Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#115
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#115 ***********
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1/26/98
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1. MORE B.L.M. CATTLE EVICTED
TO PROTECT ENDANGERED PYGMY OWL
2. COUNTY OKs REGIONAL PYGMY OWL CONSERVATION
PLAN TO CONTROL GROWTH-
AGENCIES, COUNTY, ENVIROS
AGREE ON TUCSON'S FIRST PLANNING EFFORT
3. SUIT FILED TO STOP SPIELBERG FROM
DESTROYING ENDANGERED WETLAND-
SENATOR HAYDEN
CONDEMNS DESTRUCTION- CALLS NEEDED TODAY!
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MORE B.L.M. CATTLE EVICTED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED PYGMY OWL
The
BLM has announced it may remove cattle from up to nine Sonoran desert
grazing
allotments northwest of Tucson in order to comply with the terms
of a 1997
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion. The Wildlife
Service
declared that the endangered Cactus ferruginous pygmy owl would
be
jeopardized by continued grazing if reductions were not put in place.
This
is the second reduction to flow from the Biological Opinion- late last
year,
the BLM began remove cattle from 15 additional allotments.
The
Biological Opinion is the result of a 1995 suit against the BLM by
the
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity over the impacts of grazing on
30
endangered species. In 1992, the Center petitioned to list the tiny owl
as
endangered, following up with four lawsuits to get the species and
its
habitat on the ESA list.
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COUNTY OKs REGIONAL PYGMY OWL
CONSERVATION PLAN TO CONTROL GROWTH-
AGENCIES, COUNTY, ENVIROS AGREE ON
TUCSON'S FIRST PLANNING EFFORT
Tucson's pygmy owl crisis has spurred the Pima
County Board of Supervisors
to approve work on a first ever regional
conservation plan to control
growth and protect endangered species and open
space. The supervisors voted
to mandate pygmy owl surveys on rezoning
requests, and to begin working with
state, federal, and local agencies to
develop a regional conservation plan.
They also expressed interest in
improving county wash and native plant
protection ordinances.
Tucson
environmentalists have been pushing for such a plan rather than a
"habitat
conservation plan" which permits the killing and harrassing of
endangered
species. With only 12 pygmy owls left in Arizona, there is no
excuse for
taking any. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona
Daily Star and
the Tucson Citizen all agree that it is time for a regional
planning effort.
In a 1/26/97 editorial, the Citizen opined:
"Pygmy owl
protections measures...are a reasonable first step to
preserve
the owls' dwinding habitat...Developers are understandably
displeased with the move, because it will add to the cost of
developing
property. But property ownership does not include an
inherent right to
turn a profit by rezoning and developing it at
higher density...The
supervisors also want to tighten county
wash, grading and native plant
ordinances. If that had been done
long ago, the county might not be facing
the current dilemma of
how to protect an endangered species...the need to
protect
endangered species is apparent to most people. Species are dying
out at an alarming rate throughout the world, a disturbing sign
that
people must do more to protect the
environment."
______________________________
SUIT FILED TO STOP SPIELBERG FROM
DESTROYING ENDANGERED WETLAND-
SENATOR HAYDEN CONDEMNS DESTRUCTION- CALLS
NEEDED TODAY!
On 1/26/97, the Wetlands Action Network, the Southwest Center
and
CALPIRG filed suit to stop Steven Spielberg and friends from building
a
massive development called "DreamWorks' Playa Vista" on one of Los
Angeles'
last remaining wetlands. The suit charges the developers with
illegally
killing and harrasing endangered species, and the Army Corps of
Engineers
with failing to consult over the impact of the development to
10
threatened and endangered species.
At a press conference on a bluff
overlooking Ballona Wetlands, California
Senator Tom Hayden condemned the
Army Corps for approving the destruction
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for not stopping it. Senator Hayden
chairs the California Senate
Natural Resources Committee.
After being informed that the suit would be
filed, the developers bull-
dozed a willow grove where their own consultants
located an endangered
Southwestern willow flycatcher. Other threatened
species included in the
suit include: California brown pelican, American
peregrine falcon, Least
Bell's vireo, California least tern, Light-footed
clapper rail, San
Diego fairy shrimp, Riverside fairy shrimp, and Western
snowy plover.
The environmental coalition is represented by: Sharon E.
Duggan, Law Offices
of Sharon E. Duggan; Tara L. Mueller, Environmental Law
Foundation; and
David H. Williams, Public Interest Lawyers
Group.
CALL STEVEN SPIELBERG'S SECRETARY TODAY!
818-733-9760
TELL HIM TO STOP NOW DOZERS NOW BEFORE HE
CREATED ANOTHER LOST
WORLD.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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