Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #127

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #127          /
       \                    4-16-98                     /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \__________________________________________/
         
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

     *****     *****     *****     ******

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.).
     ___________________________

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