Document text
Photo by Jim Craven A meeting of the Agate Desert Stakeholders Advisory Committee today will attempt to strike a balance between development and conservation in the area near White City. Seasonal pools such as this one harbor rare fairy shrimp, and conservationists want to protect them. Group looks for pool balance Meeting today Who : Rogue Valley Council of Governments, property owners in the Agate Desert What : Stakeholders' Advisory Committee meeting When : 6-8:30 p.m. today Where : Jackson County Public Works Auditorium, 200 Antelope Road, White City Details : Call David Jacob at 664-6676, Ext. 212. Stakeholders invited to help design plans for shrimp and owners By CATHY NOAH Private landowner involvement is the key to striking a balance between development and conservation in the Agate Desert, government officials say. To that end, the Rogue Valley Council of Governments is holding an Agate Desert Stakeholders' Advisory Committee meeting today in White City. At issue are vernal pools in the Agate Desert in which tiny freshwater shrimp, a threatened species, were found about a year ago. It is the only population of the vernal pool fairy shrimp known outside of California. The shrimp were found in the largest industrial area in the county. The discovery may have far-reaching consequences for development in the Agate Desert and could affect hundreds of landowners, ranchers who lease grazing lands and businesses looking to locate there or expand. Now's the time to develop a cooperative effort among public agencies and stakeholders for the future development and conservation of the area, said David Jacob, project manager at Rogue Valley Council of Governments, which is coordinating the efforts of several agencies involved in the project. "We're trying to come up with a win-win solution," Jacob said. "...The essential part is getting the stakeholders involved." Landowners ultimately will benefit from a cooperative plan because it will help streamline the process for getting future permits for development on the wetland, Jacob said. Delicate fairy shrimp are adapted to survive in pools that frequently dry up and where temperatures range from very hot to below freezing. Today's workshop is part of a year-long information gathering phase funded by an Environmental Protection Agency grant of $56,000 that ends in May 2000. Landowners will be asked to allow surveys of their property to assess the size and extent of the vernal pool shrimp population and the quality of environmental resources available. The area of study is 32 square miles reaching from Phoenix to Lake Creek to Cave Junction but primarily focusing on the Agate Desert area in White City. About 60 percent of the area has been developed already, said Jacob. The surveys will determine how much of the habitat is salvageable and should be preserved, said Craig Tuss of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Some of the vernal pools have been degraded for a long time and are less valuable," he said. "We're trying to draw a picture here of what we've got in the Agate Desert area and what we can do to conserve the habitats that are left." Vernal pools are seasonally flooded depressions with an impermeable hardpan layer which allows the pools to retain water much longer than the surrounding uplands. The pools often fill and empty several times during the rainy season. Only plants and animals that are adapted to this cycle of wet and dry can survive. Fairy shrimp, barely three-quarters of an inch long, are translucent, slender crustaceans that swim on their backs. They feed on algae and plankton in the vernal pools during the rainy season, when they lay eggs. The eggs are adapted to withstand freezing cold, intense heat and prolonged dry spells. "The shrimp live long enough to hatch, eat and reproduce," said Darren Borgias, regional stewardship ecologist for the Nature Conservancy, which owns roughly 200 acres on two preserves in the area. In addition to the threatened shrimp, three rare plants have been discovered in the Agate Desert: the woolly meadowfoam, Cook's desert parsley and the Southern Oregon buttercup. "We're excited about this opportunity for the community to be proactive about striking a balance between development and conservation in the area," Borgias said. "We're rolling up our sleeves with the landowners to determine what that balance is going to be." Gordon Safley, executive director of Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., hopes that balance will take into consideration not only environmental issues but the economic value of the property and the potential of developing family-wage jobs. "I think in something like this, process is the biggest issue," he added. "You want to make sure everyone who has a stake in this is at the table. I doubt there will be complete agreement among everyone, but you need to have them all at the table -- 50 brains are better than one." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA