away.
"The first people I worked with at Fish and Wildlife were
confrontational," Long says. "The people they have now are bending over
backwards to make this thing work, from Austin to Washington."