Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#109
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#109 ***********
*
1/9/98
*
*
*
* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
*
*
*
*******************************************
1. APPEAL VICTORY: SCOTT
TIMBER SALE PLAN DECISION OVERTURNED
2. SUIT FILED TO LIST ARIZONA SNAIL AS
ENDANGERED SPECIES
3. THREE SPRING DWELLING INVERTEBRATES LISTED AS
ENDANGERED
4. ROOSEVELT DAM SUIT THROWN OUT OF COURT; DECISION
APPEALED
****
***** *****
***** *****
APPEAL VICTORY: SCOTT TIMBER SALE
PLAN DECISION OVERTURNED
The Southwest regional headquarters of the U.S.
Forest Service
has affirmed the Southwest Center's appeal of the Scott Timber
Sale
on the Kaibab National. The Center argued that the plan to log
5,000
acres on south side of the Grand Canyon was illegal because
the Forest
refused to even consider an alternative approach that
protects all the old
growth and large trees.
The Forest claimed it must cut the large trees
because they contain
dwarf mistletoe, a native parasite of western ponderosa
pines. Dr.
Michael Pollock of the 10,000 Years Institute and Kieran
Suckling
of the Southwest Center, however, have produced a research
paper
showing that mistletoe provides important habitat and food for
a
large array of species including songbirds, Mexican spotted owls,
and
Northern goshawks. The largest mistletoe infected trees are the
most
ecologically valuable. The spread of mistletoe can be slowed
without cutting
of large trees. The paper was published by the
Southwest Forest
Alliance.
________________________________
SUIT FILED TO LIST ARIZONA SNAIL AS
ENDANGERED SPECIES
On 1/9/98, the Southwest Center filed suit against the
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for failing to list the rare San Xavier
talussnail
as an endagered species. The beautiful hermaphroditic snail lives
in
a single area measuring 50 feet by 100 feet in the Mineral Hills
south
of Tucson. It was proposed for listing in 1994, but as usual, the
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife has refused to make a final decision unless
hauled
into court first.
The Center is represented by Geoff Hickcox of
Kenna & Hickcox (Durango,
CO).
__________________________________
THREE SPRING DWELLING INVERTEBRATES
LISTED AS ENDANGERED
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on 12/18/97, listed
the Comal Springs
riffle beetle, Comal Springs dryopid, and Peck's cave
amphipod as
endangered species. All three are threatened by water pumping and
water
pollution throughout the San Antoni segment of the Edwards
Aquifer.
The three spring dwellers 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 41 of the species as
endangered.
__________________________________
ROOSEVELT DAM SUIT THROWN OUT OF
COURT; DECISION APPEALED
A Phoenix judge, on 12/11/97, ruled that the
Southwest Center can not sue
the Bureau of Reclamation for destroying a
critical population of
endangered Southwester willow flycatchers. The Bureau,
with the approval
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is flooding out the
entire
Roosevelt Lake population in order to increase the size of the dam
which
blocks both the Salt River and Tonto Creek.
The Judge ruled that
the suit can not proceed unless the Southwest Center
also sues the Salt River
Pima-Maricopa Indian Community because they are
entitled to a portion of the
water to be stored. The Community, however,
can not be sued because of tribal
sovereignty, and therefore the case as
a whole was dismissed. The ruling was
worded to only apply to this case,
but is disturbing for environmental law
nonetheless.
The Southwest Center, represented by Kenna and Hickcox
(Durango, CO), has
appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit, arguing that the
Communities'
water rights are not affected by the suit, and that the
Communities can
continue to recieve water from alternate government sources
while the
Bureau of Reclamation conducts an E.I.S. on the dam enlargement
project.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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