For Immediate Release
Contacts: David Gaillard, Predator Project 406-587-3389
Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity 520-623-5252 x304
Dan Rohlf, Attorney 503-768-6707
February 26, 1999
LAWSUIT FILED TO ADD NORTHERN GOSHAWK TO ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST
Protections Sought for Old Growth Forests in Every Western State
Bozeman, Montana-based Predator Project joined lead plaintiff Center for Biological Diversity and 17 other environmental groups from across the West in filing a lawsuit yesterday to gain Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the Northern Goshawk. The suit challenges a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision not to list the goshawk as endangered on June 29, 1998.
This is the third lawsuit against FWS for failing to list the goshawk since a petition was filed in 1991. In both of the previous two lawsuits, a federal judge ruled against FWS and forced them to reconsider previous decisions against the listing.
Protection under the ESA would compel logging reforms in old growth forests throughout the western U.S. "The goshawk is a great indicator of the ecological integrity of our western forests," said David Gaillard of Predator Project. "Its decline tells us that wolves and grizzlies are not the only forest predators that are imperiled by the past and ongoing destruction of our forests."
The Northern Goshawk, a large bird of prey, has been popular with falconers since medieval times because of its legendary ferocity and hunting skill. It lives in mature and old growth forests in all western states (see Attachment One). Each pair of nesting goshawks needs approximately 6,000 acres of forest to feed and rear its young. Extensive logging of old growth forests on federal, state, and private lands has caused goshawk numbers to plummet.
This lawsuit is the latest challenge in a longstanding effort by conservationists to gain protections for goshawks: "We've been fighting this battle for ten years, we'll fight for another decade if necessary," said Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biodiversity.
Newspaper quality photographs of the Northern goshawk are available in jpg format – contact Kieran Suckling 520-623-5252 x304, or Shane Jimerfield 520-623-5252 x302.
Attachment Two
Chronology Of Northern Goshawk Litigation
10-89 Center for Biological Diversity begins preparing status review of the Northern
goshawk in North America.
9-26-91 Petition filed to list goshawk as endangered west of 100th meridian.
6-25-92 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service denies western petition on taxonomic grounds
(57 FR 474-76).
5-95 Suit filed to overturn denial.
2-96 Court rules that listing refusal was arbitrary and capricious, orders USFWS to
issue another decision (926 F. Supp. 920 (D. Ariz. 1996)).
6-6-96 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issues second decision, again denying listing on
taxonomic grounds (61 FR 28, 834-35).
9-96 Suit filed to overturn denial.
6-97 Court overturns second denial as arbitrary and capricious, also finding the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service national policy on listing populations to be illegal, orders a
new decision (980 F. Supp. 1080 (D. Ariz. 1997)).
9-29-97 Six years after the petition was filed, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service finally
issues a positive 90-day finding on western petition (62 FR 50, 892). It is now
required to conduct a full status by 6-98, either proposing to list the goshawk as
endangered or not.
6-29-98 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issues negative 12-month finding, refusing to propose
listing as endangered 63 FR 35, 183).
2-25-99 Suit filed to overturn denial.
Regional Summaries of Goshawks in the Western U.S.
OREGON & WASHINGTON
Coast Ranges: 83-84% of the original coastal old-growth forests were logged between the 1930's and 1980's (Jackson and Kimmerling 1993, Bolsinger et al. 1997, Booth 199), with over 2 million acres of compete deforestation in Washington. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: "It is likely that goshawk populations have decreased in some areas, particularly western Washington and Oregon, from pre-settlement periods given the extensive timber harvest that has occurred on both pubic and private lands and conversion to non-forest uses throughout both states" (USFWS 1998). With the exception of the Olympic Peninsula, which has had about 10 nesting pairs per year, there are virtually no goshawks left in the entire coast range of both states.
Eastside Forests: According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: "Eastern Washington and Oregon forests have undergone similar and extensive forest changes." (USFWS 1998). The Interior Columbia Basin Scientific Team (Quigley et al. 1996) determined that since the early 1800's:
• multi-layer forests declined 27%, particularly in ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir,
• single-layer forests declined 60%, particularly in ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir.
Recent scientific research has shown that logging on eastside forests has caused abandonment of goshawk territories (Desimone 1997).
MONTANA & IDAHO
According to the Columbia Basin Scientific Team (Wisdom et al. In prep), northern goshawk habitat has declined drastically on four of the five Ecological Reporting Units within the goshawk’s range in the Columbia Basin in Montana and Idaho:
ERU
Summer Habitat Decline
Winter Habitat Decline
5
53%
(22%)
7
95%
90%
8
93%
93%
9
97%
95%
13
7%
21%
Current Goshawk Distribution in Montana
Source: Skaar, P.D. Montana Bird Distribution. 5th Ed., Sp. Publ. No. 3, Montana Nat. Heritage Prog., 1996.
State of Montana
Key
B – Direct evidence of breeding
b – Indirect or circumstantial evidence of breeding
t – Sightings, but no evidence of breeding
NEVADA, UTAH, SOUTHERN IDAHO & SOUTHWEST WYOMING
The Interior Columbia Basin Scientific Team (USDA & USDI 1997) determined that the goshawk has a 53% chance of losing viability in Nevada, Utah, southern Idaho and southwest Wyoming under current federal management plans.
SOUTH DAKOTA
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: "Goshawks in areas that have been more heavily logged or affected by wildfires are probably less abundant now as compared to historical trends...It is reasonable to conclude that there may have been declines in goshawk populations...when looking at habitat changes since pre-settlement times." (USFWS 1998). One of the only researchers to study goshawks in South Dakota found that goshawks only appears in mature and old growth forests, avoiding areas which had be cut over Bartelt (1977).
northern goshawk | forest |
