00 SENATE CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 60(RES) am S 01 Opposing the designation of millions of acres of Alaska as critical habitat for the 02 Spectacled Eider and the Steller's Eider. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Spectacled Eider 05 as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in May 1993; and 06 WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Steller's Eider as 07 a threatened species under the ESA in June 1997; and 08 WHEREAS, in response to a lawsuit, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 09 published proposed regulations on March 13 and February 8, 2000, to designate large marine 10 and terrestrial areas of Alaska as critical habitat for both species; and 11 WHEREAS a lawsuit does not constitute "new information" for purposes of 12 determining whether a critical habitat designation is warranted, and the United States Fish and 13 Wildlife Service has not presented any other new information that justifies making a critical 14 habitat designation; and 01 WHEREAS the proposed regulations would designate over 50,000,000 marine and 02 terrestrial acres, as well as numerous miles of coastline between Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet, 03 as critical habitat for the Spectacled Eider and the Steller's Eider; and 04 WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has not adequately justified 05 the need for the overly expansive designations of critical habitat for both species; and 06 WHEREAS up to 65 percent of the area designated as critical breeding habitat on the 07 Y-K Delta is already within federal wildlife refuges; and 08 WHEREAS the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is purposely distorting the 09 original intent of the ESA to limit critical habitat areas to those areas most crucial to the 10 survival of endangered and threatened species rather than to designate overly broad, expansive, 11 and unjustified areas where the species may not even exist as critical habitat; and 12 WHEREAS the overly broad identification of vast marine and terrestrial areas as 13 critical habitat for endangered or threatened species could have an unnecessary negative 14 economic effect on reasonable and critically needed programs to develop resources of Alaska; 15 and 16 WHEREAS the overly broad identification of large expanses of marine areas as 17 critical habitat could have an unnecessary negative effect on important subsistence and 18 commercial fishing activities in rural Alaska; 19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly opposes the designation 20 of overly large areas of Alaska as critical habitat for the Spectacled Eider and the Steller's 21 Eider; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges Governor Tony 23 Knowles to pursue legal action against the United States Fish and Wildlife Service if the 24 agency continues with the final adoption of regulations to designate critical habitat for the 25 Spectacled Eider and the Steller's Eider; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the members of the 27 Alaska delegation in Congress to assist by whatever means available to block the adoption of 28 final regulations establishing critical habitat areas for the Spectacled Eider and the Steller's 29 Eider; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 31 Fish and Wildlife Service to adopt final regulations that do not designate new critical habitat 01 areas for the Spectacled Eider and the Steller's Eider in Alaska; and be it 02 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the U.S. Fish and 03 Wildlife Service to consider negotiating reasonable purchases of private property within 04 proposed Critical Habitat on the Y-K Delta rather than preclude responsible economic uses 05 of these lands through agency regulatory actions. 06 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director, Fish and 07 Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the 08 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 09 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.