*[NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FACTSHEET:]{.underline}*

CONSERVING IMPERILED WILDLIFE AT MILITARY BASES:

DOD HAS USED MISLEADING ANECDOTES TO JUSTIFY ITS PROPOSAL TO EXEMPT

ITSELF FROM THE ESA'S

CRITICAL HABITAT PROTECTIONS

The Department of Defense (DOD) is again pursuing exemptions from key
environmental laws. A legislative package with these exemptions has been
sent to Congress, which will soon be casting crucial votes. If this
legislation is approved it will greatly reduce DOD's obligations under
the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine Mammal Protection Act, Clean
Air Act, Superfund, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The DOD is requesting these exemptions even though the General
Accounting Office concluded, based on a review of DOD's own readiness
reports, that the military is at a high state of readiness and that DOD
has never demonstrated that adhering to environmental laws has
significantly impeded training.

What justification has DOD offered sweeping exemptions from the ESA? It
turns out that *the only evidence* by DOD has consisted of highly
misleading anecdotes.

[The ESA's Critical Habitat Protections Have Not]{.underline}

[Significantly Impeded Training]{.underline}

An analysis of DOD's ESA anecdotes shows that sweeping exemptions from
the ESA are unwarranted \-- DOD has been able to carry out its training
mission while complying with the ESA. Due to successful negotiations,
DOD frequently persuaded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to
exclude DOD lands from critical habitat designations. In the rare cases
where critical habitat has been designated, DOD has never identified an
obstacle to achieving readiness. DOD has never found it necessary to
utilize the "national security" exemption procedure provided by the ESA.

# 

# Camp Pendleton, California

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} "At Camp Pendleton, proposed critical
habitat under the Endangered Species Act would cover 57% of the base . .
. ." (Congressional Testimony of Raymond F. DuBois, Jr., Deputy
Undersecretary of Defense, March 13, 2003.)

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} Such proposals were rejected two
years ago by the FWS in its final rules, which [**excluded all but 875
acres of Camp Pendleton's approximately 120,000 acres of training land
from its final critical habitat designations**.]{.underline} Camp
Pendleton encompasses 125,118 acres, roughly 5,000 acres of which are
leased for various non-military purposes, such as California's San
Onofre State Park and agricultural operations. FWS's critical habitat
designations have been focused almost entirely on these non-training
lands.

The following list provides the number of acres originally proposed and
actually designated for each of the five species with proposed critical
habitat designations at Camp Pendleton. Some of these species share the
same habitats, so acreage totals should not be combined to derive total
acres designated as critical habitat.

[San Diego Fairy Shrimp Critical Habitat:]{.underline}

> 12,829 acres were proposed but only 40 acres were designated. **The
> entire 40 acres designated are within San Onofre State Park and are
> not used for training.**

[Coastal California Gnatcatcher Critical Habitat:]{.underline}

> 50,992 acres were proposed but only 3,773 acres were designated.
> **None of the 3,773 acres designated are used for training: 2,960
> acres are within San Onofre State Park and the remainder are leased
> for agricultural purposes.**

[Tidewater Goby Critical Habitat:]{.underline}

> 731 acres were proposed but 959 acres were designated. **Less than 875
> acres of designated lands are potential training lands; the remaining
> 84 acres are within San Onofre State Park.** Camp Pendleton has the
> only remaining population of this endangered fish in the region.
>
> [Riverside Fairy Shrimp Critical Habitat:]{.underline}

5,567 acres were proposed but only 770 acres were designated. **All of
the 770 acres designated are in San Onofre State Park or otherwise in
leased areas that, according to FWS, are "used minimally, if at all, by
the Marines for training."** As a result of a building industry lawsuit,
this designation has now been vacated and a more extensive economic
impact analysis is now being prepared.

> [Arroyo Toad Critical Habitat:]{.underline}
>
> 38,210 acres were proposed but only 2,680 acres were designated.
> **According to FWS, all of these designated acres are either in San
> Onofre State Park or on agricultural leased lands that are "used
> minimally, if at all, by the Marines for training."** As a result of a
> building industry lawsuit, this designation has now been vacated and a
> more extensive economic impact analysis is being prepared.

**In summary, despite the presence of 18 threatened and endangered
species on Camp Pendleton, [less than one percent of the training lands
on the base]{.underline} -- not the reported 57 percent -- is designated
as critical habitat for any species.**

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} "At Camp Pendleton, proposed critical
habitat under the Endangered Species Act would cover 57% of the base,
*including all 17 miles of the beach that is critical to training
operations . . .* ." (Congressional Testimony of Raymond F. DuBois, Jr.,
Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, March 13, 2003. Emphasis added.)

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} The biggest limitation on training
is not critical habitat designation but the presence of Interstate 5, a
railroad, the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Plant, and other topographic
access limitations. **The ESA only limits large-unit amphibious landings
on [two to three miles]{.underline} of the 17-mile beach** and only
during the five- to six-month nesting seasons of the endangered Western
snowy plover and California least tern.

DOD essentially concedes that the training restrictions to protect the
Western snowy plover and California least tern are not a significance to
training. Camp Pendleton's successful efforts to protect the snowy
plover were recently celebrated in DOD's "We're Saving a Few Good
Species" poster campaign, with DOD declaring that "an elite military
force can train in environmentally sensitive areas and protect a
threatened species at the same time." The exemption from the ESA's
critical habitat provisions proposed by DOD would not even affect the
restrictions related to the snowy plover and the least tern -- those
restrictions are in place pursuant to the ESA's jeopardy and take
prohibitions. Neither species has designated critical habitat on Camp
Pendleton.

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *The proposed amendment is narrowly
tailored and will only apply to portions of Camp Pendleton and other
military bases needed for training.*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} The amendment would apply to land
owned by the military even if used for non-military purposes. In the
case of Camp Pendleton, the amendment would apply to San Onofre State
Park, which is leased to the State of California by the Marine Corps.
San Onofre is the 10th most popular park in California and currently is
home to several endangered and threatened species and their designated
critical habitat. However, because the Park is "owned" by the
Department, the amendment would preclude [any]{.underline} designation
of critical habitat on park property.

# 

# Naval Base at Coronado, California

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *"When Navy SEALs land on beaches at Naval
Base Coronado during nesting season, they have to disrupt their tactical
formation to move in narrow lanes marked by green tape, to avoid
disturbing the nests of the Western snowy plover and California least
tern."*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} Of the base's 5,000-yard ocean
coastline, the presence of these two endangered birds only restricts the
use of one, 500-yard training lane and the restriction is only in place
for the birds' five- to six-month nesting season. And, as the Navy
acknowledges, this nest-marking "work around" has been important to
species recovery.

**San Clemente Island, California**

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *The presence of the endangered loggerhead
shrike shorebird has curtailed "the use of illumination rounds or other
potentially incendiary shells during shore bombardment exercises at San
Clemente during the six-month loggerhead shrike breeding season."*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} The loggerhead shrike first became
imperiled on the island due to the Navy's introduction of a goat that
decimated the bird's habitat. As a result of conservation efforts on the
island, the shrike's population, once as low was 13 birds, now consists
of 106 birds.

The use of live ordinance is restricted from June to October (not during
the February-June breeding season) because of the risk of fire, but this
could be remedied by the use of inert ordinance. The sole reason
provided by the Marine Corps for its failure to use inert ordinance is
that its inventory of this kind of ordinance is limited.

# Vieques Island Naval Range, Puerto Rico

# 

# [DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *ESA protections for the endangered hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles have restricted training at this range, including the possibility of "halting the entire training exercise for a Carrier Battle Group in the event of observing a single sea turtle."*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} As a result of formal consultation
under the ESA, the Navy agreed to institute precautionary conservation
measures. In response, FWS issued a no-jeopardy Biological Opinion
allowing battle group exercises to go forward without fear of delay due
to the ESA. The Navy's conservation measures, such as the relocation of
turtle eggs to a hatchery during amphibious landings, have resulted in
the successful hatching of over 17,000 hawksbill and leatherback sea
turtle eggs.

# Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, Arizona

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *"In the calendar year 2000, almost 40
percent of the live fire missions at the Goldwater Range were
canceled."*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} This base is home to the last
remaining Sonoran pronghorn in the United States -- with just 99 animals
left, it is one of the most endangered species of large mammals in the
world. The pronghorn's continued existence is threatened by air and
ground maneuvers, including bombing, strafing, artillery fire and
low-level flights. Despite this fact, DOD's proposed legislation would
not address the situation at Goldwater, as FWS has not designated any of
the range as critical habitat for the pronghorn out of fear that doing
so "could seriously limit the Air Force's ability to modify missions on
its lands." In return, the Air Force is participating in a regional
ecological study with the Department of the Interior, the Nature
Conservancy, and the Sonoran Institute as a starting point for their
conservation efforts.

# 

# Fort Hood, Texas

[DOD ASSERTION:]{.underline} *"Only about 17% of Fort Hood lands are
available for training without restriction."*

[THE REST OF THE STORY:]{.underline} Endangered species conservation
measures are singled out for blame in the limitation of training
exercises at Fort Hood, yet over 74 percent of the base's 217,600 acres
are currently restricted in order to accommodate large-scale cattle
operations. Conversely, less than 34 percent of Fort Hood's training
land has faced limited restrictions because of the presence of two
endangered birds, the black capped vireo and the golden cheeked warbler.
Even on these restricted lands, however, many training activities are
still allowed. In certain "core areas" within the endangered birds'
habitat, the use of chemical grenades, artillery firing and digging are
limited.

DOD has successfully worked with the ESA to achieve its military
readiness objectives while conserving imperiled species. Please ask your
lawmakers to oppose any proposals providing exemptions from the
Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws!

*For more information, contact Corry Westbrook, NWF Legislative
Representative, at 202-797-6840,* <westbrook@nwf.org>*, or John
Kostyack, NWF Senior Counsel, at 202-797-6879,*
[kostyack@nwf.org.](mailto:ostyack@nwf.org.)