Posted on 08/05/2005 8:27:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
In the wilderness north of Fillmore, the California condor has fought its way back from the brink of extinction. As the federally endangered scavenger's population dwindled over the past century, the rugged mountains became the metaphorical and geographical heart of the movement to save it.
But the area is not just good for condor habitat; it's rich in oil, too. The region has some of the oldest oil fields in the state.
A recent decision to once again open Los Padres National Forest to gas and oil exploration could threaten efforts to replenish the condor population, some say.
While the Forest Service said it has taken great pains to protect one of America's largest birds, some environmentalists claim any new development, and the people and consequences that come with it, could harm the condors.
"It's very ironic," said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch. "Here they have the condor sanctuary that is closed to the public, even to hikers, and right next to that they are allowing oil drilling. It doesn't make sense to us."
Biologists with the Forest Service said any new drilling would have a negligible effect on the birds. New regulations for drilling, such as keeping a clean drilling site and sealing all containers, would keep the birds from picking up trash or getting oil on them, which has been a problem in the past.
The plan for drilling unveiled last week allows for roads and rigs on as much as 4,277 acres, but it is more likely that only five new drill pads that would take up about 21 acres could be developed, said Kathy Good, spokeswoman for the Forest Service.
Slant drilling, in which wells sit on adjacent land but the oil is extracted from beneath the forest at an angle, will be allowed on more than 47,000 acres.
Much of the proposed drilling is near the Sespe oil fields, which are surrounded on three sides by the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, 53,000 acres of primordial wilderness set aside for the birds in 1947.
When the first federally endangered species list was drawn up in 1967, the condors were on it. Their numbers dropped as low as 22 in the United States after they had lost their habitat and were being shot and poisoned.
The Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge just outside the sanctuary was established in 1975 as a place to release captive-bred birds into the wild and give them extra wing room.
While efforts to restore the bird to the region were under way, oil exploration was going on full swing. Drilling has been happening in the area since the 1800s.
Condors, generally curious birds, have always been interested in what is going on around the oil rigs. Al Hess, an oil and gas resource specialist for the forest, said condors used to eat sandwiches out of the hands of oil workers.
But that exposure to humans increases the likelihood the birds could get into trouble, said Alan Sanders, chairman of Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club.
"It changes the wilderness characteristic of that area," Sanders said of the leasing proposals. "You are taking an area that is supposed to be wild and pristine and once you start injecting all kinds of human activity, the condor gets used to having people around."
Sanders is not as worried about the drilling rigs themselves as he is about the roads that could bring more people and their trash to the area.
A couple of condor chicks have died in recent years because their parents picked up small bolts or pieces of trash and fed the objects to them. While it is impossible to know where the parent, which can fly 150 miles a day, picked up the trash, Sanders and others said that added infrastructure means more potential for condor interaction.
No condors have died as a direct result of the oil drilling, and hitting power lines are the birds' biggest killer, said Maeton Freel, an ecosystem and planning staff officer with the Forest Service. Another problem is birds ingesting lead bullets, he said.
Freel said new transmitters on the birds allow them to be tracked to find out if they are getting into trouble, which should help the population.
He said he sees no reason why the birds and drilling, which have coexisted for so long, can't continue to do so, especially under the new, tighter regulations.
When a company wants to drill in the forest -- and few have expressed interest, Hess said -- it would have to undergo an entirely new approval process that would include a review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Lloyd Kiff, who used be the director of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in Camarillo and worked on the condor breeding project, said condors and oil have coexisted for years, but there needs to be smart planning to make sure the birds are protected.
"The heart of the Sespe is of tremendous symbolic and functional importance to condors," said Kiff, who now works with raptors in Idaho.
"Any new factor or proposal, even those that might be determined later to be benign, that might affect the integrity of the sanctuary need to be examined in detail."
Bruce Palmer, who worked with the birds when he was with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said drilling needs to be carefully monitored.
"I believe there is the likelihood that there will be some level of effect. How serious and what the consequences are, only time will tell," he said. But the birds are still sensitive to increased human presence, he said.
"No one thing like the addition of oil rigs in itself is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said. "But it is another straw that is being carried."
They are apparently as stupid as they are ugly
Clearly, we have to tear down every building within 150 miles of a condor nest, just to make sure human activity doesn't kill them.
We'll start with Barbra Streisand's house. ;)
It would seem that we might need to clear the area of sharp pebbles, tree twigs, the bones of small dead animals, and a lot of other dangerous items toprevent this atrocity...
*uck the Condor!
I'm tired of Marines dying while Lefties whine about "saving the environment" while they drive their gas guzzling cars and fly in their private jets! If we were self-sufficient we wouldn't have to depend on the camel jockeys' oil.
DRILL, DRILL, DRILL AND DRILL SOME MORE!
Off shore, ANWAR...wherever!
And while I'm on the soapbox, we need to build more refineries and nuclear/desalination/electricity generating plants too!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
*uck the Condor!
----
And all the whining, stinking lib enviro-whackos that our government keeps pandering to....DRILL !!!!
If it means bringing down gas prices from $2.59 a gallon here in California, then drill away and good riddance condor. It's a butt ugly winged rodent anyway.
Did they actually think that calling it a "condor" would make be feel sorry for this buzzard?
But, but, nothing in this would tastes asa good as a Cal. condor burger cooked over a fire of burning tires.
Gosh, I wonder where the money came from?
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