Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#104
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#104 ***********
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12/2/97
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1. REINTRODUCTION OF GRIZZLY
BEARS IN THE GILA HEADWATERS
ECOSYSTEM?
2. PROTESTORS
BLOCK DESTRUCTION OF PYGMY OWL HABITAT-
COUNTY BANS NEW
DEVELOPMENT PERMITS, AZ DAILY STAR DEMANDS
OWL RECOVERY PLAN,
ENDANGERED TOWN ADOPTS OWL AS MASCOT
3. SUIT THREATENED AGAINST SALE OF
FEDERAL LAND IN CALIFORNIA
TO GIGANTIC OIL COMPANY
4.
FOREST SERVICE REVERSES APPEAL RIGHTS DENIAL-
ALLOWS CHALLENGE
TO GRAND CANYON TIMBER SALE
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REINTRODUCTION OF GRIZZLY BEARS IN
THE GILA HEADWATERS
ECOSYSTEM?
In a letter commenting on the Grizzly Bear
Recovery Plan, the
Southwest Center charges that limiting
reintroduction of the
Grizzly into the Bitterroot Ecosystem of Idaho and
Montana
violates the E.S.A. since it would condemn the grizzly to
be
forever absent from 97% of its former range. For a species to
be
considered "recovered" it must no longer meet any of the
five listing
criteria contained in Section 4 of the ESA. A
species reduced to 3% of its
historic range, however, clearly
still merits listing as
endangered.
Restoring grizzlies to the Gila Headwaters Ecosystem
which
straddles the AZ/NM border and includes the Apache-Sitgreaves,
Gila
and part of the Cibola National Forest, would place
grizzlies at the southern
as well as the northern extent of
their U.S. range. Reintroduction is
definitely biologically
viable: in 1974, the Forest Service commissioned a
study which
demonstrated that reintroduction is viable in the Gila
National
Forest. If the plan were expanded to include the
Apache-
Sitgreaves as well, a 3 million acre, almost roadless, area
would
be available with the potential to support up to 100
bears.
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PROTESTORS BLOCK DESTRUCTION OF PYGMY OWL HABITAT-
COUNTY BANS
NEW DEVELOPMENT PERMITS, AZ DAILY STAR DEMANDS
OWL RECOVERY PLAN, ENDANGERED
TOWN ADOPTS OWL AS MASCOT
The tiny but ferocious Cactus ferruginous pygmy
owl is bringing
development battles to a head in the Tucson basin. On
November 28,
1997, television cameras captured demonstrators from the
Southwest
Center and northwest Tucson neighborhoods blocking the
destruction
of centuries old saguaros and ironwood trees until a stop
work
order could be delivered by Pima County Flood Control.
Shortly
thereafter, Pima County Development Services declared a
moratorium
on all new building permits within a 16 square mile area
of
northwest Tucson. The area is known to support 7 of the remaining
9
ferruginous pygmy owls left in Arizona. The County has been warned
by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that authorizing new permits
may constitute
"take" of an endangered species.
On December 2, 1997, the Arizona Daily
Star blasted the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for fostering confusion by
not designating critical
habitat or completing a recovery plan for the pygmy
owl. Tucson
environmentalists are opposing any HCP's for the owl prior to
the
completion of a recovery plan. The Southwest Center is currently
suing
the Service for refusing to designate critical habitat.
Finally,
in a move to prevent uncontrolled development in at least
one corner of the
Tucson basin, citizens recently incorporated as
the Town of Tortolita, taking
the endangered pygmy owl as its
official mascot. The town's future, however,
is in doubt since the
state supreme court struck down the regulations
allowing incorporation
of outlying towns.
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SUIT THREATENED AGAINST SALE OF
FEDERAL LAND IN CALIFORNIA
TO GIGANTIC OIL COMPANY
On November 26, 1997,
the Southwest Center informed the
Department of Energy that it intends to
file suit to force the
agency to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service over its
plans to sell Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 to Occidental
Petroleum.
The Reserve is in the uplands of the San Joaquin Valley in
Kern
County, CA and is home to numerous endangered species
including
Hoover's wooly-stars, Kern mallows, San Joaquin wooly-threads,
San
Joaquin kit foxes, Giant kangaroo rats, Tipton kangaroo rats,
and
blunt-nosed leopard lizards.
The sale of this crucial wildlife
area flies in the face of the
Fish and Wildlife Service's draft Recovery Plan
for San Joaquin
Valley Upland Species which recommends protection of the
Reserve
"in perpetuity" to avoid extinction and promote recovery of
the
species. It also violates a 1995 Biological Opinion which
expressly
requires the Department of Energy to consult on impacts to
the
species if it ever attempts to privatize the Reserve.
The
Southwest Center is represented by Daniel Rohlf of the Pacific
Environmental
Advocacy Center (Portland) and Tara Mueller of the
Environmental Law
Foundation (San Francisco).
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FOREST SERVICE REVERSES APPEAL RIGHTS
DENIAL,
ALLOWS CHALLENGE TO GRAND CANYON TIMBER SALE
In September 1997,
the Southwest Center appealed the Scott Timber
Sale on the south rim of the
Grand Canyon National Park. The
"ecosystem project" would log over 5,000
acres, some of it containing
dense, doghair thickets of ponderosa pine. The
Kaibab National Forest,
however, plans to cut trees as large as 18 inches in
diameter for
"mistletoe control" despite acknowledging the paucity of such
trees
in the area.
The Forest refused to accept the appeal on
technical grounds,
arguing that we forfeited the right to appeal by not
commenting on the
draft environmental assessment during the official 30-day
comment
period. The Center challenged the refusal, citing Forest
Service
regulations which only require that an appellant "express interest"
at
any time during the project development prior to the closing of
the
comment period. Upon threat of a lawsuit, the Forest has reversed
its
decision, and will consider our
appeal.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710