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For Immediate Release
New Hyundai Test Track Threatens Desert Lands and Endangered Wildlife
Conservation Groups Challenge Bush Administration Permits
Today, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) over permits issued to Hyundai Motor Company and California City to build an automotive test track in some of California ’s most beautiful and wild desert lands. The project will result in the destruction and degradation of nearly 4,500 acres of high quality desert wildlands that are home to several threatened species, including the desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel.
“The construction of this test track will devastate some of California ’s most pristine desert wildlands and will destroy the habitat of many of our state’s threatened species. We believe the Fish and Wildlife Service violated federal environmental law when it approved this project without full analysis of the effect it would have on our lands and the species that inhabit them.” stated Kim Delfino, California Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife.
The area designated for construction encompasses 4,500 acres near California City . The Desert Tortoise that inhabits this area is a large, herbivorous reptile that has been devastated by habitat loss and disease. The FWS and tortoise experts spent four years developing a strong Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan, but federal agencies have failed to fully implement the plan’s components and the tortoise remains threatened.
The FWS approved the destruction of 4,500 acres of habitat and the “incidental take” of up to 54 tortoises in exchange for the future purchase of 3,200 acres of “compensation lands,” but that land has not yet been identified. The FWS acknowledges that since the “compensation” lands may not provide adequate habitat for tortoises, a contingency plan must be developed at some time in the future, but details of that plan have yet to be developed as well.
“The Bush administration is jeopardizing endangered species by unwisely rushing construction permits before securing conservation lands,” said Daniel R. Patterson, Ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must significantly improve the habitat mitigation plan before it grants permits to dig up California ’s fragile deserts.”
Hibernating tortoises within the construction zone are currently being taken out of their burrows and boxed into on-site artificial burrows while they wait for translocation to an as-yet-to-be-determined location in early April. This handling of tortoises stresses the animals increasing the chances of illness and death. While up to 20 tortoises may be removed from this project area, an unknown number of juveniles and eggs will be destroyed because they are nearly impossible to locate during hibernation. This is particularly concerning because 2003 was a good reproductive year and numerous juveniles will likely not be detected before they are crushed by construction.
Although the eventual translocation site has not been finalized, the preferred site is located within an area of desert tortoise critical habitat where experimental translocations are prohibited by the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan. “Translocation plans for desert tortoise have notoriously low rates of success due to the increased spread of disease and other factors,” stated Cynthia Wilkerson, California Species Associate for Defenders of Wildlife. “The approved translocation plan is admittedly an experiment and threatens not only the tortoises that will be moved, but those that currently live in and around the translocation site.”
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Defenders of Wildlife is one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and habitat, and was named as one of America's Top 100 Charities by Worth magazine. With more than 450,000 members and supporters, Defenders is an effective voice for wildlife and habitat. To learn more about Defenders of Wildlife, please visit www.defenders.org.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a 9,000 member organization which protects endangered species and wild places of North America and the Pacific through science, policy, education, citizen activism and environmental law. Offices: Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, Idyllwild and Oakland, California; Portland, Oregon; Pinos Altos, New Mexico; Buxton, North Carolina; Sitka, Alaska; Denver, Colorado, and University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic.
