------ SOUTHWEST
BIODIVERSITY ALERT #120 ---------
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3/5/98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1.
TOP FOREST SERVICE BIOLOGIST BLASTS AGENCY MISMANAGEMENT- CALLS
FOR
DISMISAL OF KEY LEADERS, END TO LIVESTOCK GRAZING IN
SOUTHWEST,
SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF DAMAGE TO WATERSHEDS AND
ENDANGERED SPECIES
2. ARMY CORPS TO REVIEW EFFECTS OF SEVEN OAKS DAM ON
ENDANGERED SAN
BERNADINO KANGAROO RAT, TRIES TO LIMIT ANALYSIS
TO CONSTRUCTION
*****
***** ***** *****
TOP
FOREST SERVICE BIOLOGIST BLASTS AGENCY MISMANAGEMENT
In a 2-23-98 letter
to the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, the former
head of Threatened,
Endangered and Sensitive Species for the Southwest
Region blasted the Forest
Service for damaging watersheds, subsidizing
unsustainable grazing and
logging, censoring critical reports, and
abusing dissenting biologists. Leon
Fager, a 31 year Forest Service
veteran, called for the:
-resignation of Jim Lloyd, Regional Director of Wildlife, Fish
and
Rare Plants,
-resignation of John Bedell,
Apache-Sitgreaves Forest Supervisor,
-phasing out livestock grazing on
Southwest National Forests, and
-establishment of an independent
scientific committee to review
damaging effects of livestock on
watersheds and sensitive species
See the letter: http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/resources/fager.txt
See
letter by former Deputy Forest Supervisor of the Apache-Sitgreave
National
Forest, calling the livestock grazing program a comatose
patient whose plug
should be pulled:
http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/resources/barber.txt
Exerpts
from the Fager letter:
"In December, 1997, I retired from the U.S. Forest
Service, ending a 31
year career with an agency I once loved. In my 31
years, I served as a
wildlife biologist on the Apache-Sitgreaves and Black
Hills National
Forests and Regional Fisheries Biologist for the Rocky
Mountain Region.
Before retiring, I served as Program Manager for the
Southwestern
Region's Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive Species Program. I
chose
early retirement last December because of my growing concerns
and
frustrations with the Southwestern Region. I could no longer stand by
to
watch inept leadership take its toll on good employees, natural
resources,
and public confidence. I would like to share some of my
experiences,
hopefully giving you insight into why the Southwestern Region
has spawned
an unprecedented amount of environmental litigation, an angry
public, and
severely degrading natural resources..."
"Millions of
taxpayer dollars are beginning to flow to the Southwest to
deal with the
undeniable overgrazing problem. I fear the money will be
diverted to assure
that unsustainable grazing continues at public expense,
instead of
implementing cost effective, ecologically sound solutions. If
there is not a
change in leadership personel and leadership philosophy,
this will surely
happen..."
"The impact, past and present, of livestock grazing on
Southwestern National
Forests is the major reason that ecosystems are
deteriorating, species are
near extinction and watersheds have lost much of
their ability to yield high
quality and quantities of
water..."
"Fundamentally, the role of biologists in this Region is to
support the
timber and grazing programs. They have little opportunity to
design and
implement projects to recover listed and sensitive species. The
main reason
so much energy and money is spent on endangered species now, is
that the
Region has been sued numerous times, with more litigation on
the way, for
its failure to follow the law and protect sensitive
species and watersheds.
Rather than seeing lawsuits as a sign that
something is wrong with
management, Forest Service leaders tend to view
them as attacks on core
programs- timber and range. The Region is now
"circling the wagons" and
spending millions of taxpayer dollars to defend a
livestock grazing program
that has outlived its value and needs to be phased
out as an inappropriate
use of National Forests in the 21st
century...."
"We have a leadership team which is not accountable for the
conservation of
public resources, including taxpayers dollars. They do not
have a passion
for the restoration of degraded ecosystems. They hinder rather
than support
good biologists. I know of many biologists and one deputy forest
supervisor
who were forced to leave the Forest Service, transfer, or resign
because they
spoke out on resource and leadership issues. I know of a
Southwest Fisheries
Biologist that is barred from working on some Forests and
Regional Task
Groups because he criticized the Regions leadership in regards
to riparian
degradation. I will be glad to furnish their names, if you would
like. The
point, is that transferring millions of dollars to fix the grazing
program,
establishing new management teams, etc. will not solve root problems
as long
a management continues to be more committed to logging and grazing
that
protecting species and watersheds."
____________________________
ARMY CORPS TO REVIEW EFFECTS OF SEVEN OAKS
DAM ON ENDANGERED SAN BERNADINO
KANGAROO RAT- TRIES TO LIMIT ANALYSIS TO
CONSTRUCTION
Following an official notice of intent to sue from the
Southwest Center, the
Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to consult with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service over the effects of the massive and nearly
complete Seven Oaks Dam
on the San Bernadino Kangaroo Rat. The agency,
however, is trying to only
consider the effects of constructing the dam, not
the effects of the dam on
the river and wildlife habitats. Nor is it willing
to review the effects of
the dam on other endangered species.
The
kangaroo rat was recently listed as endangered under an emergency
order,
because its small range on the Santa Ana River in southern California
is
being
decimated gravel mines and other construction projects. Changes
in river
hydrology due to the Seven Oaks Dam, however, is the biggest threat
since the
species is highly dependent upon temporary habitats created by
frequent
natural
floods.
The Southwest Center has informed the Army
Corps that nothing short of a full
analysis of the dams effects on all
endagered species will forestall
a
lawsuit.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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