Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #139

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #139          /
       \                    7-6-98                      /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \__________________________________________/
         
1. APPEALS COURT ENJOINS DEVELOPMENT TO PROTECT PYGMY OWL

2. SUIT TO BE FILED TO PROTECT IMPERILED CUTTHROAT TROUT

3. "THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS"- ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL BRISTLES AT
   SOUTHWEST CENTER PROPOSAL TO BAN CATTLE FROM PUBLIC RIVERS

4. REALTOR BLOCKS GROWTH CONTROLS, IS OUSTED FROM PANEL-
   COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO GET REFORMS BACK ON TRACK

5. LETTERS NEEDED TO SAVE EUREKA SAND DUNES

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

APPEALS COURT PROTECTS PYGMY OWL-
ENJOINS CONSTRUCTION UNTIL FINAL RULING
On 7-1-98, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals approved an
emergency injunction motion filed by Defenders of Wildlife
and the Southwest Center to bar construction at the proposed
Amphitheater school site until the court issues a final decision
as to whether destruction of the site will take endangered
pygmy owls. A district level court agreed that owls are present
at the site, but ruled that Defenders and Center did not prove
they would be harmed. The same judge, however, would not
allow Fish& Wildlife Service and independent scientists to
testify about potential harm to the owl.

The case is being argued by John Fritschie (Defenders) and
Eric Glitzenstein (Meyers & Glitzenstein).
    ____________________________

SUIT TO BE FILED TO PROTECT IMPERILED CUTTHROAT TROUT-
USFWS REFUSES TO ISSUE ESA RULING
The Southwest Center has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for refusing to issue a ruling
on whether it will process a petition to list the Rio Grande
cutthroat trout as an endangered species. On 2-5-98, the
Southwest Center, Southwest Trout, Carson Forest Watch, the
Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and Ancient Forest Rescue
petitioned the agency to protect the trout because a century of
livestock grazing, logging, water pumping and exotic species
transplants have driven it from 95% of its original range.  The
Fish & Wildlife Service was legally required to determine within
90 days if the petition presented enough information to proceed
with a full Endangered Species Act review. As usual, however, the
agency is allowing the species to languish rather than make a
politically charged ESA decision.
    ___________________________

"THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS"- ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL BRISTLES AT SOUTHWEST
CENTER PROPOSAL TO BAN CATTLE FROM ALL RIVERS
On 6-8-98, the Albuquerque Journal opined against shifting the
battle against overgrazing to complete protection for all rivers
and streams on public lands:

    "Environmental advocates are on a winning streak in using
  environmental laws and the courts to protect endangered species
  and restrict use of public lands. They have successfully
  curtailed logging and cattle grazing in the Southwest.
    Last year, the U.S. Forest Service was ordered by the court to
  curtail logging to protect the Mexican spotted owl and just
  recently the Forest Service agreed, without court order, to pull
  cattle from hundreds of miles of specified riparian habitat on
  about 60 grazing allotments to protect rare species protected by
  the Endangered Species Act.
    Now, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity has announced
  that it is going to file petitions to have cows removed from all
  Southwestern streams and rivers.
    This is not good news. It looks less like a focused effort to
  protect identified critical habitat than an aggressive campaign
  whose objective is to ride the Southwest of industries that have
  long been a part of economic history here.
    Ranchers has long asserted that environmentalists' real agenda
  was to drive them completely out of business. This threatened
  major legal assault lends credence to their fears. It knocks the
  props our from under moderates on both sides of the issue. It
  puts the Forest Service in an impossible position if the federal
  policy of multiple use of public lands still has any credence in
  the Department of Agriculture.
    If the fight is about protecting the environment, that is one
  thing; if it is really about running ranchers off public land
  everywhere, it is another thing entirely. Policies governing the
  stewardship of public lands in the West should not be abdicated
  to environmental groups, they should be made by Congress and the
  executive branch agencies charged with carrying them out."
     _________________________

REALTOR BLOCKS GROWTH CONTROLS, IS OUSTED FROM PANEL-
COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO GET REFORMS BACK ON TRACK
Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll will oust realtor Bill Arnold
from the Planning and Zoning Commission because Arnold led a charge
to stall a plan to limit development along canyon slopes, washes
and near public lands. By sending the plan into study session
rather than approving it, the zoning commission ensured that it
would not take effect until after a state law is instituted which
effectively prevents counties from instituting growth controls.
The supervisors are expected to make the zoning commission approve
the ordinances before the developer's first law begins on 8-21-98.
     __________________________

LETTERS NEEDED TO PROTECT EUREKA SAND DUNES
The Eureka Dunes are located in the southern end of Eureka Valley
in Inyo County, California.  They support three plants that occur
nowhere else in the world -- Eureka Dunes evening-primrose
(Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis), Eureka Valley dune grass
(Swallenia alexandrae), and shining milk-vetch (Astragalus
lentiginosus var. micans).  Threats to the plants include a non-
native thistle, off-road vehicle trespass, and the nascent
sport of "sandboarding."  The Dunes were recently transferred from
BLM to Death Valley National Park, but management and monitoring
of the rare species is lacking.  Letters are needed to Death Valley
National Park and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to encourage
better protection for the sensitive endemic plants of the Eureka
Dunes!

Background information, images, discussion points for letters,
and mailing addresses are available on the CNPS Rare Plant Program
web site at: http://www.cnps.org/rpp/Conservation/eureka_dunes.htm

_____________________________________________________________________________

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