Press release from Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity:
[See also the document "Grayling Settlement" in the link to the right.]
For Immediate Release, October 01, 2009
Contacts: Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495;
Pat Munday, Grayling Restoration Alliance, (406) 496-4461;
Leah Elwell, Federation of Fly Fishers, (406) 222-9369 x102; and
Jon Marvel, Western Watersheds Project, (208) 788-2290
Montana Grayling to Again be Considered for Protection Under Endangered Species Act
Grayling One of Dozens of Species for which Protection is Being Reconsidered by Obama Administration
Helena, MT.— In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Federation of Fly Fishers, Western Watersheds Project, Dr. Pat Munday and former Montana fishing guide George Wuerthner, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed today to again consider the Montana fluvial arctic grayling for protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. According to the court approved settlement agreement, a decision on the grayling’s status will be made by August 30, 2010.
“The Montana fluvial arctic grayling is on the brink of extinction in the U.S.,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope the Obama administration will put an end to the grayling’s 27 year wait for protection.”
The grayling was first recognized as a candidate for protection in 1982. In 2004, this status was reaffirmed and the grayling was recognized as being a high priority for protection because of imminent threats of a high magnitude. Despite this recognition, the Bush administration sharply reversed course in 2007 and denied the grayling protection. Rather than concluding grayling were not endangered, the administration instead decided that extinction of the Montana population is insignificant. The decision was one of many influenced by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Julie MacDonald, who resigned after an investigation by the Department of Interior’s Inspector General found she had bullied agency scientists to change their conclusions and improperly released internal documents to industry lobbyists and attorneys.
“During the many years of delay of protection, the grayling’s status has only gotten worse,” said Dr. Pat Munday, Director of the Grayling Restoration Alliance and longtime Butte, Montana resident. “If the last river dwelling population of the grayling in the continental U.S. is to survive, further action must be taken to reduce water withdrawals from the Big Hole River.”
Once found throughout the upper Missouri River drainage above Great Falls, the fluvial arctic grayling has been reduced to a single self-sustaining population in a short stretch of the Big Hole River. A primary factor in this range decline was, and continues to be, the dewatering of the grayling’s stream habitat and degradation of riparian areas. Extensive water withdrawals from the Big Hole River and seven consecutive years of drought continue to threaten the Big Hole population. In recent years, so few grayling have been found that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have not been able to estimate their populations, suggesting grayling populations are on the brink of extinction.
“The grayling is a unique part of the natural heritage of Montana,” said Leah Elwell, conservation coordinator for the Federation of Fly Fishers. “Loss of the grayling would be a terrible tragedy for anglers, Montanans and the nation.”
In response to litigation, the Obama administration has to date agreed to reconsider dozens of decisions by the Bush administration denying species protection or limiting the amount of designated critical habitat. The Center for Biological Diversity alone has sued to overturn Bush administration decisions concerning 52 species, of which the administration has so far agreed to reconsider decisions over 25 species, including listing decisions for the Mexican garter snake and Gunnison sage grouse, as well as now the grayling, and critical habitat designations for the northern spotted owl, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, arroyo toad, and others.
In their challenge of denial of protection for the grayling, the groups are represented by Tim Preso and Jenny Harbine or Earthjustice.
Background
A member of the salmon family, the arctic grayling is a beautiful fish with a prominent dorsal fin that is widely distributed across Canada and Alaska. Historically, fluvial populations of arctic grayling existed in only two places in the lower 48 states: Michigan and the upper Missouri River of Montana. Populations in Michigan went extinct by the 1930s, and populations in Montana were restricted to the Big Hole River by the end of the 1970s. Studies demonstrate that Montana fluvial arctic grayling are genetically distinct from populations in Canada and Alaska, and genetically and behaviorally distinct from lake populations in Montana and other states. Studies also show that grayling adapted to lake environments do not maintain their position in rivers but instead allow themselves to drift downstream.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Big Hole Watershed Committee: killing grayling, again...
Today's Grayling Survival Index = -75. An index of "zero" marks the minimum sustainability point. Below that, recruitment and survival are likely to be so low that the population is in decline.
After a wet, cool summer with near record precipitation for the month of August, flows in the upper Big Hole River are below 30 cubic feet per second. This is well below the lower wetted perimeter of 60 cfs--the level at which the carrying capacity of the river channel habitat rapidly falls off.
Worse yet, it is near the arbitrary "survival flow" of 20 cfs--the level at which grayling cannot even travel from the mainstem river channel to seek refuge in cooler tributary streams ("refugia").
The Watershed Committee has a so-called "Drought Management Plan." Even with the record wet month of August, recent low river flows qualify as a drought. I have not heard that the Watershed Committee has even implemented its "Drought Plan." So much for doing everything it could to save (let alone restore) grayling.
The sooner Upper Missouri watershed fluvial Arctic grayling (i.e. Big Hole River grayling) are listed as an Endangered Species, the sooner the Watershed Committee might get around to the serious business of maintaining in stream flows.
Check out the journalism pieces (video & article) about Big Hole grayling by Jonathon Stumpf at NewWest.
--------------------------------------------------
From the August 2009 minutes of the Big Hole Watershed Committee:
Mike Roberts Montana DNRC - Big Hole Precipitation and Streamflow Report
Precipitation
Lower Basin (Dillon) – water year (107%) calendar year (113%), August (133%)
Upper Basin (Wisdom) - water year (109%) calendar year (112%), August (174%)
Above average flows have been observed most of spring and summer.
Lower Basin
Big Hole River at Melrose -- August 18 = 532 cfs (75th %ile)
Upper basin
Big Hole River at Wisdom -- August 18 = 64 cfs (70th %ile)
CCAA flow targets met at all five gages 100% of time with the exception of a few days at Wisdom that dropped below 60 cfs.
After a wet, cool summer with near record precipitation for the month of August, flows in the upper Big Hole River are below 30 cubic feet per second. This is well below the lower wetted perimeter of 60 cfs--the level at which the carrying capacity of the river channel habitat rapidly falls off.
Worse yet, it is near the arbitrary "survival flow" of 20 cfs--the level at which grayling cannot even travel from the mainstem river channel to seek refuge in cooler tributary streams ("refugia").
The Watershed Committee has a so-called "Drought Management Plan." Even with the record wet month of August, recent low river flows qualify as a drought. I have not heard that the Watershed Committee has even implemented its "Drought Plan." So much for doing everything it could to save (let alone restore) grayling.
The sooner Upper Missouri watershed fluvial Arctic grayling (i.e. Big Hole River grayling) are listed as an Endangered Species, the sooner the Watershed Committee might get around to the serious business of maintaining in stream flows.
Check out the journalism pieces (video & article) about Big Hole grayling by Jonathon Stumpf at NewWest.
--------------------------------------------------
From the August 2009 minutes of the Big Hole Watershed Committee:
Mike Roberts Montana DNRC - Big Hole Precipitation and Streamflow Report
Precipitation
Lower Basin (Dillon) – water year (107%) calendar year (113%), August (133%)
Upper Basin (Wisdom) - water year (109%) calendar year (112%), August (174%)
Above average flows have been observed most of spring and summer.
Lower Basin
Big Hole River at Melrose -- August 18 = 532 cfs (75th %ile)
Upper basin
Big Hole River at Wisdom -- August 18 = 64 cfs (70th %ile)
CCAA flow targets met at all five gages 100% of time with the exception of a few days at Wisdom that dropped below 60 cfs.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Big Hole Grayling Continue to Decline
The population of Big Hole River Grayling, the last self-sustaining native population of fluvial Arctic grayling in the contiguous 48 states, have declined by about half since 1990.
In 1990, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks electro-shocking efforts turned up 532 fish. In 2008, just 253 grayling could be found. Furthermore, the fish that are found tend to be larger and older, meaning that recruitment (successful spawning and young-of-the year survival) is declining. While a goodly portion of the 2008 fish were young-of-the-year, one swallow does not make a summer. Or, in this case, one good water year does not make up for the consistent, year-to-year dewatering of the river by irrigators.
While I applaud Montana FWP and the US Fish & Wildlife Service efforts to restore grayling habitat, it is all a matter of "Too Little, Too Late." For example, the small Steele Creek (named for homesteader Mike Steele) restoration project is the "showcase" restoration project. In 2008, 13.5 grayling per mile (GPM) were found in the Steele Creek. But in 2007 there were 23.0 GPM, and in 2006 36.1 GPM. In 2003, before restoration even began, there were 27.4 GPM.
The lesson: until Montana's fluvial Arctic grayling is listed under the US Endangered Species Act and greater restortion efforts are brought to bear (especially when it comes to keeping more water in the river), Big Hole River grayling will continue to decline.
For the future of Montana grayling, we can look to Michigan (image from www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1Y08):
-----------------------------------
Source: Jim Magee, "Big Hole Arctic Grayling Conservation Efforts 2008," Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
In 1990, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks electro-shocking efforts turned up 532 fish. In 2008, just 253 grayling could be found. Furthermore, the fish that are found tend to be larger and older, meaning that recruitment (successful spawning and young-of-the year survival) is declining. While a goodly portion of the 2008 fish were young-of-the-year, one swallow does not make a summer. Or, in this case, one good water year does not make up for the consistent, year-to-year dewatering of the river by irrigators.
While I applaud Montana FWP and the US Fish & Wildlife Service efforts to restore grayling habitat, it is all a matter of "Too Little, Too Late." For example, the small Steele Creek (named for homesteader Mike Steele) restoration project is the "showcase" restoration project. In 2008, 13.5 grayling per mile (GPM) were found in the Steele Creek. But in 2007 there were 23.0 GPM, and in 2006 36.1 GPM. In 2003, before restoration even began, there were 27.4 GPM.
The lesson: until Montana's fluvial Arctic grayling is listed under the US Endangered Species Act and greater restortion efforts are brought to bear (especially when it comes to keeping more water in the river), Big Hole River grayling will continue to decline.
For the future of Montana grayling, we can look to Michigan (image from www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1Y08):
-----------------------------------
Source: Jim Magee, "Big Hole Arctic Grayling Conservation Efforts 2008," Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Yes, Big Hole River grayling are endangered...
... so let's get 'em listed & protected (if the Big Hole Watershed was effective, we'd see grayling population rising by now--instead, it's still declining).
From the Billings Gazette newspaper:
Protection sought for grayling, wolverine
Advocacy group draws up list of 10 species from around nation
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
The arctic grayling and wolverine, native Montana species, were among the 10 species listed Tuesday as most in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The list was drawn up by a panel of scientists and advocates from an association of environmental groups, the Endangered Species Coalition.
The group criticized the Bush administration for listing few species, despite a backlog of more than 200 species that the group claims are in need of protection.
The criticism comes on the heels of an Interior Department investigation released Monday that found that one of the agency's former officials, Julie MacDonald, frequently bullied career scientists to reduce species protection. MacDonald was deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. She resigned in 2007 after it was found that she had tampered with scientific findings, even removing a California fish from a list of threatened species in order to protect her financial interest in a farm near the fish's habitat.
The species highlighted in the group's report are, in order:
• Pacific walrus.
• Rufa population of red knots, a migrating bird.
• North American wolverine.
• Gunnison sage grouse.
• Montana fluvial (river-dwelling) arctic grayling.
• Island marble butterfly.
• Southern Rockies boreal toad.
• Mason's skypilot, an alpine flowering plant.
• Great white shark.
• Wood turtle.
"Honorable mentions" went to the sand dune lizard, Graham's penstemon (a flowering plant) and the Sonoran Desert population of the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.
Montana and Michigan are the only states in the lower 48 that contained river-dwelling grayling, although many are found in Canada and Alaska. The fish is extinct in Michigan. Montana's grayling were once found throughout the upper Missouri River drainage, but now are confined to the upper Big Hole River near Wisdom.
The fish is a species of concern in Montana, so steps have been taken to protect its last stronghold. It was denied endangered-species status in 2007. A suit has been filed to overturn the decision.
"With the end of the Bush administration, the grayling may actually have a chance to finally get the protection it deserves," Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.
The wolverine faces much the same situation. The animal, which once ranged across northern New England, the upper Midwest, the Rockies and West Coast, is now limited to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and a small portion of the Cascades in Washington. The animal was denied endangered-species protection this year. The species can still be trapped in Montana.
In September, 10 conservation organizations filed suit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to protect wolverines in the lower 48. The groups claim that habitat fragmentation and climate change threaten the animals' continued survival in the Western United States.
"All of the species nominated for this report - and hundreds of others - need our help to avoid extinction, even though they are not yet protected by the Endangered Species Act," said Derek Goldman, Northern Rockies representative for the Endangered Species Coalition.
The coalition released its report just days after the Bush administration enacted a rule that would allow government agencies to decide for themselves whether a proposed project threatens protected species, instead of waiting for a review by scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.
From the Billings Gazette newspaper:
Protection sought for grayling, wolverine
Advocacy group draws up list of 10 species from around nation
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
The arctic grayling and wolverine, native Montana species, were among the 10 species listed Tuesday as most in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The list was drawn up by a panel of scientists and advocates from an association of environmental groups, the Endangered Species Coalition.
The group criticized the Bush administration for listing few species, despite a backlog of more than 200 species that the group claims are in need of protection.
The criticism comes on the heels of an Interior Department investigation released Monday that found that one of the agency's former officials, Julie MacDonald, frequently bullied career scientists to reduce species protection. MacDonald was deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. She resigned in 2007 after it was found that she had tampered with scientific findings, even removing a California fish from a list of threatened species in order to protect her financial interest in a farm near the fish's habitat.
The species highlighted in the group's report are, in order:
• Pacific walrus.
• Rufa population of red knots, a migrating bird.
• North American wolverine.
• Gunnison sage grouse.
• Montana fluvial (river-dwelling) arctic grayling.
• Island marble butterfly.
• Southern Rockies boreal toad.
• Mason's skypilot, an alpine flowering plant.
• Great white shark.
• Wood turtle.
"Honorable mentions" went to the sand dune lizard, Graham's penstemon (a flowering plant) and the Sonoran Desert population of the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.
Montana and Michigan are the only states in the lower 48 that contained river-dwelling grayling, although many are found in Canada and Alaska. The fish is extinct in Michigan. Montana's grayling were once found throughout the upper Missouri River drainage, but now are confined to the upper Big Hole River near Wisdom.
The fish is a species of concern in Montana, so steps have been taken to protect its last stronghold. It was denied endangered-species status in 2007. A suit has been filed to overturn the decision.
"With the end of the Bush administration, the grayling may actually have a chance to finally get the protection it deserves," Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.
The wolverine faces much the same situation. The animal, which once ranged across northern New England, the upper Midwest, the Rockies and West Coast, is now limited to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and a small portion of the Cascades in Washington. The animal was denied endangered-species protection this year. The species can still be trapped in Montana.
In September, 10 conservation organizations filed suit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to protect wolverines in the lower 48. The groups claim that habitat fragmentation and climate change threaten the animals' continued survival in the Western United States.
"All of the species nominated for this report - and hundreds of others - need our help to avoid extinction, even though they are not yet protected by the Endangered Species Act," said Derek Goldman, Northern Rockies representative for the Endangered Species Coalition.
The coalition released its report just days after the Bush administration enacted a rule that would allow government agencies to decide for themselves whether a proposed project threatens protected species, instead of waiting for a review by scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Big Hole Watershed Committee: killing fluvial Arctic grayling
Today's Grayling Survival Index = - 55. River flows at Wisdom are far below the lower inflection point of 60 cubic feet per second--the minimum flow needed to maintain the population. Equally bad, daytime water temperatures are well over 70 deg F--a lethal temperature for grayling.
In bars around the Big Hole River, the topic of low water in the river comes up a lot. When the bar patrons include a lot of anglers and guides, usually someone will say something like, "Yeah, them ranchers take all the water they can and pull the river down as much as possible. The sooner grayling become totally extinct, the sooner ranchers don't have to worry about an Endangered Species Act listing any longer..."
While I can't buy into cynicism that runs quite that deep, there is no doubt that the Big Hole Watershed Committee is almost totally ineffective when it comes to keeping any water in the upper river around Wisdom, Montana--critical habitat for the last self-sustaining population of native fluvial Arctic grayilng in the lower 48states.
So much for "voluntary" cooperation and the millions of dollars in federal money that the Big Hole Watershed Committee has received through earmark appropriations.
Let's hope that Senator Jon Testor (D-MT) doesn't become co-opted by the Big Hole Watershed Committee, and end up filling the role of pork-barrel-shoveller that former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) filled.
In bars around the Big Hole River, the topic of low water in the river comes up a lot. When the bar patrons include a lot of anglers and guides, usually someone will say something like, "Yeah, them ranchers take all the water they can and pull the river down as much as possible. The sooner grayling become totally extinct, the sooner ranchers don't have to worry about an Endangered Species Act listing any longer..."
While I can't buy into cynicism that runs quite that deep, there is no doubt that the Big Hole Watershed Committee is almost totally ineffective when it comes to keeping any water in the upper river around Wisdom, Montana--critical habitat for the last self-sustaining population of native fluvial Arctic grayilng in the lower 48states.
So much for "voluntary" cooperation and the millions of dollars in federal money that the Big Hole Watershed Committee has received through earmark appropriations.
Let's hope that Senator Jon Testor (D-MT) doesn't become co-opted by the Big Hole Watershed Committee, and end up filling the role of pork-barrel-shoveller that former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) filled.
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