Austin’s most popular park — already home to one endangered salamander — could receive another layer of environmental protections if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Austin Blind salamander as endangered.
Parts of Zilker Park would become critical habitat, adding a set of protections beyond those included in a normal endangered species listing, under the proposal to protect the Austin Blind salamander. The park did not receive that designation when the Barton Springs salamander was added to the endangered species list in 1997.
The designation requires that projects with federal involvement — which includes any work that uses federal funds — go through a unique permitting process.
City of Austin officials said the designation would likely have little effect on day-to-day operations in the park. They say they’ve already begun the permitting needed to keep those operations moving if the Austin Blind salamander is listed.
“By including the Austin Blind salamander in our new (habitat conservation) plan, we covered the possibility it would be proposed for listing,” said Chris Herrington, an environmental engineer with the city. “We did it intentionally to make sure we could continue to operate Barton Springs Pool and Zilker Park as important recreational facilities.”
Herrington said the city’s plan lays out planned projects for the next 20 years that could adversely affect the salamanders. That plan has already been submitted to Fish and Wildlife for approval.
Under the critical habitat listing, however, projects with a federal nexus — such as repairs permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Barton Springs bypass tunnel set for later this year — would have to go through Fish and Wildlife to determine if the project will harm the species. That wouldn’t add cost to the projects, but could push them back a bit, because the consultation with Fish and Wildlife could take up to 135 days, said Lesli Gray, a spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlife.
“We obviously try to get it done as quickly as we can,” Gray said.
Herrington said he was not aware of any planned projects that are not already in the habitat conservation plan, but added, “It’s absolutely conceivable there could be a (future) project that could come up that had a federal grant tied to it.”
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department does not receive many federal grants, department spokesman Victor Ovalle said. Currently the department only receives federal grants for senior activities and does not have any federal grants for work in Zilker Park. Most grants the department uses for park improvements come from other sources, he said.
Officials in Austin have taken a polar opposite approach compared to their Williamson County counterparts, who have loudly opposed the listing of the Austin Blind and three other salamander species, arguing it would hamper development.
Austin has argued more land should be included in the proposed critical habitat.
“The footprint of critical habitat, as designated in this listing, is not sufficient to ensure protection of [the species] for the foreseeable future,” the city’s comments on the proposed listing say.
Fish and Wildlife will release an initial economic impact analysis next year, laying out how it believes the critical habitat designations would affect area economies. A public comment period will follow and the final listing decision is due before Aug. 21, 2013.