The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cannot require
private landowners to protect the habitat of endangered species,
according to a recent court decision. The ruling by a three-judge
panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., stems from
a lawsuit challenging federal regulations restricting timber
harvesting near spotted owl nests in Oregon and Washington. In the
majority opinion, Judge David B. Williams said Congress intended
the Endangered Species Act to bar actions such as hunting that
directly harm protected species, but not logging and other
activities that modify a species’ habitat. Some environmentalists
and federal officials disagreed with the ruling, saying habitat
destruction is the primary reason most species become endangered.
In any case, Susan Saul, a staffer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, says the decision will not affect her agency’s policy of
protecting habitat on private lands. She says the agency will rely
on a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision which upheld the
right of the government to impose regulations on private
landowners. “We’re going to continue with our belief that taking
the habitat is the same as taking the bird,” she says. Todd True,
an attorney for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, says the
decision would have little impact on species like the spotted owl,
which reside primarily on public lands, but could make salmon and
the California gnatcatcher, which inhabit private lands, vulnerable
to future legal challenges.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Court strikes at Endangered Species Act.
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