Federal policymakers get an earful on endangered species

By Dylan Darling, Record Searchlight
September 14, 2006

The Endangered Species Act took center stage Wednesday at the Cascade Theatre.

It wasn't a traveling vaudeville act featuring bald eagles and spotted owls, but a traveling group of federal environmental policymakers who said they came to listen to the public.

"We federal bureaucrats are just going to shut up and listen," said Mark Rey, undersecretary for natural resources with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And listen they did, for more than three hours, as about 60 people said their piece about the environment. Each speaker was limited to 2½ minutes of microphone time.

Many of those who spoke focused on the 30-year-old Endangered Species Act, or ESA, with some calling for more protections for plants and animals at risk of extinction and others saying the rules are too restrictive.

William Oliver, president of the Wintu Audubon Society, said the ESA and other federal environmental protection laws are essential. And the penalties associated with them need to be enforced to get some companies and individuals to follow the laws, he said.

"Voluntary compliance is a beautiful idea, but we don't think it has a chance of working," he said.

But Dan Tomascheski, vice president of resources for Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson, said the ESA discourages companies from doing business. He was among a number of timber industry officials who said Wednesday that it is too easy for those opposed to the industry to stall projects with appeals, often using what they said are shaky arguments.

"A lot of the science is not definitive," he said.

Other environmental issues brought up at the meeting were wildfires, clear-cuts and rangeland use.

The "listening session," as federal officials called the public-comment-heavy meeting, was the 14th of 24 scheduled around the country in August and September.

Rey was joined by Scott Rayder, the chief of staff of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Steve Thompson, operations manager for California and Nevada for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Wayne Nastri, regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

During the session, Rey and the three other policymakers took off their suit coats and pulled out their note pads.

A report on what the federal officials learned at the session should be out in November or December, Rey said.

Redding was picked as a listening session site because of its proximity to issues in the Klamath Basin, Central Valley and Northern California forests, and because it is within driving distance for environmentalists from the San Francisco Bay area, Rey said.

"It just seemed to us to be a good crossroads," he said.

Listening session critics contend that the Bush administration is trying to stockpile public comments calling for ESA reform, a movement being led by a host of Republican members of the U.S. Congress.

With just over two minutes for each person to make a point, the session was a "dog-and-pony show," said Bill Lenheim, conservation director for the Shasta Trinity Fly Fishers.

Mark Rey



Steve Thompson



Wayne Nastri



Scott Rayder

Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.

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