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\ SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#131
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\
5-10-98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
/
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1.
JUDGE ORDERS FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT 44 IMPERILED
CALIFORNIA SPECIES
2. NOTICE FILED TO DESIGNATE 4.8 MILLION ACRES OF
CRITICAL HABITAT
FOR THREATENED MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL
3.
COURT ALLOWS DESTRUCTION OF PYGMY OWL HABITAT, STAYS BULLDOZERS
4.
NATURE'S LEGAL EAGLES- NEWSPAPER FEATURES SOUTHWEST CENTER
EFFORTS
*****
***** **** *****
JUDGE
ORDERS FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT 44 IMPERILED
CALIFORNIA
SPECIES
On 5-5-98, San Diego District Court Judge Judith Keep found the
U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service guilty of delaying Endangered Species
Act
protections for 44 imperiled California species. The Southwest
Center
and the California Native Plant Society filed suit on 2-2-98
because
the Fish & Wildlife Service had proposed to list the 44 species
as
endangered, but then refused to issue final decisions because
of
political pressure. Many of the species have been on the ESA
waiting
list since 1975. Most are threatened with urban sprawl, many are
also
threatened by cattle grazing, ORVs, exotic species and
fire
suppression.
The suit was argued by Jay Touchton of EarthLaw
(Denver).
________________________________
NOTICE FILED TO DESIGNATE 4.8 MILLION
ACRES OF CRITICAL HABITAT FOR
THREATENED MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL
The Southwest
Center has notified the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
that it will file
suit if the agency does not immediately begin
the necessary paperwork to
re-designated 4.8 million acres of
critical habitat for the threatened
Mexican spotted owl.
The Southwest Center petitioned to list the Mexican
spotted owl as
a threatened species in 1989 because of Forest Service plans
to
dramatically ramp up old growth logging. The owl was listed in 1993.
In
1995, the Center lead a coalition which successfully sued to have
4.8 million
acres of critical habitat designated. That designation
was subsequently
struck down because the agency did not do complete
analyses required by the
National Environmental Policy Act in the
10th circuit.
Rather than do
the analyses, the agency has decided to simply
dispense with protected
habitat- even though it has been ordered to
designate it by a federal judge.
The spotted owl is politically
controversial because logging on SW National
forests has
declined by 84% since the 1989 petition was filed. The Center
was
represented in the critical habitat suit and the notice by
EarthLaw
(Denver)
________________________________
COURT ALLOWS DESTRUCTION OF PYGMY OWL
HABITAT, STAYS BULLDOZERS
A Tucson Judge has issued a preliminary ruling that
the endangered
cactus ferruginous pygmy owl does live in the area where
the
Amphitheater school district wants to build a new school.
Strangely,
however, the judge also ruled that building the school would
not
endanger the tiny owl. The owl was formerly common in the
Sonoran
Desert but has declined to only 12 birds in Arizona because of
urban
sprawl and overgrazing on public lands.
Judge Zapata stayed all
construction on the site until a final ruling
is issued in about two weeks.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Southwest
Center were represented by John
Fritschie (Defenders of Wildlife) and
Eric Glitzenstein of Meyer &
Glitzenstein (Washington, DC).
_________________________________
NATURE'S LEGAL EAGLES- TUCSON CITIZEN
FEATURE ON THE SOUTHWEST CENTER
The following feature on the Southwest Center
appeared in the Tucson
Citizen on 4-27-98. Also in the feature but not
included here were
a profile of the Southwest Center's staff, a long
interview with
Kieran Suckling, and a statewide map showing the Southwest
Center's
successes in saving Arizona's imperiled species and
habitats.
Nature's Legal Eagles
by Joyesha Chesnick
Developers and environmentalists agree: when it comes to protecting
wildlife
and slowing development, few groups can wield the courtroom
clout of the
Tucson-based Southwest Center for Biological Diversity:
nature's legal
eagles.
A 7-inch-tall bird has catapulted the Southwest Center
for
Biological Diversity into the middle of Tucson's growth wars.
As the champion of the endangered cactus ferruginous pygmy
owl, the Southwest
Center has locked horns with developers and
some educators by blocking
building plans, including a school, on
potential owl habitat. Many accuse the
group of trying to stop
development completely.
But love it or hate
it, most people agree the center has had a
dramatic impact on the city during
its three year residence here:
"I think they're probably a well-trained group
of environmental
zealots. They certainly know where they're going," said Alan
Lurie of
the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association.
"For
people, at least with the appearance they have, they do
some surprisingly
clever and effective things. Not every Tom, Dick
and Harry could manipulate
the Endangered Species Act the way
they do."
Lurie said the
center's effect has been "dramatic and
damning" and is leading to
depreciating property values now and in
the future.
The center
successfully sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to place the owl on the
endangered species list in 1996. The
listing has wrought havoc with plans for
a new Amphitheater district
high school, which was to be built on land deemed
suitable owl
habitat.
The school district and the center will face
off Wednesday in
district court to settle the issue.
But the pygmy
owl is just a drop in the bucket. The group's
active litigation record — 84
lawsuits in five year — on everything
from rivers to forests to dams has
garnered national attention. The
group says it has won 77 percent of final
judgements.
Nancy Young Wright, a community activist and member
of
the Amphitheater Public Schools board, said "I've heard people tell
me
that they are the only effective environmental group out there.
There are
lots of effective groups, but they are the ones
things done."
Jon
Tate, spokesman for the National Gamebird Alliance, a
hunter-based
conservation group tackling grazing issues, said he
liked, and more
importantly, respected the Southwest Center.
"They have heart and
soul. They pay themselves nothing. On
some fundamental issues we are going to
differ. But that doesn't
mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater," he
said.
Young Wright said, "Their style is completely their own.
I
think sometimes they are misunderstood."
Jack Foster of the
Sierra Club said the Center follows his
groups agenda for responsible growth.
"They are cooperative, on top
of things and very active," he said. "They are
not afraid to got to
court in spite of having little money."
Efforts to protect species other than the pygmy owl, including
the northern
goshawk and the Mexican spotted owl, have slowed or
blocked timber and
ranching plans as well as development projects,
leading some to suspect the
Center's motives.
Lurie said the center has used cute animals that
people care
about to further its ultimate goal of stopping growth in
Tucson.
Bill Marten, a local businessman who said he
represented
"fervent, unfettered capitalism," asked: "Have you ever thought
there
might be another agenda out there?"
"Their (the center's)
issue doesn't seem to be always wanting
to protect species, but to head off
developers. Their emphasis seems
to be that profit is evil and nasty. This
group is essentially
anticapitalist. That's their agenda. They're using the
environment as
a ploy."
Richard Bennett, director of the Society
for Environmental
Truth, said the center is not credible.
"I think
that the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity is a
group who is
dedicated to, not so much the protection of animal and
plant life, but rather
to a philosophy of returning as much of the
land as possible to its, quote,
‘natural state.'"
Bennett's society, which sued in November to have
the pygmy owl
taken off the endangered list, believes in "scientific
solutions to
environmental problems that will protect the economy as well as
the
environment."
Despite its skeptics, the Center plans to stay in
Tucson,
executive director Kieran Suckling
said.
The group moved here
in 1995 to be closer to its focus habitat
— the Gila River basin, which also
includes Phoenix. "Who would
want to live in Phoenix?" Suckling asked.
"Tucson has a long history
as a strong activist and environmental community.
Being here has
been
great."
_____________________________________________________________________________
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