This commentary is by David Mears of Audubon Vermont, Susan Hindinger of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, and Brian Shupe of the Vermont Natural Resources Council.
The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources recently authorized the Vermont Agency of Transportation to destroy critical grasshopper sparrow habitat.
This decision is of grave concern to our three organizations, Audubon Vermont, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, and Vermont Natural Resources Council, because of the risks to this unique bird and for the negative precedent it sets for efforts to protect and recover other threatened and endangered wildlife species in Vermont.
VTrans began work this past spring to widen the runway at the state’s airport in Franklin County, permanently destroying a rare type of grassland in the process and putting one of Vermont’s rarest birds, the grasshopper sparrow, at great risk.
VTrans initiated this work without getting prior approval from the Agency of Natural Resources, as required under Vermont law, despite knowing the risks to this small and fascinating bird. The grasshopper sparrow is a Vermont threatened species, with likely fewer than 20 breeding pairs left in Vermont.
Instead of taking enforcement action, the Agency of Natural Resources issued an incidental take permit, retroactively authorizing the ongoing expansion of the airport and the associated destruction of grasshopper sparrow habitat.
Our three organizations objected to the issuance of the permit (read our comments here) and the inappropriate reliance on future actions to mitigate the habitat loss. Reflecting a short and rushed process, the agency issued the permit on July 14, the same day as the deadline for public comments.
The grasshopper sparrow faces dramatic range-wide population declines due in part to development, habitat fragmentation, and incompatible agricultural practices. As a state-listed species, Vermont has a legal obligation to protect its habitat.
Grasshopper sparrows prefer sparsely vegetated grasslands with open areas of bare ground, such as exists at the Franklin County State Airport. The grasshopper sparrow can tolerate light to moderate grazing and specifically timed mowing of hayfields, but it cannot endure further loss of its already highly limited habitat within Vermont.
Nationally, the population of grasshopper sparrows declined 72% between 1966 and 2015, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, and the species is projected to lose another half of its population over the next two decades. Habitat loss, such as is occurring at Franklin County State Airport, continues to be the primary driver of these population declines.
In Vermont, the grasshopper sparrow occurs in extremely limited numbers and the Franklin County State Airport is one of only two small, remaining population strongholds within our state. The unique grasslands along the runway have long supported the largest breeding population in the state.
Though this information is well known, VTrans began construction this spring without securing a Threatened and Endangered Species Takings Permit in advance, as required by law under the Vermont Threatened and Endangered Species law.
Vermont’s endangered species law requires all significant projects to get prior approval. This requirement assures that no one can intentionally destroy habitat, and then promise to fix it after-the-fact, as is happening in this instance.
The approach taken by the state of Vermont in this case ignores the process mandated by the law, and unnecessarily puts the grasshopper sparrow and the project, with its acknowledged economic and community benefits, at risk.
The Agency of Natural Resources included conditions in the permit based on the recommendations of the Vermont Endangered Species Committee and the Vermont Scientific Advisory Group on Birds. These conditions (read here) could to lessen the impact of habitat loss caused by the airport expansion.
One of the most important conditions is that VTrans develop and obtain approval for a mitigation plan to create new grasslands to offset the grasshopper sparrow breeding habitat destroyed by the airport expansion. The development of a mitigation plan should have been taken before the project began, and there is no guarantee this mitigation project will work.
Our organizations have great respect for the professionals at the Department of Fish & Wildlife within ANR who wrote the incidental take permit for VTrans. They have long been excellent partners in our shared mission to protect and restore Vermont’s wild plants and animals. The permit issued by the agency in this case, however, not only puts the grasshopper sparrow at risk of being eliminated from Vermont; this decision also calls into question whether the department has the authority or political will under Vermont’s Threatened and Endangered Species law to protect any listed species, a list that includes many amazing and wonderful plants and animals.
In this case, ANR’s process prevented sufficient opportunities for public engagement. Further, the public has only limited, expensive and uncertain mechanisms available to hold the two state agencies accountable for properly enforcing this vital law.
Unlike federal endangered species law, Vermont’s law does not provide a straightforward public cause of action to hold state agencies accountable for failing to follow the law, so we depend upon ANR to enforce it.
In light of this most recent permit authorizing the Franklin County State Airport expansion, we will raise the question of whether the law needs strengthening with the Vermont General Assembly. In the meantime, we will be watching VTrans and ANR closely in hopes that they will create new places for grasshopper sparrows to live in Vermont.
