| Mitsubishi, groups work on
strategy; Mining company cooperating to soften environmental blow when
it expands
(Note: This article would have a lot fewer words without the language deception.) February 27, 2003 By Nikki Cobb, staff writer 760-951-6277 Victorville Daily Press Victorville, California To submit a Letter to the Editor: smw@link.freedom.com Lucerne Valley, California - The mineral-rich northern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains are a unique ecosystem providing a habitat for four plants, three of them endangered, that can't be found anywhere else on Earth. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have forged a cooperative relationship with mining interests and the California Native Plant Society to protect the plants as well as the rights of private landowners, including mining corporations. The Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy is a tool for negotiating the use of land valuable to the plants and to the miners for the same reason: the limestone just beneath the surface. "We have two main areas of concern," said Doug Shumway, Mitsubishi Cement Corp's environmental director. "The four listed plants, and the 30 or so bighorn sheep that migrate all around the front range." Shumway said that though the sheep aren't endangered, they are listed as a California species of special interest, a designation that buys them extra consideration, as well as their habitat. Mitsubishi is working through the Habitat Management Strategy to soften the environmental blow when it expands its land use, doubling its area of operations to 400 acres. "It's not our position to shut down mining operations," said Ileene Anderson, policy analyst for the California Native Plant Society. "We just want to assure that a habitat will be provided in the future." Shumway said Mitsubishi is doing just that. The sheep will be accommodated through avoidance, steering clear of their prime habitat, and enhancement of other areas by providing water sources and planting vegetation the sheep favor. Areas where endangered plants are densest can also be avoided. However, Shumway said the practice of mitigation will be Mitsubishi's dominant strategy, providing three acres of habitat comparable to each acre disrupted by mining. "We're hoping the land the county requires for mitigation can be used toward building of habitat reserves," said Scott Eliason, mountaintop district botanist for the San Bernardino National Forest. "We're focusing on not one species but on habitat overall," Eliason continued. " 'Suitable habitat' combines occupied habitat as well as connecting habitat corridors." Anderson said the society advocates the preservation of land both in terms of quantity and quality. For that reason, Anderson also looks to avoid fragmentation of reserved habitats, a concern Eliason is trying to assuage with careful planning of industrial use. "The experiments with reintroducing these species have succeeded to a point. They have been able to get the perennials to produce seed and germinate," Anderson said. "Quite frankly, though, we don't know what it takes to pollinate them," she explained. "Without that, there will be no successive generations. We could lose species that may turn out to have key roles in the ecosystem." Anderson expressed her confidence that Mitsubishi was complying with the regulations imposed by the federal Endangered Species Act. She said that through "prudent conservation," miners and the fragile ecology of the northern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains could coexist. "The relationships (in the Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy group) started out not so hot, but it's been much better lately," Eliason said. "We've had a pretty good building of trust." http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1046365005,54327, |