74,000 Acres Proposed for California Tiger Salamander in Sonoma County
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed the re-designation of 74,223 acres of critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander population in Sonoma County.
The action is in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center of Biological Diversity (CBD) to reverse the Bush administration’s illegal reduction of the California tiger salamander’s (Ambystoma californiense) habitat to zero in 2005. According to a CBD press release, the action is part of a larger campaign to overturn decisions made by the Bush administration regarding endangered species. The Cleaning up the Bush Legacy Campaign has so far addressed 8 million acres of critical habitat designation decisions in 28 states for 46 species.
Many of the illegal decisions, including the decision over critical habitat for the tiger salamander, were engineered by former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Julie MacDonald, who resigned in disgrace following a scathing investigation by the inspector general of misconduct at the Department of the Interior.
