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.' . '.LAND LETTER: The Natural Resources Weekly Report 001333 Page 2 of3 The rule cited the tlycatcher recovery plan, which took 3 years of research to complete, as its sound scientific basis. And yet, Nowicki said the exclusion of those riverbanks and the inclusion of certain criteria that could exempt other tracts fell completely outside that recovery plan. For its part, FWS said the tlycatcher designation was based on the best available science, though the agency has maintained that critical habitat does little to save species. "We used all the expanding body of scientific information available on flycatcher conservation to layout a proposal outlining those areas that appear to be essential to conservation of the species," said Dale Hall, FWS Southwest Region director. Opportunities for alteration Agency officials said the final designation could be refined in public comment from conservation groups, local residents, area industries and the scientific community. FWS officials also said they are nearly finished with an associated draft economic analysis and environmental assessment. Those reports could make the final critical habitat designation significantly smaller. Economic analyses for other species have led to reduced acreage for their final designations. But FWS also threw a new loop into this critical habitat proposal, with the inclusion of certain criteria an area would have to meet to actually be treated as critical habitat. Areas within the designation that do not meet the "primary constituent elements" would not be treated as critical habitat. The necessary elements include space for population growth and normal behavior, nutritional requirements and locations for breeding. Grazing in question How the habitat designation will play out in granting federal grazing permits remains unclear, since it seems to open the door for grazing within the habitat area. Grazing, in particular, has long been blamed for pushing the bird toward extinction, either by decreasing water flows or directly degrading habitat, with cows reducing vegetation, compacting the soil and increasing water temperature. Cattle also attract cowbirds, a non-native species that feeds on insects stirred up by cattle and lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, displacing the home offspring. The agency's flycatcher recovery plan said "the preponderance of evidence indicates that excessive grazing is harmful to riparian habitats" and that "key attributes of southwestern willow flycatcher habitat (dense deciduous vegetation, high water tables) are among the riparian characteristics most affected by livestock grazing." But the proposed rule seemed to stray from that declaration, saying fonnal consultation for grazing will only be necessary for federal permits that may adversely affect habitat, subject to the assessment of federal land managers. The flycatcher can exist in grazed areas but does best where cowbird populations are kept in check, according to the rule. This assertion seems to take into account some recent new studies on the bird's interaction with cattle. A number of cattle growers and wildlife officials with the Gila National Forest and U-Bar Ranch have been compiling new scientific research that has indicated flycatchers and cattle are not necessarily incompatible, when proper grazing techniques are employed (L.IJI/.!i.Letlcr, Aug. 12). htlp:l/www.eenews.net/Landletler/include/prinl.php?single=1 0140404 10114/2004