By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Reporter

October 13, 2010

     Federal wildlife officials have designated more habitat as critical to the endangered bull trout, but the ruling isn’t expected to impact local landowners or irrigators.

   The final rule issued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expands the number of streams, lakes and reservoirs protected as critical habitat for the fish, primarily on federal lands in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. It is a reversal of Bush administration policy   on endangered species.

   Trish Roninger, a fish and wildlife biologist in the agency’s Klamath Falls office, said about five times more habitat in five states is designated as critical for bull trout than was previously.

   In the Klamath Basin, that includes habitat in the Fremont -Winema National Forests and Crater Lake National Park.

   Bull trout are native to the Klamath Basin, preferring very cold and clean water typically found in the headwaters of rivers such as the Wood, Williamson and Sprague, and streams on the Basin’s west side.  

   Current range

   Roninger said bull trout currently only inhabit about 21 percent of its historic range in the Basin. The fish was listed as an endangered species in 1999 and while populations haven’t climbed since that time, they have stabilized.

   “There’s a lot of positive things,” she said.

   The designation of new habitat isn’t expected to place any restrictions on private landowners or give the government access to non-federal land.

   It does mean there are additional regulations for any restoration projects or other work done near the habitat if it is paid for or overseen by a federal agency. In those cases, it is the agency, not the landowner, who must comply with regulations.

   The changes c ou ld make it more difficult for agencies to approve logging, mining and livestock grazing on federal lands throughout the West.     

   “Before, if they were going to log or mine any kind of project in bull trout habitat, they just had to see if it would cause the extinction of the entire population throughout the drainage. It’s almost impossible to say that,” said Michael Garrity of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, an environmental group based in Montana. “Now you can’t adversely modify critical   habitat with any project. So it’s a much higher bar of protection for bull trout, which should lead to recovery.”

   Faced with a lawsuit, Fish and Wildlife agreed last year to revise the 2005 critical habitat designation after an inspector general’s report found it was among dozens of decisions improperly interfered with by former deputy assistant Secretary of Interior Julie Mac-Donald, who resigned in 2007.

   The additional habitat protections are expected to cost the government between $5 million and $7.6 million over the next 20 years. Federal authorities still must complete a recovery plan for the fish.

   — The Associated Press contributed to this story.