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\ SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#158
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\
11-3-98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
/
\ http://www.sw-center.org
/
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1. ARRIVAL OF SPECIAL
INVESTIGATION TEAM MAY SIGNAL FOUL PLAY
IN DEATH OF SECOND GREY
WOLF
2. SCIENTISTS: U.S. MUST RESTORE COLORADO RIVER FLOWS TO
PROTECT
DELTA FORESTS AND GULF OF CALIFORNIA SHRIMP
POPUALTIONS
3. JOIN THE SOUTHWEST CENTER ON TWO DESERT PROTECTION
HIKES
THIS MONTH
4. LETTERS NEEDED TODAY TO DECOMMISSION
DAMS, RESTORE FOSSIL
CREEK!
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ARRIVAL OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TEAM
MAY SIGNAL FOUL PLAY
IN DEATH OF SECOND GREY WOLF
Preliminary necropsy
reports from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service Forensics Lab in Ashland,
OR have resulted in an
"Investigative Team" being brought to Arizona to look
into the
death of Wolf #493F, one of the endangered grey wolves to
have
died since being introduced into the Gila Headwaters
earlier this year.
Though the agency is tightly guarding any
further information, the arrival of
the team may indicate a
suspicion of foul play.
Only four of the
original 11 released wolves remain in the wild.
All are males. The Fish &
Wildlife Service plans to release
a second group in
1999.
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SCIENTISTS:
U.S. MUST RESTORE COLORADO RIVER FLOWS TO PROTECT
DELTA FORESTS AND GULF OF
CALIFORNIA SHRIMP POPUALTIONS
In a ground breaking report prepared for the
Southwest Center
and Defenders of Wildlife, and international team of
scientists
have determined that water flows from the U.S. to
Mexico
through the Colorado River are critical to the conservation of
the
Colorado River delta's riparian forests, and the Gulf of
California's marine
ecosystem.
"Importance of United States Water Flows to the
Colorado
River Delta and the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico" by
Dr.
Ed Glenn (University of Arizona) and Dr. Carlos Valdes-
Casillas (ITESM
Campus Guaymas, Mexico) found twice as much
riparian forests in the 80 mile
stretch of the Colorado River
in Mexico than along the entire 350 miles in
the U.S. below
Davis Dam. They also determined that shrimp harvest
levels
in the northern Gulf of California are directly related to
the
amount of Colorado River water reaching the Gulf.
Unfortunately, the
massively overdeveloped Colorado River
runs dry most years before reaching
the Gulf due to agribusiness
and urban water diversions. The SW Center and
Defenders are
pressing state and federal officials to guarantee future
water
deliveries to the Gulf. The report recommends specific water
levels
and flow regimes necessary to protect the delta's
riparian forests and the
Gulf's shrimp populations.
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JOIN SW CENTER ON TWO DESERT PROTECTION HIKES
THIS MONTH
Local papers dubbed the Sonoran Desert Protection Plan
the
"best environmental news of 1998." What is this grand effort
and will
it really curb urban sprawl? Join the SW Center
and the Coalition for the
Sonoran Desert Protection Plan on
a trek through Cienega Creek at 8am,
Sunday, November 8 to
one of the cornerstones of the Sonoran Desert
Protection
Plan.
On Sunday, November 22, at 8am, we will be visiting
another
cornerstone of the plan, Arthur Pack Park. To attend, call
or
email David Hogan at 520-623-5252 x307,
dhogan@sw-center.org
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LETTERS NEEDED TODAY TO DECOMMISSION DAMS,
RESTORE
FOSSIL CREEK!
For nearly a century, the waters of Fossil Creek
have
been choked off by dams constructed by Arizona Public
Service Company
(APS). The flows feed the Childs and
Irving electric power
plants. The first dam diverts
nearly the entire flow of the creek,
leaving only the
first quarter mile of Fossil Creek functioning
naturally.
The rest, a 14-mile stretch, lies barren while the
water
is transported in an ugly scar of a metal flume from
plant to plant,
never returning to the thirsty streambed.
Now, the license APS needs to
operate the Fossil Creek
power plants is due for renewal, giving APS the
perfect
opportunity to forfeit a tiny bit of revenue-producing
power to
restore a rare ecosystem. Unfortunately, APS
has instead applied to continue
operating the plants for
another 30 years.
Call, write and fax APS
today! Tell them to decommission the
power plants and restore the river
instead of continuing
this atrocity:
Bill Post, President,
Arizona Public Service Company
P.O. Box 53999, Phoenix, AZ
85072-3999
Phone (602) 250-2588, Fax (602) 250-3002
Richard Snell, Chairman, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation
P.O. Box
52132, Phoenix, AZ 85072-2132
Phone (602) 379-2600, Fax (602)
379-2625
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kierán
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