Report finds species drop since 1803 expedition

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Friday, April 5, 2002

SPOKANE -- Many of the plants and animals first reported nearly 200 years ago by the Lewis and Clark expedition are on the decline in the West, the Sierra Club contended Thursday.

Of the 122 animals discovered by Lewis and Clark, at least 40 percent are under a designation warranting concern and protection, the Sierra Club said in a new report.

"There is no better way to commemorate the upcoming Lewis and Clark bicentennial than to protect and restore wild America," said Mary Kiesau of the environmental group.

The report offered sweeping recommendations for preserving plants and animals, including greater use of federal designations to remove public lands from development, removal of Snake River dams, no oil or gas drilling in sensitive areas, bans on construction of logging roads and sharp restrictions on motorized vehicles.

The recommendations drew criticism from the Independence Institute of Golden, Colo., which promotes more use of public lands.

"All they do is say no," said Dave Kopel of the institute. "The Sierra Club can't ever come up with any examples of any drilling, exploration or resource extraction anywhere that it supports."

The report is "an example of them misusing a laudable environmental objective for a campaign against human use of natural resources," Kopel said.

President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 sent Capt. Meriwether Lewis, Capt. William Clark and the Corps of Discovery on an 8,000-mile round-trip journey across the West. They explored the region from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.

Using the Lewis and Clark journals as a guide, the report tried to produce a snapshot of changes along the route covered by the corps from 1803-05. It is divided into three sections: Great North American Prairie, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest.

Lewis and Clark described 178 plants and 122 animals new to science during their journey. In addition, they recorded valuable information about previously known species.

Those journals provide the clearest record of the West's wildlands and wildlife before mass settlement, the report said, describing a time when massive bison herds shook the grasslands, salmon choked the Columbia River and wolves roamed from North Dakota to California.

Things are different now:

- Grizzly bears have been reduced to around 1,000 from a population that once topped 100,000.

- The 70 million bison have been reduced to about 20,000 in the wild.

- Cutthroat trout and prairie dogs are down to a tiny fraction of former levels. Black-footed ferrets, woodland caribou, and whooping cranes are each down to a few individuals, at the brink of extinction.

- The passenger pigeon, Audubon's bighorn sheep, the plains gray wolf and the Carolina parakeet are already extinct.

There have been some success stories. Elk, beaver and pronghorn antelope are far better off today than they were 100 years ago, the report said.

The key to preserving species is preserving habitat, the report said, offering the following recommendations:

- Permanently protect undeveloped wildlands by placing them under federal wilderness, monument, forest, grasslands or other designations.

-Ban new road building and logging in all remaining roadless areas, and reduce the number of existing roads on public lands.

-Ban oil and gas drilling in sensitive areas on public lands.

-Keep dirt bikes, snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles out of sensitive areas.

-Keep the grizzly bear listed as a threatened species.

-Breach four Snake River dams in Washington to help salmon and steelhead runs.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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