Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #152

      ____________________________________________________
      \       SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #152          /
       \                    9-16-98                     /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
          \        http://www.sw-center.org          /
           \________________________________________/

1. ACTION ALERT! ESA THREATENED BY INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL

2. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE FAILS TO OBEY FEDERAL JUDGE'S ORDER

3. CALIFORNIA SPECIES LISTED, OTHERS DENIED PROTECTION

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ACTION ALERT! ESA THREATENED BY INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL

Among many anti-environmental riders already attached to the Interior
Appropriations bill the Senate will vote – most likely – today on
whether to attach Senator Kempthorne's Endangered Species Extinction
bill (S. 1180). If passed and signed into law, this would completely
gut the ESA. If you have already called your Senators regarding the
riders, please call them again and ask them to vote against attaching
the Kempthorne Extinction rider and ask them to remove other
anti-environmental riders. If you haven't called yet, please do it
NOW!  The entire Endangered Species Act is now at risk!

Ask your Senators to support all the amendments that strip
anti-environmental riders and to vote against the bill until all the
anti-environmental riders are removed.
The Capital Switchboard number:  (202) 224-3121
For a complete listing of Congress visit
http://www.defenders.org/stat.html

Don't forget your calls and e-mails to the President reminding him to
veto until the Congress "gets it right." Remind the President of his
multiple promises to veto the Interior Appropriations bill and remind
him of his Statement of Administration Policy regarding the Interior
Appropriations bill. The White House Comment Line is:  (202) 456-1111
__________

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE FAILS TO OBEY FEDERAL JUDGE'S ORDER

As result of a suit brought by the Southwest Center, Federal Judge
Alfredo Marquez of Tucson issued a ruling ordering the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to make a final determination on listing the San
Xavier talussnail as an endangered species. The Southwest Center had
sued the USFWS for failure to make a final determination on listing
the talussnail.

The USFWS proposed listing the talussnail as endangered in 1994 but
never finalized the proposal. The judge ordered the USFWS to publish
in the Federal Register by Sept. 15th their final decision. Sept.
15th came and no decision has been issued. The Southwest Center will
be seeking contempt of court charges against the USFWS if delays
continue.

The talussnail is a small land snail which occurs only in one 50 by
100 foot locality about 15 miles southwest of Tucson, AZ. Threats to
the talussnail include mining, off-road vehicles and road maintenance
activities.

Southwest Center filed the suit on 1/9/98 and is represented by Geoff
Hickcox of Kenna and Hickcox in Durango, Colorado.
__________

CALIFORNIA SPECIES LISTED, OTHERS DENIED PROTECTION

In a case filed earlier this year by the Southwest Center seeking
protection for 44 imperiled species in California, Federal Judge
Judith Keep ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a
final determination on their listings. On September 14, 1998 final
determination for seventeen of these species were made, seven were
not listed and ten were.

Johnston's rock-cress (Arabis Johnstonii) was proposed as Threatened
and denied. The rock-cress occurs on the San Bernadino National
Forest among other places. The USFWS says since the Forest Service is
limiting grazing the need to list is obviated. The Southwest Center
disagrees and will follow up by filing another suit.

Six plant species in the Sierra Nevada were also denied listing:
Mariposa lupine and Kelso Creek monkeyflower had been proposed as
endangered; Rawhide Hill onion, carpenteria, Greenhorn adobe lily,
and Piute Mountain navarretia had been proposed as threatened. USFWS
has changed position since proposing the species for listing, now
saying that listing is not warranted. The Southwest Center disagrees
and will file subsequent lawsuit to list these species.

The Chinese camp brodiaea, Mariposa pussypaws, Springville clarkia,
and California vervain were listed as threatened. The plants are
threatened by urbanization, roadway maintenance activities,
off-highway vehicle use, mining, and livestock grazing. These species
all occur in the Sierra Nevada.

The San Bernadino bluegrass, and California taraxacum, were listed as
Endangered, and the Bear Valley sandwort, ash-gray Indian paintbrush,
southern mountain wild buckwheat, and Hidden Lake bluecurls were
listed as Threatened. These plants occur in the San Bernadino, San
Jacinto, Laguna, and Palomar mountains of Southern California, and
are imperiled by urbanization, and livestock grazing.

The Southwest Center is represented in the cal 44 species case by Jay
Tutchton of Earthlaw in Denver, CO.
_____________________________________________________________________
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