Special Alert!! Lynx in Grave Danger!!!
© Patricia M. Theison
ACTION ALERT From the:
Wildlife Damage Review POB 85218 Tucson AZ 85754 (520) 884-0883, fax -0962 www.azstarnet.com
SPECIAL ALERT!!!
We've just learned (from a May 10?,11?,12? article by Brian Hansen of the Colorado Daily) that strings have been pulled at the highest levels to accommodate the expansion of Vail Resorts' plans for more ski development in Vail, Colorado. A series of communications between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the U.S. Forest Service (FS), and Vail Resorts (VR) were received through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on whether the expansion plans will affect the continued survival of the lynx. These clearly illustrate the several year process of federal bureaucratic overriding of FWS biologists' consistent claims that the expansion will drive the nail in the coffin of the lynx.
It has been obvious for some time that there is high resistance to listing the lynx and a lawsuit by conservationists will finally force the listing this summer. What we didn't know about was the internal politics and clearly illegal dealing going on between the agencies and Vail Resorts. Biologists with FWS issued a 91-page report detailing their concerns about how the projected expansion plans, which were to include more ski lifts, access roads, bridges, a restaurant and a number of other buildings, would destroy pristine forest habitat that lynx needs. They expressed strong conviction that this project would jeopardize populations throughout the southern Rockies, and ultimately affect populations in the contiguous U.S.
Yet even though the evidence was overwhelming from biologists, the forced conclusion was a "no jeopardy" opinion which would allow construction to proceed.Specifically, a memo from two Colorado FWS biologists, Gary Patton and LeRoy Carlson, explains "Previous discussion with Region 6 personnel [FWS] about a jeopardy standard for lynx consultation in the Southern Rockies has left us with the direction that we cannot make a jeopardy finding under any circumstances." In other words, they were ordered not to issue a jeopardy opinion under any circumstances.
Another memo pins this decision solidly at the uppermost level in Washington, DC on FWS Director Jamie Clark. Says the attorney who received the FOIA information, Ted Zukoski with the Boulder-based Land and Water Fund, "Internal documents demonstrate that Vail [Resorts]tried to buy its way out of any obligations under the conservation strategy." Vail Associates (VA) pitched a deal to Colorado Division of Wildlife, the state wildlife agency-"If VA takes the lead in securing funding for the lynx (and) wolverine recovery, would the state be willing to release VA from all further obligations for preserving and protecting lynx habitat in the Vail Ski Area expansion zone?" And through FOIA documents we find out that VA did indeed contribute $200,000 toward lynx reintroduction efforts. Schemes like these illustrate the intense need for ESA listing for these rare isolated species, and public watch-dog organizations to force federal and state agencies to do their jobs. Such buy-out attempts smack of fraud.
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