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Club weighs fight over plant listing By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Rogue Group Sierra Club is uncertain about whether to continue its fight for an Endangered Species Act listing of the rare Mount Ashland lupine and Henderson's horkelia. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided last month not to approve the local environmental group's petition for granting the plants threatened or endangered status. "We have not come to a decision about whether to pursue the petition further," said Tom Rose, a Rogue Group member. Mount Ashland lupine is found only on Mount Ashland, while Henderson's horkelia has a slightly wider distribution. Both are found most often in the open area around the summit. The denial of the petition does not mean the plants will never receive federal protected status, according to U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Spokesman Phil Carroll. "They could present more information and petition again," he said. "The door is still open. If the situation for the plants changed and they were under new threats, we could propose to list them or emergency list them." In the Federal Register notice of the petition denial, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists said listing the plants is not warranted. They said the existing Mt. Ashland Ski Area has not caused any observable changes in the plants' population, and a proposed ski area expansion would not significantly harm the species' habitat or range. They also foresee little impact from the planned replacement of a Pacific Power cable serving summit facilities. Small areas of the plants are being impacted by summer recreation, scientists found. However, those impacts are being reduced after the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed a conservation agreement last fall to take steps to protect the plants, scientists said. Among other steps, the Forest Service agreed to place boulders to prevent vehicles from driving into habitat areas, put up signs to warn visitors of the plants, improve a summit road to help prevent run-off and erosion, stabilize gullies and continue a monitoring program. The decision not to list the plants does not signal an imminent ski area expansion, as some media outlets reported. "To list or not to list has very little to do with the ski area," said Steve Johnson, a recreation specialist for the Ashland Ranger District who is working on a draft Environmental Impact Statement on the ski area expansion. The draft EIS is expected out in May, he said. For the expansion to be approved as ski officials hope, the Forest Service would have to approve a Mt. Ashland Association's expansion proposal from among several alternatives under consideration, including a no-expansion option. That plan then would have to withstand expected appeals on a variety of issues. Rose said the Rogue Group did not pursue the listing of the plants simply to stop the expansion. "The proceedings were done to protect the plants themselves," he said. Although the listing petition was denied, Rose said the Rogue Group has helped secure added protections for the plants. "We weren't successful in getting what we desired exactly, but we do have a conservation agreement," he said. "It's not perfect, but its better than anything we've had before." Jeff Hanson, general manager for the ski area, said the listing petition was one technique used to try to put up roadblocks to the expansion. "But we never considered it a major impediment to the expansion," he said. "We hadn't proposed a significant change in activity near the plants. When things are listed as endangered or threatened that does add another layer of work and consultation for the Forest Service." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -