Politics Put Status Of Snake at Risk

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 30, 2006

The slender brown-and-yellow Butler's garter snake is a mild-mannered creature that spends its time sheltering in burrows and eating earthworms. But it has sparked a heated dispute between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and state legislators.

State Sen. Glenn Grothman wants to see the snake removed from the state's register of threatened species, because, he says, the snakes are plentiful and their protected status has cramped economic development and community projects such as a high school sports field and an aquatic complex in Milwaukee suburbs.

If the Department of Natural Resources does not significantly reduce the amount of protected snake habitat and set in motion the garter snake's removal from the list by the end of the month, a joint legislative committee that reviews administrative rules will, legislators have said, invoke a law to suspend the protected status.

Department of Natural Resources officials and conservationists say that would be nationally unprecedented and could set the stage for attacks on state protected-species listings nationwide.

"This sets a slippery-slope precedent," said Natural Resources spokeswoman Erin Celello. "If they can delist the garter snake, they can delist other species. It's pretty clear this is politically motivated and not in the interest of good science."

Glaciers that swept across the Midwest tens of thousands of years ago separated garter-snake populations into groups that developed into different species. Though the casual onlooker may confuse the Butler's garter snake with its more common relative, the plains garter snake, they are genetically distinct.

Small populations of the Butler's garter snake exist in the swath of southeast Wisconsin and in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Ontario.

In 1997, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources labeled the Butler's garter snake a threatened species, meaning the animal is given certain protections to keep it from becoming endangered.

It is unclear how many Butler's garter snakes live in Wisconsin. Grothman says there are plenty.

"The snake is everywhere. There are probably as many snakes as people," he said. "But say a farmer wants to sell his land. He's worked his whole life and wants to make some money. But the developer won't buy the land because it might have snakes on it."

Conservationists say the number of snakes is meaningless. The important figure is how many protected habitats exist for the Butler's garter snake.

"If population insults like disease, predation and drought all come together in one habitat, it doesn't matter if there are 100 snakes or 10,000, they will all be wiped out," said Gary S. Casper, a herpetologist who advises developers and the EPA on snake and reptile habitats.

The Department of Natural Resources is working to designate about 65 sites of 30 or more acres as "Tier 3" protected snake environs. Any habitat destroyed within those areas would have to be replaced acre for acre at mitigation sites. Lower-quality habitats with snakes are labeled Tier 1 or Tier 2 and are open for development.

Casper points to a meadow in Oak Creek, a suburb south of Milwaukee. The area was farmland before it was converted to wetlands and snake habitat. It now is home to about 150 Butler's garter snakes that Casper and other scientists captured at a nearby parcel that was developed into a Target store and parking lot in 2004.

Had the species not been listed as threatened, those snakes would not have been moved to this site. Instead, they would have been driven into a tiny patch of marsh that remains next to the store. Casper said they would probably have died out.

Under current law, anyone who wants to build on land identified as snake habitat must commission a study of the snake population and, if the area is designated a Tier 3 habitat, develop a mitigation plan to preserve new habitat and relocate snakes.

Projects inhibited by the snake's protected status include a sports field for a Lutheran high school in Jackson, an expansion of a family-owned motorcycle dealership in Port Washington, and an aquatic complex the Milwaukee Jewish Community Center would like to build in Mequon.

"We're caught between a government regulation and the need for a service we want to provide," said Jay R. Roth, director of the community center. "There's a little bit of frustration because the regulation is protecting something that is prime land."

A working group including developers, Department of Natural Resources officials and conservationists has been meeting to draft guidelines to make development easier while still protecting snake habitat. Developer Craig Donze, chief operating officer of Simon Group Ltd., hopes the process will result in compromises short of ending the species's protected status.

"There's nothing to benefit either side with a delisting," he said, adding that other options being considered include tax credits and stipends to help owners of snake habitat.

If legislators suspend the snake's threatened status, development can proceed unfettered until the full state legislature and the governor decide the snake's status. The Department of Natural Resources says that if the snake is delisted temporarily, its population will be reduced -- probably leading to stricter state or federal protections in the future.

Casper said the snakes have not gained much public sympathy, but he thinks people will be more concerned if they hear that species such as trumpeter swans and prairie chickens could also be removed from the protected-species list.

"Snakes aren't the most popular critters," he said. "People say, 'What good is a snake?' That has no answer except 'What good is anything?' The question is, 'Are we going to be good stewards of life or not?' "