For Star subscribers: Environmental group says Tuesday's relisting of the pygmy owl as an imperiled species could be used by opponents of Interstate 11 construction west of Tucson.
Tony Davis An environmental group says Tuesday’s relisting of the pygmy owl as an imperiled species could provide another weapon for opponents of Interstate 11 construction through the Avra Valley west of Tucson.
People are also reading… While the original owl listing resulted in a huge conflict over development in the ironwood forest area on Tucson’s northwest side, much of that land has since been bladed for development, eliminating it as places that could be protected for the owl’s sake. Environmentalists are concerned noise and air pollution coming from vehicles using the freeway would negatively effect wildlife, and that the construction would fragment habitat.
SAHBA was one of several groups whose litigation led to the wildlife service’s 2006 decision that removed the pygmy owl from endangered species protection.How freeway could be affectedThe Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration have proposed building 280 miles of I-11, running north from Nogales to Wickenburg west of Phoenix. The project — currently unfunded — could cost anywhere from $3.1 billion to $7.3 billion.
The freeway project could well be affected by the pygmy owl because some part of its financing would have to come from federal money. That provides an obvious trigger for federal intervention in the issue to protect an imperiled species protected by the federal government. Several legal experts have told the Star it could very likely be applied to development along normally dry streams such as those most commonly found in Arizona. That would mean federal agencies would no longer be able to declare that most such streams are legally defined “waters of the U.S.” eligible for federal regulation of development.
Arizona, which comprises one of five areas of the Southwest known to contain pygmy owls, currently has the lowest pygmy owl abundance of any of five geographical units into which the wildlife service has split the bird’s natural range.Habitat fragmentation and loss from urbanization, and increases in invasive species such as buffelgrass, have reduced both this area’s availability of natural habitat and its ability to be connected with other natural habitats outside this area.
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