WildEarth Guardians

Saturday, January 12, 2008
Comment Period Ends for Pecos Sunflower Habitat

''We are urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect all suitable habitat,'' said Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians
Contact: Albuquerque Journal

The public comment period has ended for a proposal to designate critical habitat in New Mexico and West Texas for the threatened Pecos sunflower, but some environmentalists are worried that the plan won't adequately protect the flower.

"This beautiful symbol of desert wetlands in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas is barely holding on,'' said Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe-based environmental group. "... We are urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect all suitable habitat in order to give this rare sunflower a decent chance at recovery.''

The deadline for submitting comments to the federal agency was Thursday. Fish and Wildlife will review the comments before making a ruling.

The draft analysis by the agency assesses potential economic effects to local environments and communities due to conservation actions for the plant. The analysis notes that some costs are likely regardless of whether critical habitat is designated. That's because they're associated with the fact the sunflower is a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The analysis looks at potential costs in wetland development, livestock management, road maintenance and how nonnative species are treated. It estimates costs to conserve the flower and the proposed critical habitat at $3.9 million to $4.4 million between 2007 and 2026.

WildEarth Guardians contends that nearly three-quarters of the cost will be for nonnative plant control, which may occur without critical habitat designation.

Last March, the agency proposed designating five areas totaling about 1,579 acres as critical habitat. It has revised that proposal to expand one area and clarify the boundaries of another, bringing the total acreage to 5,745 in Chaves, Cibola, Guadalupe, Socorro and Valencia counties in New Mexico and Pecos County in Texas.

WildEarth Guardians, in its comments to the agency, said it's concerned that one alternative calls for designating only 722 acres as critical habitat.

The group said it's pushing for "a final critical habitat rule that includes all habitat suitable for this species, including both unoccupied and occupied habitat.''

The showy sunflower, a threatened species since 1999, survives in fewer than two dozen known locations.

Critical habitat means areas with features essential to conserve a species and that may require special management consideration or protection. Such a designation doesn't affect land ownership or establish a refuge or preserve and has no impact on landowners taking actions on their property that don't require federal funds or permits.

Copyright 2008 Albuquerque Journal - Reprinted with permission