Softer Species Act Policy On Hold Environmentalists Win Round On ‘No Surprises’ Approach

Under pressure from environmentalists, the government has put on hold a policy that exempts land owners from the Endangered Species Act if they voluntarily protect fish and wildlife.

The Clinton administration agreed to stop issuing permits under the policy for two months after missing a court-ordered deadline Monday in a lawsuit brought by eight environmental groups against the “no surprises” strategy. Interior Department spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said existing protection agreements would remain in place despite the moratorium on new permits.

“It is a victory for us but it’s only temporary,” said Leona Klippstein, conservation director for one of the plaintiffs, the Spirit of the Sage based in Pasadena, Calif.

The policy, informally in effect since 1994, promises private land owners that if they meet certain habitat conservation requirements, they won’t be subject to more rigid prohibitions in the future on land uses such as logging, mining and livestock grazing.

The policy has won President Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt rare praise from those industries as well as private property defenders in Congress, and has emerged as a key element of Senate legislation that would rewrite the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Critics say, however, that the voluntary agreements don’t adequately protect endangered fish and wildlife from extinction, especially if circumstances change due to natural disasters or further loss of habitat.

Bill Snape, a lawyer for Defenders of Wildlife, said it’s not clear whether the moratorium means the administration will eventually drop the policy.

The administration presented the “no surprises” idea to Congress in 1994 to appease the new Republican majority by emphasizing voluntary protection measures rather than ordering new endangered-species listings and aggressively enforcing prohibitions on commercial activities.

It is intended to provide certainty to land managers, such as timber executives who have to plan logging rotations up to 75 years in advance. By the end of the year, the administration intended to have entered into agreements covering 18 million acres of state and private land.