Habitat Conservation Plan covers variety of landowners, wildlife

By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press

WATERVILLE, Wash. -- Farmers and ranchers in Douglas County, Wash., believe they will be ready if the greater sage grouse is ever listed as threatened or endangered by the federal government.

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced March 5 that it wouldn't list the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act because populations of the bird are stable but that it might periodically review the situation.

Dryland wheat farmers and cattle ranchers have been working for 10 years through the Foster Creek Conservation District in Douglas County for what they hope will be protection from any ESA listing, district manager Britt Dudek said.

Working with all concerned parties, the district has developed what it believes will be the first multi-species Habitat Conservation Plan concerning multiple agricultural landowners approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the nation, Dudek said.

The USFWS has approved a multi-species HCP for a single farmer in Oregon, and elsewhere agreements exist that fall short of being full fledged HCPs and have less legal certainty, Dudek said.

He anticipates final approval of the Douglas County HCP in late summer or early fall. Under it, farmers would sign up for 50 years, Dudek would design resource management plans for their property and operations that would determine conservation practices.

Farmers would be eligible for Farm Bill money to help them with fencing, water for livestock and developing borders of native vegetation around planted fields.

The HCP should keep any Endangered Species Act listings from restricting grazing on land in the HCP but federal lands could still have restrictions, Dudek said.

The main benefit is that the USFWS would provide legal defense for the farmer in case of any lawsuits involving incidental takings, he said.

Incidental takings can be death of species from things like farm equipment, cattle caving in burrows or the clearing of habitat, he said.

Douglas County farmers and ranchers became proactive out of concern the sage grouse could limit farming like the spotted owl listing years ago reduced timber harvests, Dudek said.

"Ranchers knew a mere lawsuit over a take would put them out of business," he said.

He expects about 100 farmers will sign up for resource management plans if the HCP is approved.

Dudek said it helps that the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service announced March 12 that it has more money available to protect habitat coming out of Conservation Reserve Program.

Douglas County has the largest population of sage grouse in Washington, estimated at about 650 birds, Dudek said. He believes it's that high partly because of a large amount of acreage in the Conservation Reserve Program. Land in the county is 85 percent privately owned and mostly dryland farming and range.

Neighboring Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties, with more intensive farming, don't have as many sage grouse as they once did. The U.S. Army's Yakima Firing Range has the second largest numbers of sage grouse in the state but Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado all have far larger populations, he said.

Douglas County Multi-species Habitat Conservation Plan

Covered species: greater sage grouse, bald eagle, golden eagle, Peregrine falcon, prairie falcon, burrowing owl, sharp-tailed grouse, Lewis' woodpecker, loggerhead shrike, sage thrasher, willow flycatcher, Brewer's sparrow, sage sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, white-tailed jackrabbit, Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit and Washington ground squirrel.

The pygmy rabbit is the only one listed as endangered.

Douglas County Habitat Conservation Plan participants

Foster Creek Conservation District, South Douglas Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, Washington State Horticultural Association, Douglas County Cattlemen, Douglas County Wheat Growers, Douglas County banking community, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Farm Service Agency, Washington State University Extension, Douglas County Public Utility District No. 1, National Audubon Society, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.