The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a proposed critical habitat for the Lost River and shortnose sucker, two fish whose Endangered Species Act protection has affected agriculture and fishing since they were listed as endangered.

   But, despite its tense history, a critical habitat does not affect landowners except in the case of “unauthorized activities” — harming, harassing, or killing the species, said Laurie Sada, field supervisor for the Klamath Falls U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

   Fish and Wildlife revived this critical habitat designation in settling a lawsuit filed by the conservation group Oregon Wild. The Endangered Species Act requires agencies map a critical habitat that defines geographic areas that are considered essential to conserve a listed species.

   The agency introduced the first critical habitat plan in 1994, but never finalized it after it caused an uproar among landowners in the area, Sada said.

   “The big dust-up last time they did this was over the 880,000 acres (it encompassed),” said Greg Addington, direct or of the Klamath  Water Users Association. “It covered the city of Klamath Falls, it covered irrigation canals, it was just a big overlay. It was like, what does this mean?”

   Sada said the new concept scared people.

   “No one in the (Klamath) Basin had dealt with it before,” she said. “They thought a refuge was being made or land was being cordoned off. They thought if they were mapped, they’d lose control of their land.

   “They were scared it was another regulatory burden. But (limitations) only apply if they fall   in the federal nexus,” such as permits or grant money.

   In some cases, the critical habitat area can overlap habitat in which the species does not yet exist, and that could add a regulatory burden, Sada said. The critical habitat released today only encompasses areas the sucker already populate.  

   Sucker habitat

   Oregon Wild sued for Fish and Wildlife to complete the critical habitat designation in an effort to remedy its greatest concerns about sucker habitat.

   “When we look at this critical habitat designation, we’ll look at how it intends to address lake levels, wetlands, and access to spawning habitat,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director with Oregon Wild.

   According to Fish and Wildlife officials, despite biological opinions that mandate lake levels and other efforts to recover suckers, they’re still experiencing loss and pollution of spawning and rearing habitat. Spawning is down and juvenile fish are dying before they are able to reproduce at about 3 to 5 years old.

   The proposal calls for 241,438 acres to be considered critical habitat for sucker — 117,848 acres for the Lost River sucker and 123,590 for shortnose.

   That acreage is 73 percent less than what was proposed in 1994, when Fish and Wildlife’s clunky mapping technology called for 880,000 total acres to be designated   .

   “The mapping tools at the time were pretty archaic,” Sada said. “People looked at it and wondered why it was fish habitat — homes, uplands.”

   Modern mapping technology refined boundaries to include specific fish habitat.