Novel Conservation Agreement To Help San Joaquin Kit Fox

(12 May, 2003 - Los Angeles)  A novel agreement to help the endangered San Joaquin kit fox on private farmland in California has just been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento.  Environmental Defense, the national conservation organization that helped broker the agreement, called the agreement an important step forward in conserving rare species on private land and praised the landowner, Paramount Farming Company, for being the first agriculture company in the nation to enter into a Safe Harbor agreement to help endangered species.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

First designed in 1995 by Environmental Defense, Safe Harbor agreements allow landowners to create or improve habitat for endangered species on their land without fear of new restrictions.  Such agreements have been struck with numerous ranchers, forest products companies, and individual woodlot owners in other parts of the country.  The agreement with Paramount Farming Company is only the second Safe Harbor agreement yet approved in California and the first with a farming operation, though others are pending.

“This project demonstrates that agricultural practices can coexist with the protection of endangered species,” said Joseph MacIlvaine, president of Paramount Farming Company.  “We appreciate the pioneering efforts of Environmental Defense to work with the agricultural community to help bring some common sense to the implementation of the Endangered Species Act.”

“Paramount Farming Company deserves enormous credit and thanks for this entirely voluntary undertaking,” said Michael Bean, senior attorney and co-director of Environmental Defense’s Center for Conservation Incentives and a leading authority on the Endangered Species Act.  “Paramount’s dedication, cooperation and patience have been exemplary.”

“This Safe Harbor agreement highlights the importance we place on working cooperatively with private landowners,” said Steve Thompson, manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California/Nevada office in Sacramento. “We cannot recover this species - or any species - without the help of farmers, ranchers, timber companies and other private land managers. We hope this agreement is the first of many in California’s Central Valley.”

Small populations of kit foxes live on grassland to the east and west of Paramount’s agricultural fields in Kern County.  The foxes are highly vulnerable to coyotes. Under the agreement, Paramount has installed a series of artificial “escape dens” across a portion of its land.  The entrances to these artificial dens are large enough to allow the kit foxes to enter but small enough to keep out the coyotes.  The design and placement of the artificial dens and the monitoring of their use are to be managed by the Endangered Species Recovery Program (ESRP), a cooperative research program affiliated with the California State University at Fresno and Stanislaus.  ESRP’s Dr. Patrick Kelly has been an active participant in the development of the Safe Harbor agreement since its inception.

The agreement aims to reduce kit fox mortality and increase the fox’s ability to traverse the farm fields safely.  “Safe Harbor is one of the few endangered species conservation strategies that has been praised by environmental groups, as well as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the Western Governors’ Association,” said Bean.

“Safe Harbor programs offer enormous potential for habitat enhancement,” said Scott Hamilton, resource planning manager for Paramount Farming Company.  “I think we have only just begun to see the benefits that may occur when incentives to enhance habitat and work with regulatory agencies are provided to the private sector.”

Paramount Farming Company is a large, privately-owned producer of nuts and pomegranates in California’s southern San Joaquin valley.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

Learm more about the San Joaquin Kit Fox Safe Harbor Agreement.