'Critical habitat' for salmon in peril
A new proposal would strip Salmon Creek of its designation as key habitat for its namesake fish.
Fish continue to dwell within the 27-mile tributary, which runs through the heart of rapidly urbanizing Clark County. But the same economic pressures to build, dike and develop the land along its banks over the past century have reduced the creek's value as a refuge for salmon and steelhead.
So the National Marine Fisheries Service, complying with a recent court settlement, wants to remove Salmon Creek from a list of so-called "critical habitat" protected under the Endangered Species Act. Throughout the Northwest, the list would shrink by 80 percent.
The fisheries service released a voluminous proposal in November, and will take public comment on it at a hearing Tuesday evening at the Thunderbird Hotel in Jantzen Beach.
The agency maintains the move will make little difference. But environmental groups argue it would undermine fish recovery efforts.
Federal officials contend the designation of critical habitat may be extraneous because a general reading of the Endangered Species Act protects salmon.
Whether or not a stream carries the "critical habitat" name, the law requires federal agencies to make sure their actions don't jeopardize the existence of a species. Likewise, private individuals can be fined up to $50,000 or sentenced to a year in jail for harming an endangered species.
In the past, the fisheries service simply declared every river basin accessible to imperiled salmon as critical habitat.
"In 2000, we were designating critical habitat much more extensively than perhaps we should have," fisheries service spokesman Brian Gorman said.
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'Critical habitat' for salmon in peril
