Endangered Snails
Stall Library Construction
Plans for a new library in Los Osos, California, are on hold while county officials figure out how to protect the Morro shoulderband snail, which has been on the endangered species list since 1994. The $2-million project, which involves demolishing the old building and constructing a new one, has been in the works since 1999, but has been delayed because the site is also home to the imperiled snails.
Although the library is nearly ready to seek construction bids, plans cannot go forward until an agreement is reached on habitat mitigation—how to compensate for the impact on the snails’ habitat—which could include the purchase of open space within the snails’ natural habitat. The county would need to get a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but that agency is not processing any permits until a habitat conservation plan is complete.
Library Director Brian Reynolds told the May 23 San Luis Obispo Tribune that he is asking the Los Osos Community Services District to include the library project in its permit for a wastewater project, with the understanding that the library would pay its share of mitigation costs to the district. The district, however, believes the compensation should be $52,580, not the $22,960 offered by the library. If that collaboration doesn’t work out, the library will have to come up with its own habitat mitigation plan, which Reynolds said could be very costly and time-consuming.
“Nothing’s getting cheaper,” Reynolds said, “and the snail is just another delay.”
Posted May 27, 2002.
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