The California Building Industry Association (CBIA) has filed a petition with the state’s Fish and Game Commission to roll back protections for the Swainson’s Hawk under California’s Endangered Species Act.
According to Local News Matters, this marks the first endangered species delisting request in California in 17 years. CBIA President Dan Dunmoyer noted the unusual request in the petition by stating, “The homebuilding industry is uniquely positioned to submit this delisting petition — an action we do not take lightly.”
The Swainson’s hawk nests in Solano County and the Central Valley from March through September, migrating into Mexico and Argentina for the winter months. An estimated 17,000 Swainson’s Hawk pairs were recorded nesting in California before the 1950s, but their numbers dwindled to 375 pairs by the 1980s. The species’ decline was attributed to the loss of habitat to housing developments and agriculture, resulting in the state placing the bird in protected status in 1983.
However, the CBIA pointed to a 2018 report partially funded by Fish and Game that determined the bird’s population has grown to about 18,810 pairs, which is significant since Swainson’s Hawks are monogamous.
Swainson’s hawk nesting sites recently delayed approvals for a micro-winery in Napa County. However, the CBIA believes that the species is no longer being threatened by human intrusion into its habitats.
“Maintaining species listings that are no longer scientifically justified unnecessarily constrains residential development and undermines the state’s efforts to address its ongoing housing affordability and supply crisis,” wrote CBIA President Dan Dunmoyer in the petition.
The CBIA’s petition was criticized by Adrian Philip Johnson, administrator of the West Coast HawkWatch Group.
“The key with the Swainson’s hawk is they breed here,” Johnson said, noting that a portion of the bird’s nesting habitat is in a section of Solano County where the venture capital-backed “California Forever” development is proposed. “Some call it home year-round, some come from the Arctic, some from Argentina.”
The state commissioners have until Sept. 8 to evaluate the petition. If they approve the CBIA’s motion, a status review of the species will take place that lasts a year-and-a-half, followed by a final decision to delist or not.
Photo: FlightEditor / Wikimedia Commons
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