Case 2:19-cv-01059-RAJ-JRC Document 88-1 Filed 03/30/21 Page 1 of 6

EXHIBIT 1
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7
The Honorable Richard A. Jones
8
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
10
STATE OF WASHINGTON, NO. 2:19-cv-01059-RAJ-JRC
11
Plaintiff, DECLARATION OF FENNER
12 YARBOROUGH
v.
13
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
14 OF THE NAVY, an agency within the
United States Department of Defense;
15 MARK T. ESPER, in his official capacity
as Acting United States Secretary of
16 Defense; RICHARD V. SPENCER, in his
official capacity as Secretary of the Navy;
17 TODD C. MELLON, in his official
capacity as Acting Assistant Secretary of
18 the Navy, Energy, Installations &
Environment; and CAPTAIN
19 MATTHEW L. ARNY, in his official
capacity as Commanding Officer of
20 Naval Air Station Whidbey Island,
21 Defendants.
22

23
DECLARATION OF FENNER YARBOROUGH
24

25 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, and under penalty of perjury, I, FENNER YARBOROUGH,

26 declare as follows:

DECLARATION OF FENNER 1
YARBOROUGH -- NO. 2:19-CV-01059
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1 1. I have served as Wildlife Regional Program Manager for the North Puget Sound
2 Region of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) since 2019.
3 2. I received a Bachelor of Science from Prescott College and a Master of Science
4 degree from Northern Arizona University in 2002.
5 3. Upon completion of my MS degree, I worked as wildlife biologist for the
6 Arizona Game and Fish Department and a District Biologist for the Washington Department of
7 Fish and Wildlife before coming the Regional Program Manager.
8 4. I have worked in the field of wildlife biology for 25 years and familiar with the
9 biology and management of a large variety of game and non game species.
10 5. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is the state’s
11 primary agency dedicated to preserving, protecting, and perpetuating the state’s fish, wildlife,
12 and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial
13 opportunities. Wildlife, fish, and shellfish are the property of the state. The department
14 maintains six regional offices and manages dozens of wildlife areas and hundreds of water
15 access areas around the state, offering fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, and other recreational
16 opportunities for the residents of Washington.
17 6. WDFW oversees the listing and recovery of sensitive, threatened, and
18 endangered species listed under state law, and works closely with other state and federal
19 agencies on protecting Priority Habitats and Species, as well as species listed as threatened or
20 endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
21 7. WDFW had a combined operating and capital budget of over $600 million for
22 the 2017-2019 biennium, of which approximately $182 million went to habitat protection,
23 restoration, enhancement, and general stewardship.
24 8. As Program Manager, I am supervisor for Wildlife Biologists, authorized to
25 review and submit comments on draft Environmental Impact Statements, applications for
26

DECLARATION OF FENNER 2
YARBOROUGH -- NO. 2:19-CV-01059
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1 Incidental Take Permits, and other documents generated as a part of federal government
2 decision-making processes.
3 9. In 2017, District Wildlife Biologist Ruth Milner and Area Habitat Biologists
4 Paul Marczin and Doug Thompson reviewed the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
5 (DEIS) for the expansion of EA-18G “Growler” airfield operations at the Naval Air Station
6 Whidbey Island Complex.
7 10. After their review of the DEIS, they concluded that they disagreed with its
8 general conclusion that all species of fish and wildlife will be unaffected or will be minimally
9 impacted by the proposed expansion of Growler operations.
10 11. In particular, in their opinion, the DEIS’s assumption that wildlife are
11 habituated to current conditions and therefore will habituate to increased noise from the
12 Growler operations, and thus remain unaffected by the increase, was not adequately justified or
13 supported by scientific studies.
14 12. The action area for the Navy’s expanded Growler operations encompasses
15 important bird habitat including portions of the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, the
16 Deception Pass Important Bird Area, the Crescent Harbor Marshes Important Bird Area, the
17 Penn Cove Important Bird Area, the Crockett Lake Important Bird Area, the Skagit Bay
18 Important Bird Area, and a small part of the Samish/Padilla Bays Important Bird Area. The
19 Skagit Bay and Penn Cover Important Bird Areas were designated, in part, due to their
20 importance for breeding bald eagles.
21 13. The action area provides habitat for a variety of other wildlife, including harbor
22 seals, endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller sea lions, and western toads.
23 14. Approximately 230 migratory bird species occur annually within the action area
24 for the Growler expansion EIS. Some of these species remain in the study area year round,
25 while others occur seasonally during spring or fall migrations, the breeding season, or winter.
26 About 120 species breed annually on Whidbey Island, including rufous hummingbirds, barn

DECLARATION OF FENNER 3
YARBOROUGH -- NO. 2:19-CV-01059
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1 swallows, and black-headed grosbeaks. In addition more than 120 migratory bird species
2 overwinter within the study area, including buffleheads, horned grebes, ruby-crowned kinglets,
3 and golden-crowned sparrows. Common year round residents include mallards, great blue
4 herons, bald eagles, northern flickers, and song sparrows.
5 15. WDFW expends significant resources to preserve state and federally-listed
6 threatened and endangered species like the marbled murrelet and the tufted puffin, and to
7 manage the health of bird, fish, and wildlife populations in the action area.
8 16. Washington has designated several bird species in the action area as priority
9 species, including the common murre, marbled murrelet, tufted puffin, great blue heron,
10 harlequin duck, western grebe, and common loon. Tufted puffins are listed as endangered
11 under Washington state law and breed on Smith Island, a small island west of Whidbey Island
12 within the action area, and have been seen in the waters of south Lopez Island. Marbled
13 murrelets are federally listed as threatened and state listed as endangered. The proposed action
14 area for the Navy’s Growler expansion provides foraging habitat essential to marbled murrelet
15 survival and recovery. The action area also includes habitat for bald eagles and golden eagles.
16 17. In the opinion of the WDFW biologists who reviewed the DEIS, noise has
17 adverse impacts on wildlife, including impacts to pairing success, number of offspring,
18 physiological stress, or other measures of fitness.
19 18. In the opinion of the WDFW biologists who reviewed the DEIS, the Navy’s
20 expanded Growler operations over the next 30 years will adversely impact Washington’s
21 wildlife, including threatened marbled murrelets, tufted puffins, migratory birds, harbor seals,
22 and other wildlife species.
23 19. More thorough review of these environmental impacts could lead to the
24 adoption of mitigation measures or alternative actions that would reduce the harm to
25 Washington’s wildlife.
26

DECLARATION OF FENNER 4
YARBOROUGH -- NO. 2:19-CV-01059
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