Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#102
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#102 ***********
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11/12/97
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1. APPEAL VICTORY: MASSIVE
SOUTHERN UTAH SALVAGE SALE STOPPED
2. APPEALS COURT ISSUES EMERGENCY
INJUNCTION AGAINST BULLDOZING
OF BALLONA WETLANDS
3. NINE
CALIFORNIA PLANTS LISTED AS ENDANGERED
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APPEAL VICTORY: MASSIVE SOUTHERN UTAH SALVAGE SALE
STOPPED
The Southwest Center and the Wild Utah Forest Campaign
have
won their separate appeals of the South Manti salvage timber sale
on
the Manti-La Sal National Forest. The Forest tried to get away
with logging
22 million board feet without conducting an
environmental impact statement.
The regional forester, however,
agreed that such a massive sale requires a
full blown EIS.
In 1993, the Forest announced it would prepare an
Environmental
Impact Statement on the sale, but canceled the review when
Congress
passed the infamous Logging without Laws rider in 1995,
allowing
them to log without public involvement or environmental
restrictions.
This one sale would have been almost seven times larger than
the
3.9 million board feet per year allowed by the Forest Plan.
This
is the second salvage timber sale stopped by appeal in the SW
this month. The
Lincoln National Forest in south central NM withdrew
the Sunspot salvage
timber sale in Mexican spotted owl habitat after
an appeal by the Southwest
Center.
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APPEALS
COURT ISSUES EMERGENCY INJUNCTION AGAINST BULLDOZING OF
BALLONA
WETLANDS
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, on November 7, 1997, issued
a
temporary restraining order blocking the bulldozing of riparian
wetlands
occupied by the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher.
Ballona Wetlands,
one of the last remaining wetlands in Los Angeles
is under assault by Steven
Spielberg, David Geffen, Bill Gates, Paul
Allen and developers bent on
building Playa Vista, a massive
development/special effects movie studio. The
suit was brought by
The Wetlands Action Network, Ballona Wetlands Land Trust,
and
CALPIRG.
The appeals court will review declarations provided by
Noah Greenwald,
ecologist for the Southwest Center, Dr. Rudi Mattoni,
conservation
biologist and geography professor at UCLA, and Dr. Joy Zedler.
Mattoni,
who conducted a biological review for the developers, has
concluded
that its mitigation plans are a "fraud". The case is being argued
by
Los Angeles environmental lawyer Steve
Crandall.
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NINE
CALIFORNIA PLANTS LISTED AS ENDANGERED
On October 22, 1997, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service listed nine
California plants as endangered species.
Clara Hunt's milkvetch, white
sedge, Sonoma alopecurus, Vine Hill clarkia,
Pitkin Marsh lily, Kenwood
Marsh checkerbloom, Calistoga allocarya, Napa
bluegrass, and showy
indian clover all inhabited wetlands and mesic habitats
in the central
coast area. They are threatened by urban sprawl, cattle
grazing,
agribusiness, exotic species, and road
construction/maintenance.
The nine plants are among a group of 95 species
the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has allowed to dwindle toward extinction
by stalling on
final listing decisions. On May 13, 1997, the Southwest Center
filed
official notice that would sue to list all 95 species as endangered
unless
the Service took immediate action to protect them. Since then,
the Service
has scrambled to list 38 of the species as
endangered.