Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #151

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #151          /
       \                    9-10-98                     /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \        http://www.sw-center.org          /
           \________________________________________/

1. A COALITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL, HUNTING AND FISHING GROUPS FILED A
   LAWSUIT YESTERDAY TO HALT LOGGING ON ALL U.S. NATIONAL FORESTS

2. BABBITT DENIES PROTECTION FOR RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT--
   SOUTHWEST CENTER TO SUE LAWLESS AGENCY

3. ACTION ALERT! NEW MEXICO'S BIG HATCHET WILDERNESS UNDER ASSAULT

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

A COALITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL, HUNTING AND FISHING GROUPS FILED A
LAWSUIT YESTERDAY TO HALT LOGGING ON ALL U.S. NATIONAL FORESTS

More than 20 groups from around the U.S. filed suit over the U.S.
Forest Service's failure to finalize a nationwide Forest Plan and
prepare an Environmental Study of the effects of logging and other
activities on more than 191 million acres of National Forest land.
This failure is a violation of the Renewable Resources Planning Act
Program (RPA) and a failure to comply with the National Environmental
Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act which requires a
detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the 1995 RPA
Program.

The draft Forest Service 1995 RPA program concluded that recreation,
fishing, hunting and other non-commodity activities contributed 32
times more jobs and income than did logging on the National Forest
system. Industry groups and anti-environmental members of Congress
viewed the 1995 Draft RPA Program with alarm, as the Forest Service
draft document acknowledged the huge money losses associated with the
timber program and the massive economic input the U.S. receives from
hiking, bird watching, rafting, fishing and hunting on National
Forests.

In 1997, Congress at the request of panicked industry groups passed a
rider prohibiting the Forest Service from finalizing the 1995 RPA
Program until September 30, 1998. With the September 30,
1998 deadline looming, the coalition of environmental, fishing and
hunting groups has decided to take the issue directly to Federal
Court to force the Forest Service to finalize the 1995 RPA Program
and finally admit to the public that the commercial timber program on
the National Forest system does not make economic or ecological sense
and that it costs the U.S. economy hundreds of millions of dollars
annually in subsidies and lost income from prime recreational,
fishing and hunting grounds destroyed by logging and road-building
for logging

The lawsuit is the first ever in the U.S. to demand a halt to
additional commercial logging on the entire National Forest system.

Plaintiffs in the coalition include the following and are represented
by attorney Matt Kenna of Kenna and Hickocks in Durango, Colorado and
by attorney Brendan Cummings of Berkeley, California: (The group's primary
area of focus are in parentheses)

Southwest Center for Biological Diversity (Arizona, New Mexico, California)
Heartwood (Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio)
Idaho Sporting Congress (Idaho)
Western Gamebird Alliance (western U.S.)
Native Forest Network (international)
Environmental Protection Information Center (California)
Southwest Trout (New Mexico, Arizona)
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (Oregon, California)
Allegheny Defense Project (Pennsylvania)
Wild Alabama (Alabama)
Wild South (the southeastern U.S.)
The Ecology Center (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming)
Missouri Heartwood (Missouri)
Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (Missouri, Illinois)
Sky Island Watch (Arizona, New Mexico)
Common Roots (Alaska)
League of Wilderness Defenders (Oregon)
Buckeye Forest Council (Ohio)
Ancient Forest Rescue (Colorado)
Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project (southern Appalachians)
Blue Mountain Native Forest Alliance (Oregon)
Rex Johnson, a fishing guide outfitter (New Mexico, Arizona)
__________

BABBITT DENIES PROTECTION FOR RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT SOUTHWEST
CENTER TO SUE LAWLESS AGENCY

In response to a petition filed earlier this year by the Southwest
Center for Biological Diversity, Southwest Trout, Biodiversity Legal
Foundation, Carson Forest Watch and Ancient Forest Rescue, Secretary
of Interior Bruce Babbitt announced yesterday the Rio Grande
cutthroat trout will not be protected under the Endangered Species
Act. Southwest Center notified the Secretary and Fish and Wildlife of
intent to sue the agency over their decision.  

The Rio Grande cutthroat formally occurred in all cold clear streams
of the Rio Grande from southern Colorado to at least southern New
Mexico. Today, it is reduced to less than 5% of its historic range
because of habitat loss to livestock grazing, logging, water use and
introduction of exotic fish, such as the rainbow trout, which readily
interbreeds with the Rio Grande cutthroat. Babbitt's decision is yet
another example of the agencies' deference to politics over the need
to protect critically endangered species.

Listing under the Endangered Species Act would have resulted in
needed protection for the cutthroat, not provided by the voluntary
measures Babbitt advocates. Such protection would include removal of
cattle and exotic fish from streams and restriction of logging on
steep slopes above Rio Grande inhabited watersheds. It will also
bring needed federal monies for stream restoration projects in New
Mexico and Colorado. Listing will not, however, result in the
preclusion of fishing for the Rio Grande cutthroat, rather careful
and well guided fishery management. 
__________

ACTION ALERT! NEW MEXICO'S BIG HATCHET WILDERNESS UNDER ASSAULT

The BLM is proposing to lease oil and gas rights within the proposed
Big Hatchet Wilderness Area. This is one of New Mexico's flagship
areas in the effort to protect wild BLM lands. The Big Hatchets are
a spectacular example of "sky island" bio-geography, as they rise
thousands of feet above the surrounding desert grasslands. This place
of sublime beauty is also potential jaguar and Mexican wolf habitat,
and is home to one of only two native desert bighorn herds in the
state! During a NM Game & Fish study of this herd, its population
declined by 50% as a result of the increased human activity in the
area. Oil and Gas exploration, with its bulldozers and seizmic
exploration, could chase these last native bighorns from their home.
The area also provides habitat for the Peregrine Falcon and Aplomado
Falcon, as well as some species of concern such as Cave Myotis,
Fringed Myotis, Pale Townsend's Big-eared Bat, Ferruginous Hawk,
Western Burrowing Owl, Contra Yerba, and Night-blooming Cereus. 
  
The Big Hatchets are one of the Southwest's wildest treasures and
cannot be compromised. Please write the BLM before Sept 21and tell
them to impose the "No action" alternative (ie no drilling) from
their Environmental Assessment.
Send letters to:

Bill Merhege, Bureau of Land Management,
1800 Marquess St.
Las Cruces, NM  88005
re: Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing in Hildago County,
Environmental Assessment NM-036-98

For more information call;
Bob Tafanelli - New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
505-526-9380  btafanel@nmsu.edu
_____________________________________________________________________
Shane Jimerfield
Assistant Director
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity
Tel: 520.623.5252, ext 302              Fax: 520.623.9797
PO Box 710, Tucson AZ 85702-0710              http://www.sw-center.org