12 Aug City of Austin & Travis County Violating Federal Wildlife Protection Permit

City of Austin and Travis County Violating Federal Wildlife Protection Permit; Environmental Groups Give Word of Looming Litigation The Save Our Springs Alliance and the Sierra Club today released their formal "notice of intent" to sue the City of Austin, Travis County, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for failure to protect endangered species as required by a county-wide permit issued by the Service to the City and County in 1996.  The county-wide federal permit is commonly known as the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan.  The Endangered Species Act requires that citizens give at least 60 days’ prior written notice before any citizen enforcement action is filed in federal court to remedy violations of the Act.  The jointly held City/County permit requires the City and County to preserve approximately 30,000 acres for two endangered migratory songbirds, the Golden-cheeked warbler and the Black-capped vireo, and six endangered cave-dwelling invertebrates. All of the species live in the limestone hill country of western Travis County. The 30,000-acre figure, itself, was justified by the expectation that another 41,000 acres of refuge land would be acquired by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  It is the City/County permit that allows the governments and private developers to develop other lands having endangered species habitat.  While approximately 90 percent of the 30,000 acres has been acquired, much of the land is too fragmented to meet the permit’s standards.  The City and County have also failed to protect many of the 35 caves that the permit requires be protected.  Currently, the City and County have no plan to correct the violations; in some instances, encroaching development has made it extremely difficult or impossible to fully comply with the permit terms.  The Service has contributed to the violations by approving developments on land that is required to be protected (instead of developed) under the City/County permit and by failing to acquire sufficient habitat preserve lands for the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge.  The Service has acquired roughly half of the 41,000 acres envisioned for the Refuge.   The Endangered Species Act requires the Fish & Wildlife Service to revoke a permit if violations take place.  "We are taking action, now, because the City’s move to build Water Treatment Plant No. 4 in the middle of both cave and warbler habitat will make existing permit violations worse, while digging miles of tunnels under the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve also endangers the Jollyville Plateau salamander, a candidate for ‘endangered’ listing," said Roy Waley, Vice Chair for the Austin Group of the Sierra Club.  Read more and download notice of intent to sue Letter HERE. More information is available at www.savewatersavemoney.org and www.stoptheshafts.com.    Help Save Barton Springs!  Make your tax deductible donation to SOS TODAY online byclicking here or mail to P.O. Box 684881, Austin, TX 78768. Visit our NEW WEBSITE SOSALLIANCE.ORG. SOS now on Twitter and Facebook Follow us on TWITTER Become a fan on FACEBOOK