Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #134

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #134          /
       \                    6-4-98                      /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \__________________________________________/
         
1. VICTORY FOR BALLONA WETLANDS- ARMY CORPS AGREES TO NEW EVALUATION
   OF EFFECTS OF SPIELBERG'S DEVELOPMENT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES

2. SUIT FILED TO LIST SACRAMENTO SPLITTAIL AS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

3. BACKPACKER MAGAZINE: SOUTHWEST CENTER CHANGING THE RULES,
   PROTECTING WILDLANDS

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

VICTORY FOR BALLONA WETLANDS- ARMY CORPS AGREES TO NEW EVALUATION
OF EFFECTS OF SPIELBERG'S DEVELOPMENT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES
On 1/26/97, the Wetlands Action Network, the Southwest Center and
CALPIRG filed suit to stop Steven Spielberg and friends from
building a massive development called "DreamWorks' Playa Vista" on
one of Los Angeles'last remaining wetlands. The suit charges the
developers with illegally killing and harassing endangered species,
and the Army Corps of Engineers with failing to consider its impacts
on 10 threatened and endangered species.

Now the Army Corps of engineers has agreed to "re-evaluate" their
previous conclusion that the monster development would have "no
effect" on endangered and threatened species. In paper filed with
the court, the Army Corps said the re-evaluation is necessary
because the suit provided new information about impact that was
not provided by the developers.

The environmental coalition is represented by: Sharon E. Duggan,
Law Offices of Sharon E. Duggan; Tara L. Mueller, Environmental
Law Foundation; and David H. Williams, Public Interest Lawyers
Group.

    CALL STEVEN SPIELBERG'S SECRETARY TODAY! 818-733-9760
    TELL HIM KEEP HIS GRUBBY HANDS OFF BALLONA
     _____________________________

SUIT FILED TO LIST SACRAMENTO SPLITTAIL AS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES
On 6-1-98, the Southwest Center and the Sierra Club file suit to
list the Sacramento splittail as endangered species. Historically
found in large segments of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Feather and
American rivers, the splittail has been extirpated from the
vast majority of its range. Today it is largely restricted to the
Bay Delta, Suisun Bay, Suisun Marsh and Napa Marsh.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed to list the splittail as
threatened on 1-6-94 because of dams, water diversions and
withdrawals, wetland draining, and pollution from industrial and
agricultural wastes. The agency, however, bowed to political
pressure and refused to finalize the listing.
     __________________________

BACKPACKER MAGAZINE: SOUTHWEST CENTER CHANGING THE RULES,
PROTECTING WILDLANDS
The following article on the Southwest Center appeared in the June
1998 edition of Backpacker Magazine:

     Changing the Rules: a Southwest David is Taking on Wilderness
     Hungry Goliaths and Winning the Good Fight

When it comes to wilderness preservation, a small, grassroots group
out of Tucson, Arizona, is proof that the big guys don't always win.
In fact, when you look at the Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity's track record, you realize that if this group comes after
you, there's a fairly good chance you'll be on the losing end.

Relying almost completely on the Endangered Species Act as a basis for
litigation, the Center has files 80 lawsuits to stop habitat
destruction on public lands caused by grazing, logging and other form
of development. Out of 47 rulings to date, the Center has won 37, all
with a staff of only 14 people (the director, the highest paid, earns
$1,200 a month), a $380,000 annual budget, and a dedicated army of
environmental attorneys working pro bono. Just as surprising is that
the Center wins the environmental good fights without relying on
monkey-wrenching or the tried-and-true black-tie fund raisers.

"It's easy for environmental groups to just spin their wheels and not
save acres," says executive director Kieran Suckling. The Center'
success is built on what Suckling describes as the two strongest arms
of the environmental movement: science and law. "The law says that the
 best possible science is to be used in managing our public lands. So
we conduct our own scientific research to show that's not happening,
then we litigate. It's an incredible amount of work, but with an
honest judge you shut down a billion-dollar development in a
heartbeat."

Among the fruits of the group's legal labors:

* Halting all timber harvests on 21 million acres of national forest
  in Arizona and New Mexico for nearly two years, while the Forest
  Service came up with an adequate plan to protect the Mexican spotted
  owl habitat. The Forest Service recently signed a memorandum of
  understanding, as part of the legal settlement, to adopt the
  ecosystem-based management plan endorsed by the Southwest Center.

* Lawsuits filed to protect riparian areas have led the Bureau of Land
  Management to reduce grazing allotments throughout the Southwest,
  curtailing the number of cattle in many areas by 80 percent.

* A lawsuit to protect the habitat of the endangered pygmy owl (there
  are only a dozen left) forced developers in the Tucson area to
  conduct environmental surveys, which in some cases showed the land
  couldn't be developed.

* A court battle to protect the disappearing habitat of the
  Southwestern willow flycatcher is significantly restricting
  expansion of dams in the Colorado River basin, including Hoover Dam.

Since it was founded seven years ago by Suckling, a former Earth
First! activist, Peter Galvin, a conservation biologist, and Robin
Silver, an emergency room physician, the Center's tireless efforts
(most staff earn minimum wage, work 80 hour weeks, and some even live
in the office) have preserved more than just a single wilderness area.
They are saving entire ecosystems. For the first time since European
immigrants initially wandered into the Southwest, consumptive users
aren't being given free rein on Public Land.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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