Small half-inch to 1-inch beetles — or at least the bushes where they live — will continue to be a costly obstacle for those who maintain or fix Yuba-Sutter levees.
It has been two years since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took up the cause of removing the valley elderberry longhorn beetle from the federal threatened species list.
Last week, the federal agency withdrew its proposal — leaving the insect's 1980 listing intact and local levee officials still dealing with the cost of protecting its habitat.
"I was not surprised by the withdrawal," said Paul Brunner, executive director of Yuba County's Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority. "But I was disappointed."
The proposal for removal endorsed by local levee officials was seen as a way to halt the millions of dollars that have been and will be spent for alleviating the effects of disturbing the insect's habitat.
Removal of the beetle from the list wouldn't have helped the $20 million it cost Three Rivers to preserve its habitat during $400 million of Yuba County levee upgrades completed during the last decade.
Brunner said the costs included requirements to complete environmental surveys, consult with federal agencies, remove elderberry bushes and create mitigation areas.
"Because (Three Rivers) is publicly funded, the public has had to bear the cost," Brunner said in a 2012 letter to Fish and Wildlife.
It also would have been too late to affect the ongoing Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency's $286 million project to upgrade westside Feather River levee. Since the agency received all of its permits prior to the proposal to remove the beetle from the list, mitigation costs were already built into the project.
"But the elderberry listing does have an effect on future projects that are not yet permitted throughout the area and has a profound effect on the operation and maintenance of levees," said Mike Inamine, Sutter Butte executive director.
Inamine said it has already cost more than $3 million to establish a beetle habitat area near Star Bend to serve the Sutter Butte project. That property works as mitigation for the loss of habitat and is the site for transplanted elderberry bushes within the project area.
Further levee work is planned south of Star Bend where more elderberry habitat is located that will add to that cost, he said.
Fish and Wildlife decision
Fish and Wildlife officials announced last week that "scientific information and analysis ... was not strong enough to support a decision to delist the species."
Dan Ashe, Fish and Wildlife director, said in a statement the withdrawal came after "robust public comment" and "scientific peer review."
The review did lead to three counties — Kings, Kern and Tulare — being removed from the range of beetle habitat. But Yuba and Sutter counties remain as areas where threatened species protections will be applied.
Brunner noted that beetle removal could have helped reduce costs for a couple of projects Three Rivers is planning — one for proposed levee work on the Western Pacific Interceptor Canal and the other in the Yuba Goldfields.
Efforts are being made to avoid beetle habitat completely in planning for those projects, he said.
"You don't want to spend a lot of money on elderberry beetles," Brunner said. "Sometimes you have conflicting goals: flood protection vs. endangered species."
Creating habitat
In the case of past Yuba County levee work, a 50-acre area was established near the Feather River setback levee where new beetle habitat was created.
"We created an area where we replanted shrubs," Brunner said. "Other times we had to transplant bushes or shrubs to a transplant site. We tried to recreate the habitat."
Such efforts also "greatly lengthened the time it has taken (Three Rivers) to implement flood protection in the Yuba County area," Brunner's letter said.
Levee District No. 1, which takes care of levees protecting Yuba City, is responsible for maintaining the 20-acre mitigation site at Star Bend.
"We had to pay a certified company to come in, move them and transplant them somewhere else," Bill Hampton, district manager, said of affected elderberry bushes. "That was a big cost to the levee district."
The district still spends about $30,000 a year maintaining the mitigation area, Hampton said.
"It's money that could be spent for public safety," he said.
Districts on the lookout for sprouting elderberry bushes
Removal and restoring valley elderberry longhorn beetle habitat not only adds costs to major levee projects, but it also affects day-to-day maintenance chores, levee district officials said.
Elderberry bushes can be removed without mitigation if stems are under 1 inch in diameter at ground level. That means maintenance districts are constantly on the lookout for sprouting elderberries.
"What we do is protect the stuff that is over an inch in diameter," said Steve Fordice, manager of Reclamation District 784 in Yuba County. "We protect and avoid them, and we don't spray. If they are under one inch, we cut them."
Bill Hampton, manager of Levee District No. 1, likewise said it's a matter of watching for new elderberry bushes. The district is responsible for maintaining levees protecting Yuba City.
"For us, in maintenance it's not too much of a problem right now," Hampton said. "If we find one growing when they are real small, that is the time we can dig them out.
"The problem is when there is major construction work, we are constantly running into them."
Adult beetles are active, feeding and mating from March through June. Their eggs are deposited in the crevices of elderberry bush bark with larvae boring into the stems after they hatch before emerging in their final stage.
"Any stem over 1-inch is a potential elderberry beetle environment," Fordice said of the stage where larvae bore into the bark. "Whether we can see any beetles or not, we have to prove a negative. We have to prove that they aren't there."
CONTACT Eric Vodden at 749-4769.
