\ SOUTHWEST
BIODIVERSITY ALERT #130
/
\
5-8-98
/
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/
\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
/
\__________________________________________/
1.
MATE OF SLAIN WOLF RECAPTURED, BIRTHS PUPS IN CAPTIVITY
2. FIVE SALVAGE
TIMBER SALES APPEALED
3. APPEALS COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO MANAGEMENT OF
HOOVER DAM
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***** ***** *****
MATE OF
SLAIN WOLF RECAPTURED, BIRTHS PUPS IN CAPTIVITY
The four year old mate of the
wolf which was shot and killed in
the Blue Primitive Area of the
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest
has given birth to a litter of pups in
captivity. She was recaptured
by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists
who feared she would not
be able to feed the pups in the wild without a mate
or pack. The tragic
killing prevented what would have been the first wild
born Mexican gray
wolves in the Southwest since the 1940's.
The U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service continues to investigate the killing.
They
apparently do not believe the shooter's story that the wolf
attacked his dog.
Even if the dog had been attacked, it would not
legally or morally justify
killing a severely endangered species. It
is looking more and more like the
killing was malicious, however, not
just ignorant. Investigations continue,
the name of the shooter has not
been released.
________________________________
FIVE SALVAGE TIMBER SALES
APPEALED
The Southwest Center has appealed the "Sacramento Rim Project" on
the
Lincoln National Forest in south-central New Mexico. The Forest plans
to
log five salvage timber sales to control beetle outbreaks and to
reduce
fire risk for two multi-million dollar solar observatories. The sales
will
fell nearly 2 million board feet of mixed conifer and ponderosa
pine.
They will needlessly cut thousands of large trees in northern
goshawk,
flammulated owl, and Sacramento Mountain salamander habitat.
Hauling
routes will pass within 1/2 mile of five goshawk nest sites, and
within a
1/4 mile of three nest sites.
_________________________________
APPEALS COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO
MANAGEMENT OF HOOVER DAM
On May 4, 1998, the 9th circuit court of appeals
refused to overturn
a district court decision that the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service's
Biological Opinion on the management of Hoover Dam is
sufficient to
keep the Southwestern willow flycatcher from going extinct.
The
Biological Opinion states that continued flooding of 1,100 acres
of
flycatcher habitat by Hoover Dam would jeopardize the flycatcher,
but
that jeopardy would be avoided if the Bureau of Reclamation
protects
1,400 acres of flycatcher habitat elsewhere, and the Lower
Colorado
River Multi-Species conservation plan commits to restoring
historical
flycatcher habitat on the Colorado River. The conservation plan
team
members, however, are entirely dominated by water and power
interests.
They have not agreed to restore historical flycatcher habitat. In
fact,
they have refused every request by the Southwest Center and Defenders
of
Wildlife to increase river protection. It is ludicrious to hinge
the
existence of an endangered species on the outcome of a plan
which
mandates the maintenance of current and maximization of future
water
development- especially since the plan is not under the control of
the
courts or the Fish & Wildlife
Service.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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