WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today Representatives Joe Baca (D-Rialto) and Ken Calvert (R-Riverside) asked the House Appropriations Committee to urge the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to do more to resolve the 8 year standoff between the FWS and Inland Empire cities seeking to develop land that could potentially be habitat for the endangered Delhi Sands Flower Loving Fly. If the appropriators agree, the FWS would be asked to prepare a habitat conservation plan (HBC) for the Delhi Fly in the cities of Fontana, Rialto, Colton and Ontario, California.

Although non-binding, Appropriations report language can be a powerful tool for letting Federal agencies know that those holding the purse strings are watching. Baca worked closely with Fontana city officials to draft the language, which gives the FWS six months to finish the HCP.

“With this language we are hoping to let the Carlsbad FWS Office know that Congress is paying attention,” Baca said. “This has gone on entirely too long. Fish and Wildlife must work in good faith with these cities to get economic development going again.”

Over a year ago, FWS said it would prepare a regional HCP for the Delhi Fly in San Bernardino County, but stopped short after it circulated a contentious map outlining potential Delhi Fly habitat. The report language requested by the Members would require the FWS to use the latest soil maps and scientific evidence while drafting a HCP for the Delhi Fly.

“The map that Fish and Wildlife circulated contained habitat areas that have already been developed. It used soil maps from the 1970’s, and it contained vastly unrealistic mitigation expectations for the cities,” Baca said. “I hope this language will encourage, for better or worse, the Fish and Wildlife Service to finish the HCP that it started and that it said it would do.”

The language also requests that the FWS provide evidence that the Delhi Fly is a sustainable species within the cities given the growth and development that has occurred there in the last 10 years. Many of the parcels of land that have been considered for Delhi Fly habitat have been surrounded by development, or were actually created by previous construction activities by humans.