Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#113
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#113 ***********
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1/21/98
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1. SW CENTER TO SUE FOREST
SERVICE FOR VIOLATING SPOTTED OWL
RECOVERY PLAN AND
BIOLOGICAL OPINION
2. SW FOREST SERVICE HEAD RETIRES FOLLOWING INSPECTOR
GENERAL
INVESTIGATION
3. ARIZONA DAILY STAR: HCPs
QUESTIONABLE, NO SURPRISES BAD
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SW CENTER TO SUE
FOREST SERVICE FOR VIOLATING SPOTTED OWL
RECOVERY PLAN AND BIOLOGICAL
OPINION
On 1/21/98, the Southwest Center formally notified the U.S.
Forest
it will sue over violations of the Mexican spotted owl Recovery
Plan,
the taking spotted owls without a take permit, and the refusal of
the
agency to reinitiate consultation under the Endangered Species Act.
In
sixty days (March 20, 1998), the Southwest Center seek an
immediate
injunction against all logging on all 11 SW National Forests, until
the
Forest Service complies with the Recovery Plan and the E.S.A.
In
August, 1995, a federal judge enjoined all logging on National
Forests in
Arizona and New Mexico until the Forest Service consulted
with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service over the impacts of logging
on the threatened Mexican
spotted owl. The injunction was lifted in
December, 1996, when the Forest
Service agreed to implement the Mexican
Spotted Owl Recovery Plan. To
minimize the impact of logging, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service required
the Forest Service to comply with
certain "terms and conditions," including
monitoring of Mexican spotted
owl populations and habitats.
The Forest
Service immediately began logging, but failed to implement
the monitoring
requirements- it is in violation of the E.S.A. for not
implementing the
recovery plan, not implementing the terms and
conditions, taking spotted owls
without a take permit, and failing to
reinitiate consultation under the
Endangered Species Act.
__________________________
SW FOREST SERVICE HEAD RETIRES FOLLOWING
INSPECTOR GENERAL
INVESTIGATION
On December 31, 1997, Charles Cartwright,
head of the Southwest
Region of the U.S. Forest Service retired under a cloud
of
suspicion for sexual harrasment and creating a hostile
work
environment. Though environmentalists called for his
replacement
during an investigation by the Department of Agriculture's
inspector
general, the Forest Service has refused to release the final
report.
This is the second time in three years that the head of the
Southwest
Region has retired upon investigation by the Department of
Agriculture.
Larry Henson retired in 1995 following an investigation in
charges
of racism, harrasment of agency biologists, allowing timber
theft,
and preventing reforms in the agencies timber program. The
final
report of that investigation was also never released to the
public.
______________________________
ARIZONA DAILY STAR: HCPs QUESTIONABLE, NO
SURPRISES BAD
A 1/21/98 editorial by the Arizona Daily Star questions the
scientific
validity of many "habitat conservation plans" and argues that
the
Clinton Administration should not reinstate its controversial
"no
surprises" policy. So called "habitat conservation plans" are
permits
issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to private
landowners
(private industry more often) to kill or harm endangered species.
The
editorial cites a recent review of 206 HCPs by a team of 119
scientists
which concluded that they are too often based on poor science. The
Daily
Star recommends that an HCP should only be contemplated where
"voluminous
biological data exists to support it."
"No surprises" is a
Clinton policy which mandates that HCPs will
continue to operate unchanged,
regardless of whether they are found
to not work, or to endanger other
species. According to the Daily Star,
Clinton should take advantage of the
current moratorium on "no surprises"
to "terminate that form of planning,
which concedes too absolute a freedom
from future stewardship responsibility
to developers and
others."
_____________________________________________________________________________
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