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Issues & Policy
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Navy Landing Field
Crying Wolf: Navy Faces New Challenges
By Chris Canfield
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Courtesy USFWS, Greg Koch
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Just as the Navy was trying to finish a draft of its court-ordered Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), federal data was released showing that endangered red wolves were using territories directly at the proposed landing field site near Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. In late August, our legal representatives at the Southern Environmental Law Center announced radio tracking data from the US Fish and Wildlife Service confirming that in 2006 eight red wolves used the Washington County site, including at least one den (with three pups) directly off the north end of the runway.
These wolves, the result of a reintroduction and recovery effort of the nearly extinct species started in 1987, comprise the most significant population in the wild. If accorded the endangered species protections they deserve, their presence, not noted in earlier Navy studies, could greatly complicate efforts to place the field at the location. Pocosin Lakes is also home to some 100,000 large swans and geese each winter, a sufficient reason for the Navy to look elsewhere.
Audubon is tracking closely the Navy’s response to this new development and the release of their draft SEIS. Sadly, every indication has been that the Navy still intends to build a field at this unsuitable location rather than work toward reasonable alternatives.
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