CRITICAL HABITAT PROPOSED FOR THREATENED STELLER'S
EIDER
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 15, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed to designate some 17,000
square miles of land and 8,440 square miles of marine waters
as critical habitat for the Alaska breeding population of the
Steller's eider, a threatened sea duck. "This proposal to
designate critical habitat in Alaska highlights the fact that
all species require healthy habitat to survive," said David
Allen, USFWS regional director for Alaska. "As with the
recent designation of critical habitat for the spectacled eider,
we do not expect this will affect the lives or livelihoods of
rural and Native Alaskans."
The proposal covers about 15,800 square miles of breeding
habitat on the North Slope and 1,200 square miles on Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta, as well as marine waters in Kuskokwim Bay and along 9,000
miles of coastline, from Nunivak Island, to the eastern Aleutians,
along the northern and southern shores of the Alaska Peninsula,
and east to Kachemak Bay in Lower Cook Inlet and the Kodiak Archipelago.
Biologists believe the areas proposed for designation encompass
the primary breeding, molting, wintering, and migration staging
areas of the Steller's eiders that breed in Alaska. More than
60 percent of the lands proposed to be designated as critical
habitat for the Steller's eider is also critical habitat for
the spectacled eider. USFWS will accept public comments on the
proposal until May 11. Comments should be submitted to Ted Swem,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Fairbanks,
101 12th Avenue, Box 19, Room 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701. The full
proposal is available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a000313c.html
(under Fish and Wildlife Service).
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