Feb 25, 2008 9:37 pm US/Pacific
Groups Sue Calif. Fish & Game Over Coho Salmon
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
A coalition of environmental groups sued the state Department of Fish and Game Monday and accused the agency of failing to protect endangered coho salmon by delegating decisions over the effects of logging to a forestry agency.
The lawsuit was filed by the Sierra Club and California Trout, both based in San Francisco, and the Environmental Protection Information Center of Garberville.
They claim the department illegally delegated to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection the authority to decide when coho salmon can be killed as a result of damage to streams and watersheds from logging operations.
The lawsuit charges the regulations adopted in December "streamline a process for killing threatened and endangered coho salmon."
The accidental killing of a protected species is known as "incidental take" and the new rules are called "Incidental Take Permit Guidelines for Timber Operations 2007."
California Trout chief executive officer Brian Stranko said, "We are disappointed that this administration has put the interests of the logging industry above the long-term survival of coho salmon, a species clearly at risk."
Paul Mason, deputy director of Sierra Club California, said, "These rules focus more on making it easier to kill endangered salmon, rather recovering their habitat. We need to restore salmon habitat, not streamline the killing of the few remaining wild coho salmon."
Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano said agency officials had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
The suit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
The coho is listed as either threatened or endangered from the Oregon border to Monterey County, depending on how the fish is doing in various river segments.
The fish are also listed as endangered under federal law. The lawsuit says the salmon have been reduced to about 1 percent of their historic levels.
The lawsuit claims the new rules and allegedly inadequate public notice of the rules violate the state Endangered Species Act, Environmental Quality Act and Administrative Procedures Act. It asks for a court order striking down the regulations.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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