Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #136

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #136          /
       \                    6-17-98                     /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \__________________________________________/
         
1. NAFTA SCIENTIFIC PANEL: SAN PEDRO RIVER BEING SUCKED DRY
   COMPREHENSIVE WATER USE PLAN NEEDED FOR UPPER BASIN

2. U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE LETS WOLF KILLER OF SCOT-FREE
   OPENS DOOR TO MORE WOLF KILLINGS.

   ****     *****     *****     *****

NAFTA SCIENTIFIC PANEL: SAN PEDRO RIVER BEING SUCKED DRY
COMPREHENSIVE WATER USE PLAN NEEDED FOR UPPER BASIN
On 6-15-98, NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation released
a public review draft of its long awaited scientific assessment of
water depletion in the upper San Pedro River. Entitled "Sustaining and
Enhancing Riparian Migratory Bird Habitat on the Upper San Pedro
River," the report concludes that the river will dry up, destroying the
nation's first Riparian National Conservation area if serious efforts
are not taken to curtail urban sprawl, superfluous agriculture, and
excessive water pumping.

This is the first time the NAFTA panel has reviewed an environmental
problem in the United States. It did so in response to a petition
under Article 13 by the Southwest Center represented by EarthLaw. Public
comments on the draft are being accepted until August 14, 1998. You
can read the report and submit comments from the Southwest Center's
web page http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/activist/sanpedro.html
Please comment: the CEC is only soliciting comments from within
the river basin itself, which is dominated by developers and the
military, thereby attempting to stack the weight of comments against
major policy reforms.

As the last undamned river in the Southwest, the San Pedro is home to
over 400 bird species, 100 butterfly species, has the second highest
mammalian diversity in the world and is the principal recovery area for
the endangered jaguar, Southwestern willow flycatcher, desert pupfish,
Huachuca tiger salamander, loach minnow and numerous other threatened
and endangered species. The largest threat to the San Pedro is ground
water pumping from Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca area.
     ____________________________

U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE LETS WOLF KILLER OF SCOT-FREE
OPENS DOOR TO MORE WOLF KILLINGS.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has declared that a camper who
killed an endangered Mexican grey wolf in the Gila Headwaters
Ecosystem acted in "self-defense" and therefore did not violate the
Endangered Species Act. The ruling is outrageous, because the killer
repeatedly said he killed the wolf because it attacked his dog, which
is definitely not "self-defense". In its endless quest to avoid
controversy at the expense of endangered species, the agency allowed
the killer to change his story in order to claim self-defense because
the wolf approached to within 50 feet of his wife.

There is no indication that the wolf was going to attack. No healthy
wolf has ever attacked a human in North America.




_____________________________________________________________________________

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