Local salamander compromise in peril

A 4-year effort to draft local rules for land uses that intrude on habitat of endangered plant and animal species in Sonoma County may come to a halt.

Jake Mackenzie, Rohnert Park councilman who serves as chairman of the effort called the Conservation Strategy committee, said withdrawal of support by elected officials in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa "is going to put the whole thing in hibernation."

"The plan depends on the willingness of the county and city of Santa Rosa to fund ongoing work," Mackenzie said. "It would seem that the willingness has pretty much evaporated."

The inability to develop a local compromise plan could set the stage for more rigid land restrictions under a federal mandate.

Sonoma County administrators are to recommend to supervisors today that the effort involving a committee of representatives of local government, environmental groups, developers and agriculture interests be "put on indefinite hold."

The Santa Rosa City Council decided a month ago to bail out of the so-called Conservation Strategy implementation committee, saying the city had neither the necessary funding nor the confidence that its work would survive legal challenges.

Today, county planning officials are scheduled to report to supervisors that they've reached the same conclusion. A Permit and Resource Management Department report says "the committee's work has stalled" because it lacks about $500,000 for more environmental studies, because agriculture groups are opposed and because of growing concern that the county can't avoid having large areas of the Santa Rosa plain declared critical habitat for the endangered tiger salamander.

Since 2004, federal, state and local officials, as well as agriculture, business and environmental interests, have labored over crafting ways to preclude the federal government from regulating development in the plain under the federal Endangered Species Act because the tiger salamander and three almost extinct plants are found there. In early 2006, all the interested parties thought they made progress when a dozen people were appointed to the implementation committee that was supposed to draft guidelines for developing or improving property in sensitive areas.

Sonoma County Farm Bureau executive director Lex McCorvey said Monday that farmers simply could not agree to restrictions on routine farm practices such as planting different crops or converting pastures to vineyards that would require them to pay for mitigation measures.

He acknowledged that if the implementation committee efforts come to an end, farmers also are fearful that even more restrictive federal rules will be implemented under critical habitat designation that could add years to the process of getting project approval.

"We have tried to find a road to a cooperative, collective answer on this, but it will be difficult for property owners to go down this path," McCorvey said. "Not being able to plant different things or switch crops doesn't work in an industry that has to be light on its feet and to respond to the demands of the marketplace."

The county planning department's report concludes that the committee's strategy for developing a critical habitat plan -- a memorandum of understanding among governments, agriculture, developers and environmentalists -- appears doomed. The report says the unconventional approach can't be implemented before a change in federal government administration next year and would be vulnerable to legal challenge.

The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity already has filed an intent-to-sue notice on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, alleging that a habitat conservation plan is the only way to comply with the Endangered Species Act.

Dan Schurman, executive director the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation and an implementation committee member, said Monday that the group should shift gears and plunge into developing a critical habitat plan.

"The county is saying that they are willing to pull the plug, but we put a lot of time into this plan and we should see it through," Schurman said. "Now that the housing industry is in a downturn, we have the time to review it and apply for federal grants."

Schurman said "doing nothing is not an option because that means the feds will make all the decisions for us.

You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.