Ecos Want Habitat Set Aside
For Bird That Is Not There

SANTA FE — Environmental activists want the federal government to establish "critical habitat" for the northern aplomado falcon in New Mexico, even it there are no falcons there.

The Forest Guardians, Chihuahuan Desert Conservation Alliance and Texas Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a petition this fall with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking that critical habitat for the northern aplomado falcon include parts of southern New Mexico.

The falcon was listed as an officially "endangered" species in 1986, but critical habitat was not designated because the falcon could not be found in the United States.

In 2002, however, a pair of falcons reportedly had three young fledglings in southwestern New Mexico. They were the first fledglings reported in the region in 50 years, the activists claim.

The northern aplomado falcon is a subspecies of the wider ranging aplomado falcon, say Forest Guardian officials. They say the northern aplomado falcon historically occupied southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico and western and southern Texas.

Aplomado falcons have been released into the wild in Texas as part of a reintroduction program and are now being reported in southeastern New Mexico and in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, causing concern among ranchers on both sides of the border.

A grasslands bird, it can range 140 miles a day, according to New Mexico wildlife biologists.

Environmental activists claim the falcon was endangered because of habitat destruction due to livestock grazing and pesticide contamination, which they contend caused eggshell thinning.

The activists claim there have been increased sightings of the northern aplomado falcon in the past 10 to 20 years, but that livestock grazing and oil and gas production still threaten the bird. They claim that the falcon's prey base is now limiting the bird's ability to re-establish itself in the U.S.

The three groups say the falcon is a bellwether of the Chihuahuan Desert and that the decline of the bird is indicative of massive degradation of the plants and animals in the desert caused by human actions. They say a recovery area would require protection and restoration of large tracts of black grama grasslands with soaptree yucca and bird and insect prey.

In their petition, the trio of environmental groups says there is extensive potential falcon habitat in New Mexico.

They admit that they have been unable to check vegetation areas for the presence of yucca and other nesting raptors, but they say that the habitat model conforms to Bureau of Land Management guidelines concerning vegetation type, elevation, watershed and other parameters.