Bye Bye Birdie

An endangered bird is thriving in the dry bottom of Roosevelt Lake. Too bad it's in the way of water for Phoenix.

A A A Comments By Jennifer Markley Thursday, Jul 19 2001

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"There does appear to be a potential that we're issuing permits that could contribute to a declining status, but at the same time, we're doing things to promote recovery," says Rorabaugh.

Recovery plans usually include the purchase of alternative habitat, which Suckling says makes him nervous in the case of Roosevelt. Will SRP purchase land that attracts a population anywhere near as large as Roosevelt's? Probably not, Suckling fears, despite guidelines for recovery of the bird released last month by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Suzanne Langridge

A Southwestern willow flycatcher.

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The draft recovery plan outlines the steps necessary to downgrade the bird from endangered to threatened, and ultimately to take the flycatcher off the endangered species list. The plan's first steps include protecting the bird's existing habitat. When that is not possible, the plan recommends replacing it with three times as much habitat -- which would be 1,800 acres in this case.

"Ultimately, what matters at the end of the day is whether or not the flycatcher is being given enough habitat to survive," says Suckling. "And [SRP is] going to violate that draft recovery plan left, right and forward."

SRP admits that it cannot save existing flycatcher habitat at Roosevelt if it wants to continue storing water for farms and faucets in Phoenix. The most SRP can do is buy good habitat where it can and hope the bird flies to it -- if there's time.

Although water managers and biologists in the trenches are planning for the worst-case scenario -- that all the birds at Roosevelt will be lost -- they are hoping for a gradual increase in lake levels. If winter flows only partially cover habitat each year, the flycatcher would be pushed slowly out of the lake, giving SRP time to establish riparian habitat elsewhere.

Suckling calls it foolish to maintain hope for a population of endangered birds that were doomed the moment they landed in the bottom of a reservoir managed by powerful water interests.

Foolish or not, Paxton still has that hope as he stands in the bottom of Roosevelt Lake, his ears tuned to the fitz-bew.

"This has forced people to think of a long-term strategy," he says. "I really think the flycatcher is going to make it."