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\ SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#127
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4-16-98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1.
SETTLEMENT SIGNED TO REMOVE CATTLE FROM RIVERS AND STREAMS ON 57
GRAZING ALLOTMENTS- LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY SUES TO BLOCK AGREEMENT
2. SUIT
FILED TO LIST QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK AS ENDANGERED- OLD
GROWTH
RAINFOREST RAPTOR RANGES FROM ALASKA TO WASHINGTON STATE
3. POLL:
ARIZONANS SUPPORT ENVIRO EFFORT TO CONTROL URBAN
SPRAWL
*****
***** *****
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SETTLEMENT SIGNED TO REMOVE CATTLE FROM RIVERS AND STREAMS ON
57
GRAZING ALLOTMENTS- LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY SUES TO BLOCK
AGREEMENT.
Forest Guardians and the Southwest Center signed an
out-of-court
settlement on 4-16-98 with the U.S. Forest Service, banning
cattle from
streamside habitats on 57 grazing allotments to protect the
Southwestern
willow flycatcher and the threatened Loach minnow and the
Spikedace.
The ban will remain in place until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
issues a biological opinion on the effects of grazing. The Forest
Service
will also trap and/or monitor cowbirds on an additional 35
allotments.
On 4-15-97 Judge John Roll refused to sign a similar
stipulation because
of objections by the livestock industry, making an
out-of-court
settlement necessary. The industry filed for a temporary
restraining order
on 4-16-98 to squash the settlement agreement. A ruling by
Judge Roll on
the TRO may come on 4-17-98.
The Southwestern willow
flycatcher was listed as endangered and the Loach
minnow and Spikedace were
upgraded to warranted-but-precluded for endangered
species status in 1995 in
response to ESA petitions and lawsuits by the SW
Center. Two additional
lawsuits resulted in 800 miles of river being
designated as critical habitat
for the three species. Critical habitat for
the fish was struck down for lack
of NEPA compliance and is currently the
subject of separate suit by the
Southwest Center.
The Southwest Center is represented by Earthlaw
(Denver), Forest
Guardians is represented by Earth Justice
(Denver).
__________________________
SUIT
FILED TO LIST QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK AS ENDANGERED- OLD
GROWTH RAINFOREST
RAPTOR RANGES FROM ALASKA TO WASHINGTON STATE
On 4-15-98, the Southwest
Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Biodiversity
Legal Foundation, the Sitka
Conservation Society and Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance filed suit to overturn
the U.S. Fish and Widlife Service's
refusal to list the Queen Charlotte
goshawk as an endangered species. The
current suit is a replay of the
coalition's successful 1996 suit
overturning a previous listing refusal. The
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
has lost three lawsuits in row for placing
politics over the protection
of Northern, Apache and Queen Charlotte
goshawks.
The Queen Charlotte goshawk is dependent upon coastal old
growth rain
forests from Southeast Alaska through British Columbia to the
Olympic
Peninsula in Washington State. It may have formerly occured on
the
Oregon coast as well. The Fish & Wildlife Service was
intensely
pressured by the Forest Service, the timber industry and the
Alaska
congressional delegation to avoid and Endagered Species Act listing
at
all costs.
This suit is part of campaign to list all goshawks in
theWestern
U.S. and coastal British Columbia as endangered. We are
represented by
Kathy Meyer of Meyer & Glitzenstein (Washington,
D.C.).
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POLL:
ARIZONANS SUPPORT ENVIRO EFFORT TO CONTROL URBAN SPRAWL
A recent
statewide poll found that 69% of Arizona voters support the
Citizens Growth
Management Initiative sponsored by the Sierra Club and
the Center for Law in
the Public Interest. The ballot measure would require
Arizona towns and
cities to establish growth boundaries past which they
can not expand, and
would make developers pay for their own infrastructure
costs, rather than
being subsidized by the public. There was less support
(59%) for a weaker
proposal favored by the conservative state
legislature.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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