Download Read the Fite Declaration - Western Watersheds Project

Kristin F. Ruether (ISB # 7914)
ADVOCATES FOR THE WEST
P.O. Box 1612
Boise, ID 83701
(208) 342-7024
(208) 342-8286 (fax)
[email protected]
Attorney for Appellants
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS
INTERIOR BOARD OF LAND APPEALS
Basin and Range Watch,
Center for Biological Diversity,
National Parks Conservation
Association, Nevada Wilderness
Project, Sierra Club, and
Western Watersheds Project,
Appellants
v.
Bureau of Land Management,
Respondent
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NV-__________________
Appeal of October 15, 2010 Decisions By
Schell Field Office Manager Mary D’Aversa to
Approve Decision Record, FONSI, & EA for
Spring Valley Wind Energy Facility; and two
associated October 22, 2010 Rights of Way
DECLARATION OF KATIE FITE
I, Katie Fite, declare:
1.
My name is Katie Fite. I am a professional ecologist and long-time member of
Plaintiff Western Watersheds Project (“WWP”); and am employed as its Biodiversity Director,
based in Boise, Idaho. The following facts are based on my personal knowledge; and if called
as a witness I would and could truthfully testify thereto.
2.
In this declaration, I address a number of ways in which the BLM’s Spring Valley
Wind Energy Facility and associated actions challenged in this appeal harm my interests and
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those of Western Watersheds Project. These harms include significant adverse impacts to
wildlife populations and habitat, including to the Great Basin core population of greater sagegrouse, to the pygmy rabbit, to a unique locale used by a million or more Mexican free-tailed
bats, and to other unique resources of this beautiful desert valley.
EDUCATION AND EXPERTISE
3.
I am a biologist with expertise in plant and wildlife ecology of the arid lands of
the Intermountain West, including the public lands throughout central and southern Idaho,
Nevada, eastern Oregon, Utah, and Arizona.
4.
I received a Masters Degree in Biology from Utah State University, with an
emphasis on vertebrate biology and ecology. While at Utah State, I was a graduate teaching
assistant in upper level courses in ornithology, ecology, and botany. I also have a Bachelor's
degree in biology from Pennsylvania State University.
5.
I was employed throughout the 1990s as a Senior Wildlife Technician with the
Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG). My work with IDFG included particular emphasis
on upland bird habitat and vegetation in the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. I routinely identified
sensitive and native plants for land managers, other biologists, and the general public. I assessed
habitat conditions and provided recommendations for restoration of native plants and
rehabilitation of upland bird and wildlife habitat. I also supplied public information on the
biology and ecology of wildlife including sage grouse, migratory songbirds, and small and large
mammals. I participated as a skilled observer in IDFG aerial surveys and population counts of
wildlife species, including sage grouse, mule deer, and California bighorn sheep; collected
vegetation data for IDFG stream inventories with BLM in the mid-1990s; and I collected data on
DECLARATION OF KATHLEEN FITE -- 2
vegetative components of sage grouse habitats. For many years, I also conducted a USFWS
Breeding Bird Survey route within the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem, specifically throughout
uplands of southern and eastern Idaho.
6.
My expertise also includes extensive professional involvement in assessing the
health of wildlife habitats and native plant communities and ecological integrity of public lands,
and providing recommendations to BLM and other agencies on habitat enhancement projects.
While with IDFG, I monitored the success of planting projects, as well as recovery. At that time,
I was also involved in assessing impacts of a large development project that was imposed on
BLM lands in southern Idaho – the Air Force Juniper Butte Bombing Range – which likewise
entailed development of an expanded road network, and siting of numerous facilities in wild
lands. Additionally, I provided comments as part of an agency team on BLM decision-making
processes related to livestock grazing, fire rehab and sagebrush restoration efforts and also
developments on the public lands.
7.
Other elements of my IDFG duties and my professional activities also include the
identification of weed infestations, and recommending actions to control infestations and address
their environmental causes. I have supervised mechanical weed removal projects, and the use of
biocontrol agents to control weed spread.
8.
Since leaving IDFG, I have been employed on the staff of the Committee for the
High Desert, followed by Western Watersheds Project. I have devoted my professional activities
toward studying and attempting to improve land management on the public lands of the
Intermountain West. I have reviewed hundreds of agency proposed grazing and range
management decisions and environmental analyses; prepared extensive comments on BLM
DECLARATION OF KATHLEEN FITE -- 3
decisions; spent thousands of hours inspecting conditions on the public lands and much time in
meetings with agencies, scientists and other interested parties; and also acted as an expert
witness in several cases.
9.
My primary job duties with Western Watersheds are to track ecological
conditions and agency proposals on public lands in the Great Basin region of southern Idaho,
northern and central Nevada (including the Ely District), and portions of eastern Oregon. My
focus remains on the sage-steppe ecosystem and protecting its many imperiled wildlife and other
resources, including sage grouse, migratory birds, pygmy rabbit and other declining and
imperiled biota.
10.
To fulfill these duties, I spend an extensive amount of time traveling to public
lands in the Great Basin region, visiting literally hundreds of public land grazing allotments each
year. I frequently spend about half of my work and personal time in the field, conducting site
visits, traveling and hiking through the high desert observing conditions of sagebrush
communities and wildlife habitat, camping throughout the public lands, and photographing
conditions.
11.
On these visits, my general goal is to assess the condition of the lands, vegetation,
wildlife habitat, waters, springs and riparian areas, observe conditions of the high desert
ecosystem. I also view the condition of range or other developments, road networks and scars,
vegetation eradication efforts and other intrusions, too. I inspect the condition of upland
vegetation and riparian communities; assess wildlife habitat components and their quality, with a
particular focus on sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits, and migratory birds; observe the absence or
presence of non-native weeds and other exotics; and note the changes and trends in the
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conditions compared to prior site visits.
12.
During my site visits to these public lands, I contemplate and observe landscape-
level habitats and conditions, and I enjoy viewing large undeveloped areas. I also take note of
road scars, fence line contrasts, powerlines, scars from mining, gravel pits or other development,
old and new BLM seedings and other sagebrush and/or juniper eradication projects, fire effects,
structural alteration of sagebrush or other shrubs from livestock impacts, presence of cheatgrass
and its unnatural solid pale tan color when mature, presence of noxious weeds, and any other
feature indicating human-caused disturbance in the environment and loss or fragmentation of
sensitive species habitats.
13.
Through my education and professional experience, I have become very familiar
with a wide range of scientific literature concerning the effects of disturbances such as energy
development to native ecosystems in the American West, and particularly to the sagebrushsteppe ecosystem. I have also attended scores of seminars, meetings, tours, etc. with
professional scientists and agency staff addressing issues pertaining to resource conditions in this
region. I stay up to date on information through internet searches, contacts and discussions with
biologists and other scientists, and seeking out and obtaining research studies and reports. Thus,
I am very familiar with extensive scientific and agency literature concerning habitat disturbance
and loss impacts to sagebrush species populations.
14.
I am very familiar with the scientific body of work on sage-grouse, and the
significant developments to sage-grouse science that has emerged in the past year through the
Sage-Grouse Monograph published in Studies in Avian Biology and the March 2010 Finding by
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that listing of sage-grouse as an endangered or threatened species
DECLARATION OF KATHLEEN FITE -- 5
is “warranted” under the Endangered Species Act. These recent scientific publications provide
strong evidence of sage-grouse avoidance of areas with intensive development and human
disturbance in sagebrush habitats. This includes 1) avoidance of tall vertical objects such as wind
turbines – likely an innate response of the birds to avoiding overhead predators; and 2) adverse
effects of roading, due to noise or visual intrusions from roads that alter or disrupt bird
behaviors, as well the habitat alteration that increases nest and egg predators like skunks that
thrive in such disturbed habitats, and promotes weeds.
15.
I have been involved in commenting on BLM land wind developments, and have
sought out scientific information and news reports related to industrial wind impacts. I have
visited MET tower sites (wind characteristic monitoring towers placed in advance of facility
development) as well as industrial wind turbines on several occasions to observe habitat impacts.
Wind development has proliferated in “brownfield” sites in southern Idaho on the marginal
agricultural lands of the Snake River Plain. The turbines, many of them significantly shorter in
height than those proposed for Spring Valley, are visible over tremendous distances in open high
desert landscapes.
16.
In addition to my professional experience, I frequently recreate in the high desert
of central Nevada. During these visits, I enjoy visiting and hiking on public lands. I enjoy
hiking, experiencing solitude, observing wildlife, observing vegetation, taking photographs, and
camping, among other personal aesthetic, scientific and recreational pursuits. I am an avid
recreationalist, and I derive personal, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits from recreating on the
public lands like these in the beautiful Spring Valley and surrounding majestic limestone
mountain ranges. I often communicate with BLM staff after returning from these site visits and
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document my concerns in letters, e-mails, phone calls and in other ways as time allows.
17.
As detailed below, I have been to the Spring Valley area numerous times for both
professional and personal reasons, and have hiked and inspected ecological conditions there
repeatedly over the years. I am familiar with the area and its ecological resources; and plan to
return regularly in the future, including in fall/winter 2010 and spring/summer 2011, both for
professional and personal reasons. Construction and operation of the Spring Valley wind project
will directly harm my personal and professional interests, by causing ecological degradation and
harm (as described below) to vegetation and habitat conditions and to numerous plant and
wildlife species that I treasure and seek to protect and restore through my personal and
professional actions.
IRREPARABLE HARM FROM CONSTRUCTION OF
SPRING VALLEY WIND ENERGY FACILITY
18.
The public lands of Spring Valley provide important habitat for dozens of species
of birds and wildlife, including many special status species such as bald eagle, greater sagegrouse, pygmy rabbit, golden eagle, burrowing owl, ferruginous hawk, Swainson’s hawk, and a
variety of migratory song birds (Brewer’s sparrow, loggerhead shrike, and yellow-breasted chat),
Mexican free-tailed bat, Townsend’s big-eared bat, spring snails, and rare plant species.
Important habitat components of the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem upon which these species
depend include sagebrush and microbiotic soils. These wildlife species and habitat components
will be irreparably harmed by construction of the Spring Valley Wind project.
19.
Sage Grouse. The 2004 Conservation Assessment of Greater Sage-Grouse,
which was prepared by agency and independent scientists for the Western Association of Fish
and Wildlife Agencies (“WAFWA”), identified a Great Basin “core” population of greater sage-
DECLARATION OF KATHLEEN FITE -- 7
grouse, as one of the most important sage-grouse populations remaining for that species on a
range-wide basis. Connelly et al. (2004). According to this 2004 Conservation Assessment, the
Great Basin core sage-grouse population includes sage-grouse in the Spring Valley area. The
Spring Valley Wind project will harm the population viability and habitat of sage-grouse by
disturbing and displacing sage-grouse during sensitive periods of the year; by altering,
modifying, degrading and destroying habitats through extensive new road development and
imposition of visually intrusive and noisy wind turbines, as well as disturbance of soils,
microbiotic crusts, and essential native vegetation components; by disrupting hydrological
function and water flows and percolation – including waters for mesic brood rearing areas
associated with meadows and springs that support the plants required by sage-grouse broods; by
promoting weed invasion and expansion into adjacent undeveloped habitats; by destroying and
fragmenting native vegetation and the quality of the habitat and the cover it provides.
20.
The proposed project site sprawls over 7,000 acres of public lands, and would
take up much of the valley floor. The ecological footprint would extend over a much greater
area. It would greatly add to the fragmentation of habitat, and could block north-south
movement of sage grouse and other species, leading to increased isolation of populations. This
site is near the southern periphery of the Great Basin sage-grouse population range, and thus
maintenance of populations in such areas is very important to prevent further range reductions
and to preserve genetic diversity.
21.
Spring Valley’s low precipitation levels and the high vulnerability of the arid
sagebrush and salt desert shrub communities to weeds would make any recovery from
disturbances extremely difficult. I have observed the lack of recovery and weed invasion into a
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BLM-“treated” sagebrush removal project in this area, as well as the weed proliferation that
resulted from a series of fires coupled with grazing disturbance on the alluvial fan of the Schell
Creek Range to the north. With minimal precipitation, recovery of native sagebrush and salt
desert shrub is exceedingly difficult. The Monograph explains how lower elevation sagebrush
communities have length recovery times—up to 100-200 years. In fact, if cheatgrass or other
aggressive weeds invade, recovery of sagebrush may never be possible. Therefore, if the
extensive planned roads are bladed, it will be extraordinarily difficult and likely impossible to
ever restore the native vegetation and essential habitat components for many species of native
wildlife such as sage-grouse to the project site.
22.
Impacts to sage-grouse would also be exacerbated by the project’s impacts to
bats. The million or more Mexican free-tailed bats that use Spring Valley provide an essential
“ecological service” by consuming insects that can transmit diseases like West Nile virus. West
Nile has increasingly been linked to declines in sage-grouse and other migratory bird
populations. Thus, the loss of migrating bats in Spring Valley due to barotrauma will ripple
through ecosystems across the intermountain West – many hundreds of miles from Spring Valley
itself.
23.
These additional impacts are problematic because sage-grouse are already
stressed from livestock grazing and facility impacts for over a hundred years. This project would
also include 9 miles of hazardous new fencing. Livestock use, extensive road networks, a
plethora of agency vegetation and fuels “treatments,” mining and other energy exploration and
development, would continue on top of the rest of the affected population of sage- grouse,
pygmy rabbit and other wildlife. BLM has never addressed the status of, and threats to, the local
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and regional populations of sage-grouse, including the Nevada state-defined Population
Management Unit (“PMU”) that would be further jeopardized by this industrial-scale project.
24.
Soil. Construction of 25 miles of roads, a vast trench network, excavation of
multi-acre turbine footing sites, gravel pit excavation, and other construction activity would
result in irreparable soil compaction and destruction of microbiotic crusts, which are key
protective components of soil surfaces in the uplands of arid ecosystems. Disturbed soils can
result in increased erosion by wind and water (rilling, gullying), desertification and invasion of
weedy species (Anderson et al. 1982; Johansen 1993; Beymer and Klopatek 1992; Belnap 1995;
Belsky and Gelbard 2000; Belnap et al. 2001). Cheatgrass and other weed invasion in arid sites
promote frequent fires. Frequent fires disrupt successional processes and would further result in
the loss of bird and wildlife habitat and accelerated habitat fragmentation.
25.
Pygmy rabbit. This project will also irreparably harm the pygmy rabbit, a
sagebrush-obligate species documented in the project area. The pygmy rabbit relies on
underground burrows throughout the year, and also digs shallow natal burrows for rearing its
young. The pygmy rabbit relies entirely on sagebrush for its winter diet, so destruction and
alteration of sagebrush communities eliminates both its sagebrush food and the complex
overhead cover that protects it from predation. Imposition of 25 miles of new roading and
associated development impacts will extensively fragment habitats including dispersal habitats,
expand cheatgrass and other weed invasion, and promote a variety of disturbance-related
predators of the pygmy rabbit.
26.
Other bird species. This project is very likely to cause significant harm to the
local and perhaps regional population of the golden eagle and other raptors. I have observed
DECLARATION OF KATHLEEN FITE -- 10
golden eagles in Spring Valley on several occasions, and agency biologists have informed me
that there are many wintering raptors, including eagles, in Spring Valley. Construction work,
road blading, and other disturbances in the winter are likely to disrupt and displace these birds.
27.
The Schell Creek and Snake Ranges bordering Spring Valley have numerous
flowing streams, and a diversity of sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, higher-elevation conifer, aspen,
mountain shrub and other habitats that provide important foraging and “refueling” habitat for
migrating birds. During adverse weather conditions, such as cold snaps, unexpected snowfalls,
or unfavorable migration winds, migrants may be “downed” in the valley bottom. I observed
this phenomenon in central and northern Nevada during a period of cold wet weather in late
spring 2010. Migrating songbirds were downed on the valley floor between the mountain
ranges. Western Tanagers and other colorful neotropical migrants landed on paved roads in front
of my vehicle as I drove from south of Eureka and Highway 50 north through Carlin and into
Idaho. There is a serious potential for significant songbird mortality from turbines during this
type of phenomenon.
28.
Migratory bird mortality is likely to be exacerbated by the effects of the turbine
lighting on night or other migrants – as has been seen at other wind farms. The night lighting
seems to confuse birds. Since there have been no adequate baseline radar studies for migrating
birds at Spring Valley, including night-time migrants, it is impossible to understand how severe
the impacts and mortality will be. This is especially the case in the Spring Valley area, which is
renowned for its pristine dark night skies.
29.
Swamp Cedars ACEC and water resources. The Swamp Cedars ACEC’s
unique vegetation is supported by a perched aquifer. Spring Valley’s water resources
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additionally support sage-grouse brood rearing and insects consumed by sage-grouse and by
foraging bats. These resources will be degraded by this project through the surface disturbance,
including the foundations needed for the wind turbines. These water resources are additionally
threatened by the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s controversial proposal to mine ground
water from the valley and export it in a series of pipelines to Las Vegas. A 2006 paper by Dr.
David Charlet explains that groundwater pumping could foreseeably kill or reduce substantial
amounts of vegetation, severely altering the Swamp Cedar’s vegetative community. This
proposal would remove groundwater from the same area as the project site, and as such there are
significant cumulative impacts.
30.
Visual and recreational resources. The Spring Valley Wind Project would
greatly mar natural settings and forms by interjecting 25 miles of unnatural straight line roading,
new gravel pit scars, and of course through the placement of 75 400-foot tall wind turbine
structures and numerous ancillary facilities. Likewise, the facility will greatly mar recreational
experiences in a broad area of the undeveloped desert valley landscape subject to the visual
intrusion of a sprawling industrial site that imposes: 400-foot tall turbine-blade structures; noises
from turbine movement and other industrial activity; and the visually distracting “flicker effect”
from turbine movement; bright flashing red night lights that will be visible over a vast area of the
valley and contiguous mountain ranges in the heart of a landscape sought out for its night-time
tranquility and darkness.
31.
In sum, instead of acting to protect this unique valley with its nationally if not
globally significant resources – which includes a unique watered desert valley, the Rose Guano
bat cave and its environs used by a million or more migrating bats, and other very significant
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values – BLM has recklessly violated any biologically defensible standards for wind facility
siting; and the project’s construction would cause irreparable harm to all of the above-mentioned
resources.
SITE VISITS AND HARM TO PERSONAL INTERESTS
32.
I have been visiting Spring Valley and surrounding lands since the 1980s. I
visited the Spring Valley area on many occasions in the 1980s-1990s and have always enjoyed
the magnificent sweeping valley views, from both the benches/alluvial fans of the Schell Creek
Range as well as on the Spring Valley floor.
33.
From 2004 to 2006, I visited the Schell Creek Range, northern Snake Range and
northern Spring Valley several times to examine conditions of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper
communities, to observe native wildlife like sage-grouse and pygmy rabbit and the conditions of
their habitats, and to experience scenic views and natural settings. On one particular visit (circa
2005) I recall camping in the vicinity of Cleve Creek BLM campground, and hiked in both the
Bastian Creek and Cleveland Ranch allotments.
34.
I have made several visits to the project site. On a visit circa 2007, I recall seeing
wind visually intrusive MET towers in the proposed Spring Valley Wind site. I have visited,
hiked in, and observed conditions on the project site at least three times in the past two years.
On these trips, I camped, recreated, and photographed the stunning scenery of the valley bottom
in the wind farm area with mountainous backdrops. I have also photographed antelope activity
at the site. On a fall 2009 trip, I again camped south of Cleve Creek on the alluvial fan of the
Schell Creek Range and explored the valley area including portions of the proposed wind facility
site. In December 2009, along with other interested parties, I visited the wind site, the Swamp
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Cedar ACEC, and the Rose Guano bat cave. In summer 2010 I visited and hiked in the wind
project site and the Swamp Cedar ACEC. I provided photographs of a summer 2010 storm
squall moving through the valley to BLM – to highlight my concerns about erosion potential
from the massive road network and other disturbances that the facility would cause.
35.
I plan to return to Spring Valley and the proposed wind farm area in fall/winter
2010 and in spring/summer 2011, as well subsequent visits, for scientific and recreational
purposes, and as part of my professional duties.
36.
By causing long-term ecological degradation of the public lands and wildlife
resources that I enjoy and seek to protect, construction of the Spring Valley Wind project would
harm my recreational interests in hiking, camping, photographing and otherwise enjoying the
Great Basin and high desert environment, and injure my aesthetic interest in observing and
enjoying the natural setting of the Great Basin and high desert landscape. As a recreational user
of public lands, I would not want to camp or hike anywhere near the visual and other disturbance
footprint of this industrial facility. I am further harmed because the decisions will contribute to
the continuing decline of sage-grouse populations and other wildlife in the Great Basin region,
thus depriving me of opportunities to observe and enjoy those sage-grouse populations in their
natural habitat, and injuring my aesthetic, emotional, recreational, and professional interests.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this
13th day of November, 2010, at Boise, Idaho.
_______________________
Katie Fite
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